Complaint Review: Jumeirah Park - Nakheel - H.H.Sheikh Mohammed - Dubai United Arab Emirates

6th of September 2006 is a memorable date for me and my family. The day Nakheel launched its new community called Jumeirah Park.

After years of having dream of buying a home, reading almost every article about real estate in Dubai in papers, talking to experts, and the most important thing: converting every thing we could in to cash plus collecting all our savings during all these years; me and my wife found ourselves standing in the queue at 5:30 a.m. in front of Nakheel sales center, with a baby in our arms, and a kid in home, missed his day in school.

It was nine o'clock when Nakheel opened the sales office doors. We assigned number 45, while there were hundreds of people standing behind us. When we could step in to the theater room for presentation it was almost 11:30. Six stressful hours with a hungry baby within my arms.

Nakheel had an exciting but dirty innovative way to make more crowds. Good for them as they could shot many photos for their success story.

They started from what they named phase 1, not more than 25 properties were sold that they excused that the phase was sold-out and then they switched to ?phase 2? with 5% more price, and same way to skip to ?phase 3? with 5% more for starting price. Was it rumor or these increases were true? I did not find the truth, but I found many people with their mobile phone who were calling their friends or relatives to manage as much money as they could to get more units. People were pushing each other to find a way in to sale center. I saw that they pushed people who came to buy three bedrooms to get four bedrooms this way and I saw many realtors who were coming out with tens of booking forms toward the queue, asking for 10% premium to sell it to people at the end of the line.

Meanwhile we studied the map very well to find best locations and alternatives.

We were lucky to get in to the sales office around 1 p.m. so we managed to get the best three bedrooms located in a corner plot at the end of the row, close to two parks which was almost a fit to our budget.

To follow the sales regulation we booked the property, I cut a cheque for 10 percent of the value and submitted the cheque to sales executive. He opened a new file for us and assigned a customer file number to us. He attached the cheque to the ?Booking Confirmation? and accompanied us to the ?customer service? desk on the other side of the sales center.

Oh, lord, it was one of the happiest times of our life. I saw people outside who were looking at us like we are Olympic champions.

The cheque was submitted to the ?Customer Service? and we got receipt. DONE!

?Your contract would be ready within two weeks?, said customer relationship manager.

"You can go home and wait for your next payment which is coming after 6 months." he added.

After almost three months there was still no sales contract for Jumeirah Park like every other promises of Nakheel. Then recently I had to manage a big sum of money for some emergencies, so I managed to sell the villa.

Since this was our first time trying to sell a property, we decided to ask professional services of the ?Better Homes?. They have been collected all documents when I listed the property with them for ?Verification? purpose, and we signed a paper to authorize them to advertise our property.

After a while they found a client. Better Homes made good money out of it: they had added some plus their 2% commission on top of our price. And since there is no contract we transferred our authorities via ?Power Of Attorney? to new buyer.

After receiving the money in to our accounts, I got in to Nakheel sale center to inform them so the new buyer does not experience any hassle in future.

I saw they shocked when they checked our property number in their computers. For 20 minutes I remained sat on the chair waiting for some one to tell me what is going on.

AND

You guess?

It was surprising to find that the same property has been sold more than once!! According to the first time information, on 21st of October, 2006 it was sold to another person without even sales people knew about it, without any notice to us?

First they claimed that it was a computer mistake and they offered us to get a large three bedroom. However, after I refused to accept their new offer, they started to behave aggressively and the ?Customer Relationship manager? removed my papers from the file.

I asked for a higher manger and they guided me to ?Sales Department Manager? (Mr. Waleed), who returned me to ?Customer Relationship manager? once more. He got more aggressive this time and told me that Nakheel is selling nothing, and mentioned he had the ability to terminate my purchase on his discretion even if I had payments for more. Also he told that no longer there is any record of my payment and if I get an attorney he will terminate this sale immediately. He told me that Nakheel is a H.H.Sheikh Mohammed's company, so NO ONE can sue Nakheel.

The day after, a lady (Mrs. Zahra Abdulla) called my home and in clear words told my wife that if we go to go to police, even if we proceed and win the case, they are going to make troubles for my family and they will through us out of the country since Nakheel has this power! They also called ?Better Homes? and told them that we are fraudulent which I believe is issuing a verdict out of court room and this accusation is none of their business.

I got original receipt for the money with Nakheel's seal and sign under it. I got the original ?Booking Confirmation? with the sales person signature on the bottom of it with project name and property code and detail on it, I got the payments cheques copy, I got my bank certification shows that the cheque has been cashed one week after sale.

We got lawyer and he sent Nakheel a demand letter. After two more reminders and 16 days (3 months after the sale) the Nakheel's General Consular replied that the deal was canceled on Sep. 13th, 2006 and said that we can either collect the original money or to use the fund to purchase an alternative property via Customer Services Center again.

When I went into the customer service to see what the alternative could be with the general consular letter in my hand, they started to push us to sign a letter that we want to cancel the previous purchase for a new one, without even informing us of their availabilities.

We refused to sign anything without first be ensured of what they are going to offer, but they replied this is an order from top. I called the general consular to ask him to let them first show us the availability and I will provide whatever letter they want at the same time. To our surprise he said that he didn't ask for such a letter.

The next day, a person from Nakheel called my mobile and told me that they are going to do something very nice in my favor in case I submit the requested letter. I contacted our lawyer and we prepared a letter to ask them show us what they have, without ignoring our previous rights and I submitted the letter.

It took 12 days to get the reply as they were playing with my time, passing me to the next day, every time I walked into the Nakheel.

The answer was a letter thanking me for choosing their prestigious Jumeirah Park project and I only have to get the money back and for further queries I can visit their website or call the call center!

I referred to the general consular's letter with his signature under it and they said there is no value for the letter(!) and pushed me to sign the receipt, which I refused to collect or signed.

According to other people's experiences, the jurisdiction system is slow and it may takes more than a year to get through it and I need to deposit 15% to start a case.

So,

From early morning till evening I am running here and there with a lot of proves in my hand to return our right back in our home?

Every day I am not only loosing my business opportunities, but also I am going to loose my current clients since I am unable to finish their works or answer their calls.

I very well realize Nakheel is a big company, with its big feet over our shoulders, and it is very busy, so they do not feel shame to not answering me properly.

I also very well realized that God is very busy, receiving millions of requests every moment.

I also have no answer for my son: why am I shouting at him to go to his bed all these nights?? I could not write how it would feel when I found he has through away the painting he made on the ?Jumeirah Park Small three bedrooms legacy villa? brochure to tell me how he like his room which his father promised, but even he failed to sell it to fulfill his other requirements?

Behrooz

Dubai
United Arab Emirates