One of the forums we had running gathered around 300 responses and a lot of information can probably be garnered from reviewing them.
But i will try and give you a summary of what we went though.
We bought from FQ, in June 2008. We were meant to take delivery on November 2008. This was never going to happen but when they said May 2009 we we quite happy.
Its now November 2009 and its safe to say we are still not anywhere close.
Now the big issue came up a couple of months ago when they tried to get us to pay nearly QAR 250 000 worth of connection fees. We and a number of other buyers, were naturally none to impressed with this and so started the big fight for our meagre rights.
We started these forums, we contacted the media, both local and international, we consulted with the Ministry of Business and Trade and lastly we took our contract to a lawyer and got them to review it....for a price i might add.
The outcome: Well the local English newspapers would not print anything negative about the Pearl and they said as much.
We have all seen stories about how great the UDC tower 4 is and all the awards that QatarCool has won overseas but they wont print anything negative about it.
The local Arabic newspapers printed a scathing report on the ludicrous connection fees but the English papers wouldnt touch it. Seemed like they had been warned off.
QatarCool just brushed us off with a press release on their website and the international media werent really interested in a local story.
That leaves the lawyers, we have a get-out clause that says, if our tower is not delivered 1 year after the original completion date we can cancel our contract and ask for our money back. We would have to take them to court though.
Unfortunately this is only on paper, no precendent has ever been set for the outcome so taking your developer to court could be a bit of Russian Roullette.
You may win and the developer cant pay you back because they are bankcrupt and then you are still liable to the bank for all the money they have paid over to the developer on your behalf.
They may counter-sue for whatever they feel like and tie you up in court until you cant afford it anymore.
Lastly, we may all be fighting something much bigger than ourselves and it wont even make it to court...
No one actually knows because it has never been done before. All i can say is hang in there it will probably work itself out. Our situation slowly is...
Lastly, dont spend too much money just yet, PM me if you have any questions and i will tell you everything that it cost us thousands of riyals to find out.
Hi DJoe,
Wow, mate, another horror story.
One of the forums we had running gathered around 300 responses and a lot of information can probably be garnered from reviewing them.
But i will try and give you a summary of what we went though.
We bought from FQ, in June 2008. We were meant to take delivery on November 2008. This was never going to happen but when they said May 2009 we we quite happy.
Its now November 2009 and its safe to say we are still not anywhere close.
Now the big issue came up a couple of months ago when they tried to get us to pay nearly QAR 250 000 worth of connection fees. We and a number of other buyers, were naturally none to impressed with this and so started the big fight for our meagre rights.
We started these forums, we contacted the media, both local and international, we consulted with the Ministry of Business and Trade and lastly we took our contract to a lawyer and got them to review it....for a price i might add.
The outcome: Well the local English newspapers would not print anything negative about the Pearl and they said as much.
We have all seen stories about how great the UDC tower 4 is and all the awards that QatarCool has won overseas but they wont print anything negative about it.
The local Arabic newspapers printed a scathing report on the ludicrous connection fees but the English papers wouldnt touch it. Seemed like they had been warned off.
QatarCool just brushed us off with a press release on their website and the international media werent really interested in a local story.
That leaves the lawyers, we have a get-out clause that says, if our tower is not delivered 1 year after the original completion date we can cancel our contract and ask for our money back. We would have to take them to court though.
Unfortunately this is only on paper, no precendent has ever been set for the outcome so taking your developer to court could be a bit of Russian Roullette.
You may win and the developer cant pay you back because they are bankcrupt and then you are still liable to the bank for all the money they have paid over to the developer on your behalf.
They may counter-sue for whatever they feel like and tie you up in court until you cant afford it anymore.
Lastly, we may all be fighting something much bigger than ourselves and it wont even make it to court...
No one actually knows because it has never been done before. All i can say is hang in there it will probably work itself out. Our situation slowly is...
Lastly, dont spend too much money just yet, PM me if you have any questions and i will tell you everything that it cost us thousands of riyals to find out.