SAC0024
Written evidence submitted by Mr Peter Cornish MBE
I would like to share my evidence of the dreadful experience my family and I endured at the hands of Pinnacle. We were ready to move from York to London so I could start my new job, and everything had been going to plan. We had been allocated a quarter at [Property 1] with a march in date for 28th July 2022. The removals had been booked, my three children had been allocated places in the local schools, and my wife had submitted her notice to end her employment. Just two days before the removals company was due to collect our belongings, I received an email from a Pinnacle Move Assistant on the 19th July informing me that the housing offer had been withdrawn. During a pre-move in inspection, it had been identified that the house had structural issues and was not habitable. A new offer was given for [Property 2], which could be ready to take over on the 14th September.
To be told just nine days before getting the keys to your new home that the move has been cancelled was devastating. I was also very worried for my children. As a serving soldier, I already have to carry the burden of making my children regularly move, uprooting them from friends and putting them through the stress of being the stranger who starts at a new school. With the move shifted to 14th September, they would now have the additional burden of arriving two weeks after the schools had started. After frantic calls with Pinnacle, it was arranged for the move in date to be brought forward to 25th August. Many more hours were then spent re-arranging the removals. As my wife’s notice had already been submitted, she was unable to return to work, which meant she had lost two thousand pounds of income.
Unfortunately, that was not the end of our Pinnacle inflicted troubles. Seven days before moving into [Property 2], another email arrived delaying our move to 16th September. Imagine our frustration to find out installation of a new kitchen was the reason. How had management not realised this work was scheduled before giving us a move in date? I genuinely find it hard to express how shocking and distressing it was for our move to be messed up a second time. Again, for the sake of my children I pleaded with Pinnacle to find a way of getting us moved before the start of the school year. After 48 hours of nail-biting anxiety, we were informed that we could relocate into [Property 3] on 25th August, which thankfully was not cancelled.
I have written this letter, to bring to light the staggering incompetence of Pinnacle and hope that your inquiry we lead to improvements that mean others do not have to go through such an experience. To offer houses to people, only to find out that they are uninhabitable just days before move in is not acceptable. I have been traumatised by this experience to such an extent that, with all sincerity, I would rather end my service than be forced to move again. I simply cannot stomach the risk or thought of putting my wife and children through such a painful experience again.
20 October 23