price raised after delivery?!

[Dawn]

We are deep in the process of buying a 32X78 4br 3 bath 2003 Clayton. The home was delivered this week & we went to close yesterday. We were *supposed* to be moving in by mid October. The home looks beautiful and inspection was fine. However our dealer is now trying to charge us $4,000 more than the price we agreed upon! We unfortunately got nothing in writing with the price upon it prior to this. The saleslady admits that we agreed orally upon a different price & at first tried to put the difference in price off to extra shingles & siding we wanted for a porch we will be adding. However she finally admitted that she made a mistake & the price we were originally quoted was for a house without our requested upgrades (even though we gave her a written list of exactly how we wanted the house BEFORE we negotiated the price, and she went & checked with her manager BEFORE she agreed to our offer!) When she went to call the manager during this process last night her manager yelled so loud we could hear her in the next room that the price was XXX (the higher price) and hung up on our saleslady, who was close to tears. We walked out & today I don't know what is going on- no one from the dealership has called. What recourse do we have, if any? Obviously I feel they need to honor our agreement- as I said to our saleslady, the time for negotiating is long past. We have been dealing with them since April & I was having such a great experience! This is really bad. Please help if you have any suggestions!! Dawn

[Dawn]

Ok, just got off the phone with the manager. We are dealing with Clayton Homes of Stuarts Draft Va, the manager's name is Cindy Tomlin. According to her our inexperienced salesperson calculated the price without adding the additional cost of setting up the house's raised roof. Additionally she claims that WE are the ones walking away from this sale, that SHE isn't obligated to work with us and that they can & will easily sell our house at a much higher price than we are being offered to someone else within a matter of days. Obviously I am incredibly angry that we have wasted 5 months on this. Isn't this "bait & switch"?? According to the mgr. we haven't given them anything so we don't have any recourse. Well we signed the deed of our land over to them two weeks ago and we gave them a $500 check which they returned b/c they wanted certified funds. We took a cashiers check to them last night but then didn't leave it with them b/c of the change in price. So IMO it's not that "we haven't given them anything". Then the Mgr. tried to tell me that *if* they could get a cheaper setup crew and *if* my contractor husband would do the footers (as we'd planned all along) they *might* be able to "work something out". My husband wants to run away but being so close to owning this house & getting out of this miserable rental I'm reluctant to just give up! What do we do?? Dawn

[rmurray]

I assume the home is still on the dealer lot....

Mistakes do happen...but this is one that should not...There is no way it costs $4000 extra to install a fold up roof...Even if this info was correct...the extra labor in raising a roof is not over $1000...

I think they made many mistakes...and would be better off telling you they goofed..

The nice part is Clayton has many layers of management..There is the district or region manager...and of course the national sales manager...

You might want to call them and ask for some guidence....I can tell you that the profit is much more than 4K and giving it all to you will not make them lose money..

I am just thinking about the manager telling you they would sell it in a few days for more than they did you....I doubt it...if so they would have had this sort of home in stock in the first place...Most stores in the Clayton chain are only averaging 2.5 new homes per month right now...A single sale is very important..

[Dan O'Flaherty]

Dawn,
I don't want to sound like I don't believe you are not telling the truth, I am sure you are but, I can't believe that a retailer would deliver a home without some sort of signed aggrement with a written pricing. How was financing arrainged without a purchase aggrement?
I agree that salespeople make mistakes. I would agree that also that maybe going up the food chain with Clayton might resolve this issue.
good luck

[jgn]

If this is the way you are being treated I would refuse to do business with them. If they are a dealer than find the owner not manager if it is company owned call Clayton. This is a good example of get everything in writing.

[Dawn]

We never recieved a purchase agreement; in part because we are over 2 hrs away from the Stuarts Draft dealer. Due to delays in closing on our purchase of the land the house ended up being ordered after phone conversations/ faxes, not a face-to-face meeting. So we overnighted everything they asked for, but we had a hard time getting them to send stuff to us. I have called corporate and left messages and gotten a price from a closer dealer. They say the home has gone up in price since they priced it for us in April & that setup has gone up too due to the glut of construction around here. This closer dealer seems to be real friendly with the people in Stuarts Draft & is trying to discourage me from making a stink with corporate, but I'm too mad to go away quietly. (Apparently she called him before we did, knowing he was our local dealer, to warn him we were very hard to work with- NOT TRUE- we have bent over backwards to be pleasant up til now. My saleslady even said we were a JOY to work with!!) I guess at this point we are going to start all over with the new dealership, we will probabaly end up paying even MORE still but at least we won't be giving our $$ to people we don't trust! The Mgr. in Stuarts Draft actually equated this purchase with buying a pair of socks at Walmart and said she was not obligated to sell me the house at the agreed-to price and if I didn't like it I could walk away. No apologies, nothing. So my advice is, get EVERYTHING in writing and check everything VERY carefully. If we hadn't spotted & questioned this they wouldn't have pointed it out. I'll keep you informed as to what develops. Dawn

[dawn]

oh yeah- thus far no one from the dealership seems to know that we don't have written proof of the price they quoted, they just don't seem to CARE that we may have documentation. Does anyone know if what they are doing is legal? Dawn

[rmurray]

legal....who knows...with no purchase agreement...you can do nothing...

but..this is not good business..

Clayton Homes is a big company..but these corporate dealerships have extensive policy manuals...I think a mistake was made...or prices did go up and the salesperson should have informed you sooner...before the order confirmation with the plant...now they did not..to sell the home at the agreed price they would be in violation of policy and could end up with no commission or even worse no job...It is not uncommon for corporate sales persons to kill a deal rather than face the anger of a regional manager...

Most big companies follow these boards...I would expect this manager will be questioned...of course she will be telling her boss that you are the customer from h... She is surprised that you have not bumped...the bump is part of the sales training used by some of the bigger companies...fact is it works 99% of the time...Glad you are smart enough to be the 1%...

If you continue your shopping...try finding a long time locally owned independent dealer...These companies do not have the corporate stuff and would have corrected their mistake by now...Most local dealers will sell at lower prices anyway...they do not have the overhead of the big corporations..

[Christy]

I suggest you contact a lawyer and let the dealer KNOW you have a lawyer. This may be just the push to get them to go back to their original deal. If this home is on your lot it will cost them money to move it back to theirs. If it is on their lot then you need to tell them you want your money back if you have gave them any and walk away from the deal. With no signed papers nobody has any rights. Don't ever make a deal and not get it in writing in the future. Also let the deal know that you will be contacting the Better Business Bureau. Do NOT back down and do NOT give in. That is a major price increase and trust me they ARE making a heck of a lot more money than that in profit! Stick to your guns, get a lawyer, mention your lawyers name to them and threaten the use of the BBB. It may be enough to make them go back to the original cost. Unfortunately the world we live in today is NOT good enough for someones "word" on a deal, you have to get it in writing. Which is very sad. Good luck! Christy