Palm Harbor reading these forums

[Dan F]

I completely believe Builders read this forum, I went to a palm harbor dealer last sunday with the intention of walking out if they made me fill out a credit app. first. They were great, gave me a key before I even told them my name. Let me look at anything I wanted. nice folks I think.

[Peggy]

I hope they ARE READING these forums because I have a huge complaint against them which I may take further. Here in Georgia, Palm Harbor frequently advertises in a free newspaper called The Thrifty Nickel. For the past several weeks I've seen ads from Palm Harbor's Marietta dealership advertising repos on one acre of land in various outlying counties. However, everytime I call about these repos, I get "Oh, that one's already been sold." Their latest ads claim that they can locate available land in northwest counties, the implication being that they will locate the land if you buy a home from them and then they put together the land-home package. When I responded to this ad about 6 weeks ago, I spoke to "Joanne" who assured me that they knew where various pieces of land were. Yet when I tried to pin her down on a day that I could come in and discuss this with her, she rattled off a list of days that she was NOT available - i.e.. "now, don't come on Wednesday, I've got a closing. Thursday's no good because I have to take my elderly father somewhere, blah, blah, blah." It was actually comical. A few days later I called back and asked to speak to Joanne, but was put on hold for more than 3 minutes and I hung up. the same thing happened the following Saturday. I wonder if "Joanne" is a code name used for people responding to this particular ad. I think this woman is also giving out erroneous information as far as minimum land requirement for m-h's in various counties. She stated that Bartow County does NOT require 5 acres for a manufactured home, yet 4 different people who live in Bartow have assured me that 5 acres IS REQUIRED. I haven't gone directly to the county to find out but because this dealership's integrity is already in question with me, I feel that the Bartow residents are right. I also believe that there's a law against false advertising. I intend to investigate this further - maybe with the state Attorney General's office, and if, in fact, Palm Harbor is breaking the law, this may not be the end of the story. I wouldn't buy a bird house from those people at this point..........

[Dan O'Flaherty]

You are correct to be concerned, from what you say the retailer leaves a lot to be desired. The "bait and switch" is not a good practice and should be a red flag.
As far as the land requirements I would never take the word of anyone but an offical with the town, county city or whatever applies.
NEVER rely on someone else and what they have heard. It is your money, it is worth the time to check.

[Peggy]

You're right about going directly to the county to find out the requirements. I intend to do that, but based on what I already know for a fact about nearby surrounding counties, I expect to learn that the 5-acre rule is the case.

[George X]

I hope you won't let this thing drop. The dealership is walking a questionable line if they really are advertising land that is nonexistent. Maybe you should contact Palm Harbor headquarters, just as a start. They may not know about this sleazy operation. On the other hand, they might know - and even encourage this - so maybe the next course is the legal one.

[chas]

I went to a Palm Harbor dealship today. They would not give me ANY kind of price w/o a credit application.

[Peggy]

What part of the country are you in? I REFUSE to fill out a credit application until I've decided on the house I want and I'm ready to buy. As previously mentioned on this forum, every credit inquiry lowers your credit score a little bit. There are lots of other good manufacturers out there that don't high pressure their customers and those are the dealers I'm going to do business with.

[Janet]

I wouldn't trust Palm Harbor at all! Went in to find out about one of their ads and to look at some models, and was pretty much railroaded into filling out a credit app. Was shown a few homes and never did find out where their land packages were. My son and I literally RAN out of their office when I had enough.

[Dan F]

This dealer I spoke of is in Medford Oregon. I live in CA but went to oregon to get away from all the high pressure rip off artists down here. All the dealers I went to in OR were less expensive and better mannered.