Contract or not???

[Kim]

My husband and I have been working on buying an American Star/Oak Creek Home from the Nationwide Manufacture Homes Sales office in Greenville, TX, since the end of November, 2002. On December 30, we signed an agreement on a price and had a list of special order items attached. Today, we were told by the "new" sales manager that the price we were quoted and signed for was not possible and the sales man that worked with us lied to us and is no longer with the company. Can they do this to us? Doesn't he company have to honor the agreement? What can we do? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Jerry and Kim

[rmurray]

You cannot make them deliver the home...but they might be liable for your lost money and expenses in the time you have tried...For this you will need legal advise locally...It might be worth a few dollars to get good advice....

Has the dealer offered any compensation...such as a discount...It might be worth your while to speak to the next management level...or owner if there is one...slaes are far and few between now and they should value your continued interest..If not move on and be glad this happened now..instead of later..

Mistakes do happen...but it should not have taken 5 weeks to notice them...was the mistake in the price or the payment quote?...A price mistake should have benn noticed immediately and handled right then...

[dc]

i would call:
the corporate office of nationwide mfg homes and talk with someone there;
an attorney for a 1 hour consultation; and
the better business bureau to find out what you can about this dealership and/or to make a report. sometimes businesses in small communities are motivated to work with the consumer after the bbb is involved.

[Kim McClanahan]

Thanks to both of you for your replies. I called the nationwide corporate office (American Homestar) in League City, TX. They were very interested in how I got the President's name. Interesting hun??? Supposedly they will get back to me within a week. I'll let you know how it goes.... again, Thanks ya'll
Kim

[Carol]

Kim,
You state, "Today, we were told by the "new" sales manager that the price we were quoted and signed for was not possible and the sales man that worked with us lied to us and is no longer with the company. Can they do this to us? Doesn't he company have to honor the agreement?"

Yes, I believe he does have to honor the agreement if the contract was ratified. Most written contracts are ratified when you enter into them with a salesperson, because he/she is an agent of the company.You may want to look for a phrase concerning "ratified" in your contract.

Think about it, if the contract is binding with one price, it is just as binding with another.

You definitely need to seek legal counsel, rather then trying to deal with them on your own. A good lawyer can scare them into doing the right thing and help you to stay out of court.

Carol

[Carol]

Kim,
In other words, has the company granted the salesperson the authority to enter into agreements on behalf of the company or not? I suspect he did have the authority. If not they should have acted before now.
Carol

[Mrs X]

Yes, that's what I thought too. It's like going to Wal-mart and buying a TV with a price tag of $400, then getting up to the cash register and hearing - "Oh, wait a minute - that tag is wrong - it's supposed to be $700!" I think that by law, they have to sell it at the price on display and it seems that the same would hold true with the salesperson at the dealership. I'm not an attorney, but I think you can probably hold them to the original quoted price.

And speaking of former salespeople, why IS the employee turn-over rate so high in the manufactured housing industry? It seems to be much higher than in other types of businesses.