WARNING ABOUT PALM HARBOR HOMES

[Lisa Kendrick]

We did our homework and decided to go with Palm Harbor Homes for our purchase. It has been nothing but problem after problem since the get go. I WILL NOT and DO NOT recommend PHH to anyone. If we knew then what we know now, we would run - not walk - away from PHH.

We purchased our home in the Athens, GA location. It has taken almost a year, but we finally closed on the home this morning, only to find out afterwards that we still didn't have a Certificate of Occupancy. We were assured 2 days ago that we'd be given the certificate at closing. When it wasn't presented to us and we were told that it was "at another office", we called the building inspector. He told us that he hadn't issued the CO yet, because the house was missing a required electrical installation verification sticker which was supposed to have been applied by the installer. So now we have moving vans arriving in the morning to move us into a house which we are not legally allowed to move into yet.

This is just the end of a long line of headaches.

1. PHH raised the price of our home $7,000 after last year's hurricanes despite the fact that we had signed purchase agreements at a specified price and had given a deposit locking in the lower price.

2. Our home was delivered despite the fact that we told the GM that the lot wasn't ready the night before! So the house sat in our horse pasture until the site prep was completed.

3. The house was delivered Feb. 8th, 2005. As of today, April 18, 2005 we are still not able to move in because of PHH inadequacies.

4. We custom ordered our home and when we did our walk through we found the wrong linoleum had been laid throughout the entire home and that the cabinet configuration had been changed. Wall cabinets were being used as base cabinets. PHH admits that they made the mistakes in the linoleum and cabinets, but have not yet come up with solutions to these problems.

We are at our wits end with PHH. DON'T LET THIS NIGHTMARE HAPPEN TO YOU. We purchased our home, we now have a mortgage on a home that we can't live in.

AVOID PALM HARBOR LIKE THE PLAGUE!

[rmurray]

Have you discussed all this with the district manger..Danny Warrick..He will be the fellow that can get action...Ask the Athens manger for his number...

I am a bit confused..I am w PH in Augusta...few GA counties actually have certificates of occupancy...Most only do final inspections and release the power company to turn on the power..If the power is on..your home has had its final inspection....Talk to your building inspector....Are you in Burke county??????Do you have a copy of your order confirmation that you were asked to sign...It would have had the tile color clearly named..If the home is different than the order confirmation..the plant will take care of the discrepency...Have you done your walk through with the tech you would have talked to Irv..He would be the one to authorize and schedule the plant changes...He will have a copy of your signed order confirmatrion...Good Luck..PH will rectify any real problems....

[TanyaF]

Lisa, so sorry you had a bad experience with PH. Not all dealers are created equal, even within the same company. The first PH dealership we encountered was definitely a "bad apple". Manipulative, uncooperative, passive aggressive tactics, etc. But we went to a different PH dealer in Chino Valley, AZ, and they have been awesome. Good, honest, straightforward people who took on our very long and difficult project (putting a home on bare land 4 hours away in a different state in a remote area) and stuck with it to the end. It's been a year now that we've been working with them. Yes, mistakes were made along the way, on both sides (ours and theirs) but it was always obvious to us that they have been doing their absolute best for us and really cared about our project. We would reccommend them in a heartbeat. I would definitely follow rmurray's suggestions and go higher up to see if your problems can be solved. Good luck!

[Lisa Kendrick]

Well, I spent the morning with Eddie Rogero, the GM of the Athens, GA store. He took over the GM position half way through our purchase process and was kind of thrown into this deal and left to rectify problems caused by others. He has been Palm Harbor's saving grace. He has dealt with my anger and frustration in a most professional and caring way. He understands our frustration with this situation and will do everything within his power to make things right.

rmurray - yes, Burke County requires a CO. Our bank will also not release funds until we have a CO. We closed yesterday after being told that the Athens office had the CO (by a GM of another store - it's a really long story) and that they would fax it to the bank yesterday afternoon. During my visit with Eddie this morning, his office manager was furiously talking on the phone to the Building Inspector and a CO was issued before I left the office. And no, the power's not on, because the building inspector hadn't released the CO. That's the whole problem. We have to move by this weekend and we NEED power!

Palm Harbor has stepped up to the plate and hit a home run with our flooring problems. They recognized that a mistake was made in the manufacturing and the wrong linoleum was installed. We are picking out new linoleum to be installed throughout our home at PHH's expense. There was absolutely no quibbling or discussion on this topic - we were told that PHH would do anything necessary to make us happy in our new home. The cabinet issue, although not yet resolved, is being addressed.

I understand that everyone makes mistakes. And that not everything in life is easy. It takes a big man or a big company to admit his mistakes and make things right. Palm Harbor homes is doing that for us. They are making things right. Eddie Rogero has taken alot on his plate having to deal with me and these problems, but he has done a spectacular job of mending fences.

Would we buy another Palm Harbor Home? Ask me again once we've moved!

[rmurray]

Thanks for bring us up to date...Glad to here you are being treated with dignity...My guess is that all will be fine soon...You now have scores of folks who do care.....

I only asked about Burke county because I have had scores of homes placed there in the last few years...The one and only building official is somewhat unusual and much more detailed than most...There have been many changes in the set up requirements in the last 2 months in GA..Some building inspectors are slow getting up to speed...Good luck getting your power turned on..The 2 power companies in Burke county Jefferson Electric and Planters Coop are slow..I forwarded your post to some who Can do you good....You will find Waynesboro a little different culture..Good luck with the adjustment...You are now a property owner in the "Bird Dog Capital of the World"..ENJOY....

[mel]

We purchased a 2005 Redman MH from Factory Expo in Arizona! We are unhappy with the both of them! The salespersons will promise the moon & deny
everything! We are contemplating legal action as well as writing all agencies in hope we can get them to satisfy serious problems in sales practices as well as
Lack of quality control! Every unit they sell is a potential lawsuit! We hope you look very closely should you buy from them & dont pay them til all work is completed & running with a Certificate of Occupancy.The day you move in is when they should get the money! MAD AS HELL OWNER!

[Jim Breen]

Hello,
I apologize for the bad experience you had and would like to offer my assistance. I have been searching our customer files and cannot locate one for you. Factory Expo Home Center is the largest individual distributor of manufactured homes in the southwest and we have never had a legal problem from the day we opened for business. Please contact me with your concerns and what model you purchased and I will be happy to make it a priorty.

Thank you,
Jim Breen
President
www.azchampion.com

[mel]

Dear Jim, We sent you a reply thru your e-mail! Who is Ray Anderson in your company? We sent him our complaints to which it is now going thru The Office
of Manufactured Homes State of Arizona! We would prefer to settle this as we would like to move-in to save paying $2,450.-month rent. Please let me know if you found our file! We suggest you investigate this as our time to file is just about
complete with information gathered! How many units did you sell? Can I have a list of others that are satisfied? Mel