Problem w/Dealer set up (long story)

[Joni]

In June we signed a contract to purchase a Homes of Merit Double wide and 2 ½ acres plot of land to place it on. All financing was approved and completed and we closed on a “construction loan” on July 12, 05, it was a doulbe closing, so a good deal of money was paid in closing costsnot to mention a considerable down payment. The construction loan was to be completed by Nov 12, 05. We have had a constant communication problem with our sales person, and when we try to speak with anyone else, we are told she is the only one we can talk with.

Nov 19, 05 (the construction loan completion date) came and passed, no home delivered, no well, no septic. Nothing done by dealership they were to do all the set up incl. Septic, & Well,( we had already paid our own person to clean the land and put in pad and driveway.). We had been speaking to our sales person every week and got differing stories each time we called. We had to apply for a 30 day extension on the construction loan. Dec 19th came and passed, another extension on the construction loan. Now the 2nd extension on the loan is almost up, and the home is finally in place, trimmed out inside and out, but still not skirted, the well still has no pump nor is it connected to the home, and no electric lines to the well. We have already contacted the power company and they will hook up the power to the home as soon as the dealer gets the CO.

After talking to the lender, we were told that with this dealer, she often sees people who have to gett extensions for the loans 8-9 times. She said she had talked to the sales person yesterday and her understanding is the home still is not close to being done. We can't deal with the frustration of dealing with this sales person any more. We have repeatedly caught her in lie after lie, but don't want to go into any more detail here.

We cannot afford to keep paying money out on the construction loan and pay the mortgage on the house we are living in. Our saving are virtually being wiped out. In addition to the down payment and closing costs for both loans, We have paid for 6 months of interest on the constrution loan, 6 month of "homeowners" Insurance and flood insurance. We can't sell our present home yet, as we would not have anywhere else we could live. We have no idea how much longer it will be, and don't know what else we can do. When we call the dealer, we just get the run around. We can’t get a time line as to when the home will be done, or an answer to what else may need to be done. We don't know what we can do at this point. At this point all we want is to get the house done and move in.
Any advise would be appreciated.

[Brian Guidry]

I'm sure that there will be much professional advice to come on your horrible situation but I am offering this strictly as a fellow consumer.

Mention the word "lawyer" and see how fast your work gets completed. We had to do this with a lemon truck a few years back. The dealer gave us excuse after excuse and even lied to us about why they could not fix our brand new truck, which had been in their repair shop 17 times in 10 months for the same problems. We told them either they fix the truck or put us in comparable vehicle or they would be hearing from our lawyer. Needless to say four hours later the sales manager came to our home with a new truck and a letter of apology from the owner!

Try it...you never know what good may come of it!

Best of luck to you Joni and keep us posted!

[Brian Guidry]

Here's an afterthought...report this dealer to Homes of Merit. They are a great company who build an excellent home and I'm sure they would not like their name "smeared" by irresponsible dealers!

[Joni]

Thanks for your thoughts about telling the dealer we are going to contact an attorney. We did that once before and got some results. By calling the factory directly, we found out the home was built and sitting on their lot awaiting delivery. The person at the factory said it had been sitting there for over a month already. Called our sales person and she said it would be 2-3 weeks before delivery, ( we didn't tell her we had spoken to the factory). Told her we would be contacting our Attorney, and wonder of wonders the house was delivered the next day. So I gues the tomorrow morning we call again and make the same threat.

I guess the worst part of all of this is the waiting. The house was delivered over 7 weks ago, and it shouldn't take this long to finish the set up.