Andrew Merrick Homes, Wayne Lewis Andrew Merrick Homes is ripping off post-IKE victims! Buyer Beware! Dallas Texas
NEVER, EVER DO BUSINESS WITH THESE PEOPLE! They have built a few nice show houses just to pull people in...and then rip them off! This is our story of how they scammed us: My family and I reside happily in Galveston, TX. In spite of the risk we take by living here, we consider it our home and plan on staying here for the long term. Recently with Ike we had 6 feet of water in our house ruining everything. It obviously had to be rebuilt to be deemed livable once again, so we began the tedious process of searching for a reliable contractor to get the job done.
Out of a few that we bidding we decided to go with ANDREW MERRICK HOMES a company based in Dallas. We did research and even visited them in Dallas to see the work they had done. They seemed gracious and willing to help and do a good job. We decided to go with them and signed a contract. They pledged to have the house completed in 4 weeks. Well its 3 months later and this is what happened:
Everything thing seemed to be running smoothly. A few weeks into the job they have 50% of the work accomplished and we had forked out 80% of what we owed them. The work all of sudden began to slow, they wouldn't show up, and stated that it would take longer without giving any reasons. Weeks passed and they began doing a horrible job on everything. Just to give you a taste: they painted over tiles in the kitchen and refused to replace them, they ran out a certain tile and without our consent laid completely different tiles just to finish the job. The cabinets were built very poorly and they even used an old cabinet that they had left over from another job for one of our bathrooms. They started to not comply to the contract on how things had been requested to be done, like painting the kitchen cabinets instead of staining them just to "save time." They did a horrendous job painting painting over lights, the cabinets, closet doors, tiles, etc. The list goes on and on and on.
After a few phone calls, we were forced to send an email because nobody would call us back. We were told work went slow and supplies scarce because money wasn't coming in. We countered with "that cannot be true because we have paid you over 80% of what we owe and you have only completed merely 60% of the work." It has been a week and we have not received a reply and they will not return our phone calls.
Nobody has worked on the house for the past week! Last night they went over to the house, tore out all the cabinets, lights, everything they had installed, and left the house keys on the porch! Absolutely appalling the way we have been treated.
I have not been able to find any other complaints about this company and can't understand why this would happen to us by a company that we trusted. BUYER BEWARE!
Ryan
Houston, Texas
U.S.A.
4 Updates & Rebuttals
HarJ
Chicago,Illinois,
USA
Our Experience
#5Consumer Comment
Wed, March 24, 2010
I got a job offer in Chicago and we got an offer on our home in DFW and had to move quick. The inspection came back with some water damage on the exterior of the home that required overhang replacement, painting, etc.
AMH
Dallas,Texas,
U.S.A.
Andrew Merrick Homes does not rip people off
#5REBUTTAL Owner of company
Thu, September 24, 2009
Andrew Merrick Homes has built many beautiful homes in Dallas and way before the tragedy of Ike happened. Very unreasonable to say they were built for a bait and switch scenario. Most of our homes range in the 10K sq ft range and $9 million; definitely not the standard.
Andrew Merrick Homes realizes Ryan has since tried to correct his initial report but it is important to Andrew Merrick Homes to all that read this report get both sides...even thought Ryan couldn't have had a side; he was not involved as he mentions later.
The job was to be staffed to get it done quickly, low cost and efficiently per clients request. The contract also stated payment terms. The payment terms ultimately were not kept up to and Andrew Merrick Homes had to make the difficult decision to terminate the contract and cut our losses; only after hearing from client there would be no money coming for some time. We simply could not work for free.
The real client was on site daily so there is no truth to the statements referring to changes or poor craftsmanship without client realizing. The items installed were all per contract. There wasn't another contractor willing to do the job for them the way we were...using some cabinets from other jobs and discounting them 60% was part of the plan; but Ryan wouldn't know that.
The Contract between Andrew Merrick Homes and Client had change orders that Ryan would not be aware of, so his claim that Andrew Merrick Homes has been paid way more than we have completed, has no merit. We have received 50% of the contractual amount and completed 75% of it. All that was left were the plumbing fixtures, hardware, punch out and carpet.
Departure from job was communicated properly and crystal clear to client. The items removed from site were products and tools kept on job site that are the rightful property of Andrew Merrick Homes i.e. the plumbing fixtures, hardware..tools. Communication was constant and clear, Ryan wouldn't know that, as he was not the client.
It is irresponsible for Ryan to make a report in the 1st person on a subject he had no involvement in. Andrew Merrick Homes is a proud company that takes pride in customer service. The fact that the real Client hasn't entered a report and Ryan has tried to refute some of his claim, along with the fact that when looked up, Andrew Merrick Homes has this one negative entry, should speak for itself and we hope it does.
Andrew Merrick Homes
www.andrewmerrick.com
service@andrewmerrick.com
Zundel3117
Houston,Texas,
U.S.A.
*UPDATE ..
#5Author of original report
Mon, April 13, 2009
The first update that was performed was done because the original consumer complaint did not truly reflect who dictated the complaint. It was someone close to the victims, BUT NOT THE VICTIMS THEMSELVES who dictated the complaint. It is purely my take on what happened on what had transpired, not that of the victims. I just felt it my duty to speak up.
I found out that in the original context that I inadvertently made a couple inaccuracies. I corrected them in the first update. An example of one misstatement was that I said that they had taken the cabinets that they had done a horrible job on. They actually left them, and really only took everything that wasn't nailed down or attached to the house. But for the most part the story remains the same.
Zundel3117
Houston,Texas,
U.S.A.
*UPDATE ..
#5Author of original report
Sat, April 11, 2009
NEVER, EVER DO BUSINESS WITH THESE PEOPLE! They have built a few nice houses just to pull people in...this is my story of how they scammed my sister (here within is my testimony of what I observed and my testimony only): My sister resides happily in Galveston, TX. In spite of the risk she takes by living there, her and her husband and four kids consider it their home and plan on staying there for the long term. Recently with Ike there was 6 feet of water that flooded their house and destroyed everything. It obviously had to be rebuilt to be deemed livable once again, so they began the long, tedious process of searching for a reliable contractor to get the job done. Out of a few that we bidding, they decided to go with ANDREW MERRICK HOMES a company based in Dallas. They did research and even visited them in Dallas to see the work they had done. They were gracious and seemed willing to help and do a good job. The contract was drawn up and they pledged to have the house completed in 4 weeks. Everything thing seemed to be running smoothly. A few weeks into the job they have 50% of the work accomplished and we had forked out 80% of what they had owed them. The work all of sudden began to slow, they wouldn't show up, and stated that it would take longer without giving any reasons. Many weeks passed and they began doing a horrible job on everything. Just to give you a taste: they painted over tiles in the kitchen and refused to replace them; they ran out a certain tile and without our consent laid completely different tiles just to finish the job. The cabinets were built very poorly and they even used an old cabinet that they had left over from another job for one of our bathrooms. They started not comply with the contract on how things had been requested to be done, like painting the kitchen cabinets instead of staining them just to "save time." They did a horrendous job painting by painting over lights fixtures, cabinets, closet doors, tiles, etc. My bro-in-law from Alabama who's Dad owns a cabinetry business stated the cabinets were the worst he ever saw. The list goes on and on and on. A brother-in-law whose family owns and runs their own cabinetry business thought that their job on the cabinets was probably the worst he'd seen to date. Over 3 months later, many phone calls had been made, but they wouldn't return them. They then had to resort to emails. Conveniently they were told via email that work went slow and supplies scarce because money wasn't coming in. That is a huge lie because only half of the work was completed and nearly 80% had been paid. Without any response, the contractors came to the house and took everything not nailed down and left my sister's house keys on the countertop and the front door unlocked. A few days after that they received notification from the company that the contract had been terminated. Please don't do business with this company. BUYER BEWARE!!!!