Complaint Review: Augustine homes Fredericksburg Va

Augustine homes used to be a great company, with a reputation to match. Not so much anymore. New management which has been in place for a few years now has turned the company into a complete mess. This is now becoming very evident in the business practices and the products (homes) that they are building. I have experienced firsthand unethical business practices with many customers. This ranges from omitting information that they knew to be true at the time, to outright lying to customers. The two people at this company who seem to be ok with these business practices, and who use them on a day to day basis, 1. Sal Migliore (President) 2. Glen Johnson (sales manager) Without going into great detail these two gentlemen have been in the construction business for a long time. There ability to "play stupid" and put the burden on the customer to read into their one way contract (that covers no one but themselves)is supprising seeing as how long they have both been in business and treating people like they do. If you want real hard evidence of they way they handle their business, you don't have to look too far. There are plenty of court cases in public record. There are quite a few in the last couple years, since they gave been under new management. Augustine homes has lost ALL of them. And had to pay large restitution/reimbursement amounts to many of them. If you must buy an Augustine Home, here are some helpful bits of advice- 1. DONT!! Unless your life depends on it. 2. Go speak to customers in ALL of their communities, and not the ones the sales person gives you for references, there are a handful of happy ones that they will send you to. Go around the neighborhoods and catch people at random, I am sure you will hear some of the nightmares they have put people through. (Like someone who paid almost a million dollars for a house that had hardwood issues. Took them almost two years to get Augustine to admit there was a problem, then had to rip out entire first floor of house and put customers in hotel with 4 kids and two dogs at kennel for week while repairs were made. ) only after the customer went after Augustine legally, and had to hire expert floor inspectors himself was he awarded compensation) This is just one example there are many many more. 2. Do not look to Guild quality surveys for an accurate measure of how Augustine is doing with their customers. They survey their customers first over the phone and if they do not get a favorable review, they do not send one out- as that would tarnish their average, they only want the good reviews to show on record. Don't believe that somebody could do such an unethical thing? Just ask some of those unhappy customers in those neighborhoods you are in if they got any surveys to fill out for guild quality,you'll be surprised to hear that most of them never did-( only a phone call from Augustine). 3. If you absolutely must purchase an Augustine Home, I would make sure to have an experienced real estate agent and an attorney present to review any contracts before signing. Then take a very hands-on approach to the whole process, do not assume, anything ask questions(all in writing or email) and hire a building inspector to inspect your home at every phase.