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Beazer Homes Defective Home, Failed to Repair Issues, Which Caused Damage to my Personal Property Atlanta Georgia
I purchased a home from Beazer Homes in 2005. Upon returning to my home after the closing I was met by Brian Horn, Site Supervisor, who advised me that there was no CO (Certificate of Occupancy) signed for my home and that I could not enter the home that I just purchased for $368,000. I had a moving company with me that I was paying $165/hr. and they sat for close to 8 hours waiting for a Town Building Inspector to show up for the CO. I was told by Brian not to worry that I would be reimbursed for the 8 hours as long as I showed a receipt.
I provided Brian with a receipt and I then receivd a check in the mail for $900 which did not cover my out of pocket expenses for the moving company. I addressed the issue with him on two other occassions and he said that he would look into it and that it may have been an accounting error and then later said that he spoke to them and that this was the agreed upon amount owed to me, which was a lie.
Prior to the closing of my home I also noticed a laundry list of issues with the new home that had not yet been addressed. I spoke to the customer care representative, Shawn Parra, and he assured me that the issues would be resolved.
Over the next several weeks, he came by and did most of the repairs himself because he said that the contractors were busy doing other tasks around the development. He was obviously not authorized or trained to perform the tasks that he was attempting. Most of the issues that he attempted to resolve have reappeared and it has been a frustrating two years.
A few weeks after purchasing the home I noticed that I was getting a large amount of water in my basement. I called Shawn Parra several times and was never able to get in touch with him. I went all around the development and met with Brian Horn again and he had Shawn Parra call me the Monday since I met with him on Friday. When I spoke to Shawn on that Monday he told me that there should not be water in the basement because it has poured concrete walls. By the time that he came to my house later that week the water was dried, but the damage to my property had already been done. I had a $300 Espresso/Coffee Maker that I had to throw away and a $129.99 deep fryer that was fried itself as well as clothes that smelled like dirty rain water and teaching supplies that were destroyed. As you could guess I was very frustrated and angry at that time.
When Shawn came by I showed him the damaged things and he looked around and said that he could not find where the water was coming in. I showed him a huge crack in the floor and he put caulk in the crack, but said that the water could not come in from there. He also advised me that he would look into getting me reimbursed for my damaged property. I never heard from anyone at Beazer Homes for compensation back.
Shawn then told me that we would have to wait for the next rain storm to see where the water was coming from and told me to take pictures of the water on the floor. So I had to move all of my storage boxes from the basement with a bad back and received no help from Beazer Homes or offers for help.
The next heavy rain storm, I was away on vacation and my mother noticed water in the basement and I had her take photographs. I contacted Shawn again and he came by and I showed him the pictures of the water and he again said he did not know where the water was coming in from. He said that I would have to see the water coming in in order for him to fix the problem. I was growing increasingly frustrated since my home is on a hill with water flowing toward the back of my home and water accumulating in the front and coming into a poured concrete wall and the so called expert not being able to fix my problem.
The next rain storm I was working and the water came in while I was out and I called him again to tell him that the wall was wet when I arrived home and that I photographed the wet wall. Shawn came by and inspected the wall which was then dry and the photographs and said that the insulation around the pipes may have had a space for the water to get through and he spray foam around my pipes.
Several weeks later the next heavy rain storm came through and I noticed water coming in from another pipe on the same wall that he put foam in. I looked under the pipe and there was a 1-2 inch gap in the insulation around the bottom of a sewage pipe where water was pouring into the basement from. I again called Shawn up to repair the problem. Once again it was impossible to reach him since his phone would either go right to voicemail or say that the voicemail box was full.
I again walked around the development and found Brian who said that he would make sure the issue was resolved. Shawn called me a few hours later and said that he would be at the job site later that day and that he would stop by. He never came that day and I attempted to call him again and got the voicemail. The next day I walked around the development and saw him introducing a new homeowner to their house and I approached him there. He was comletely embarrassed and kept saying that he would be at my house as soon as he was finished with his clients.
He came to my house and I showed him the gap where the water was entering the basement. He sent two helpers to my house later that day and they slapped cement on my interior basement wall around the pipe. I am not contractor and do not claim to be one, but even I know that this will not resolve the issue long term. They would need to dig up the front and either put tar or a similar product around the problem area to insure that water did not push it's way back through. Shawn had already left the house and everyone else was gone for the day. I called him on the cell phone again and it again went right to voicemail.
The next day I met with Brian Horn who told me that this would be resolved and he agreed with me that the outside would need to be sealed as well to stop the water from pushing through the cement patch. I then spoke to Shawn and he disagreed and said that the wall would not get water again and for me not to worry because the repair would be covered by Beazer since a record was made of the problem. I spoke to Brian again and told him what Shawn had said and he said that the issue would be resolved and that he would personally insure that the job gets done right. He said that they were very busy trying to get the new houses up and that as soon as he had a worker available he would fix the problem.
Over the next several weeks nothing was done and I would stop him to remind him each time I saw him and he kept saying not to worry that the problem would be fixed. Summer turned to Fall and Fall turned to Winter and the problem was not resolved.
In late winter, I met with Brian again and told him that the ground was going freeze and that the work would not be completed and he told me that they were leaving for a new development in New York and that he would get the job done before then and he also told me that Shawn Parra had been fired. Since then I have not seen Shawn or Brian and no one is returning my phone calls or emailed messages to Customer Care on the website.
The last person I spoke to was in Atlanta, GA and she said that the issue would be handled. I then received a call from the new Customer Care Rep who was sending a contractor out to see the problem and he felt that the wall was alright with just the interior patch.
Eight months later, I just went downstairs to my basement and noticed that there is a considerable amount of water in my basement again and the wall is wet under the same pipe and there is a small crack in the concrete patch. I have left a message for Jackie Mc Closky and she has not yet called me back and I then contacted Beazer Corporate in Atlanta again and this time they said that they will not address anything in New Jersey that it would have to go through New Jersey's Customer Care Center which led me right back to the voicemail box of Jackie Mc Closky.
Someone please help because this time my $600 comforter set was soaked with rain water and I am hoping that we can get the smell out. I do not believe in suing and this is why I have not yet gotten attorneys involved, but there has got to be a limit to how much someone must take before taking legal action.
Dennis
Hamburg, New Jersey
U.S.A.
3 Updates & Rebuttals
Dennis
Hamburg,New Jersey,
U.S.A.
Beazer Repaired most of the issues that are stated in this filing without further incident
#4Author of original report
Fri, January 18, 2008
Beazer Repaired most of the issues that are stated in this filing without further incident
Nickic
Greenwood,Indiana,
U.S.A.
HOW TO RESOLVE THIS ISSUE
#4Consumer Suggestion
Fri, January 18, 2008
I live in Indiana which is where beazer was founded. Beazer is actually a developer called Crossman that went belly up and filed bankruptcy, then reopened the company under Beazer homes. If you are looking to resolve your issues you first need to file a warranty claim so that you have all of your problems in writing. IF they don't come out within 30 days of the claim to assess damage or pix problems you must file with an attorney general for the state you live in and file a complaint with your local better business bureau. The BBB with help you resolve the dispute and your attorney general probably also has some words of advice on how to go about your claim without suing.
http://law.ga.gov/00/article/0,2086,87670814_88011435_91950611,00.html
This is a link to the attorney general's website regarding construction practices. Now depending upon what city you live in you might need to go through your city or town ordinances since Georgia doesn't have set standards for the state yet. I wish you luck and let me know how this turns out. BE SURE to submit that warranty claim for your structural warranty soon or it will run out.
Cindy
Norman,Oklahoma,
U.S.A.
You may not be able to sue even if you decide to
#4Consumer Suggestion
Mon, October 29, 2007
Check all your paperwork for a clause that may state something along the lines of: "I agree to resolve all disputes in arbitration..." Arbitration is a private dispute resolution system used increasingly by corporations. It means you gave up your right to file a lawsuit. Since corporations do repeat business with arbitrators, and know them better than you do, it puts the corporation at a huge advantage. The arbitrator may have a bias to favor the builder. Unless you're in CA, arbitration decisions are private so a lot of complaints get hidden this way. Even though reported in CA, a "win" for the homeowner might be pennies on the dollar of their actual damages.
That said, do not delay in reading all your paperwork, getting expert legal advice as to when your deadlines run out, and making SURE you have a solid paper trail that you've been requesting repairs. (Deadlines such as warranty, statute of limitations, and 'right to repair law' compliance.) If you have no proof you requested repairs before deadlines run out, the builder can simply claim you never told them. If you have proof of notification, such as CERTIFIED RETURN RECEIPT MAIL, they can't so easily pull this trick.
If your state has a "right to repair law," also known as right to cure, notice of opportunity to repair, and other names, you are required to follow a particular process or your complaint can't go forward.
Be careful of letting this or any builder LULL you into keeping your complaint verbal! Promises that aren't kept are a sure sign of lulling.
Beazer is showing signs of financial problems and they are under federal investigation for mortgage fraud. Investors are going after them for possible fraud also. Do not delay in taking care of your case, as if they go under, you will have to get in line with thousands of other creditors to try and get compensation, and homeowners are about the bottom of the list for consideration. Banks, etc, will be far ahead of you for what's left of Beazer if they go belly up.
I have been through a construction defect case and I came out the winner. A few words of advice:
Do not delay.
Do not wait for them to do the right thing. They obviously have shown they don't intend to.
If you give them an inch they will take a mile.
Document everything!
Find out the laws in YOUR state.
Be persistent!
Good luck.