Complaint Review: Jim Walter Homes

Cynthia was very correct. I am certain that if you search Ford, GM, Toyota, Pepsi, or Coke that you will find horror stories. It is a known fact that people are typically fat because they eat too much and are lazy. Well people are typically bad credit customers because they spend too much and don't pay bills. All issues I have seen thus far on this site is a direct result of uninformed buyers.

To say that JWHG preys on poor, defenseless buyers is horribly mistaken. Look at the national market trends, as the bubble mess is cleaned up, these people are going to have to buy a house in the next 3 years. Businesses like JWHG will be the only ones with the financing to build these permanent structures for subprime buyers. I am amazed how many complaints there are about improper land recording.

I have never seen in a contract where JWHG requires you to let them do the legal work. If you were using any other general contractor, you would take care of your legal issues yourself. Why would you pay JWHG to pay for a survey and deed work? I would not trust my family property to a person I just met a week ago. People need to understand that this $100k+ investment you are making is truly a lifelong obligation. Certainly check out other build sites just as you would check referrals on child care providers.

I would never hire a nanny who refused to give me a referral list. JWHG is truly a branch ran company, with each branch varying greatly. Jn, if you adhere to everything posted on a public site, I challenge you to search the name of the company who built your automobile. If you find more than 5 complaints on that company, then sell, sell, sell! I am anxious to hear the results!

Cynthia's response boils down to "we are a very old and very big company...we can't help it if some of our people cause problems, we are too big...try us again and maybe you will be one of the luck ones..."

In this wonderful age of the World Wide Web companies that don't protect their customers won't continue to survive. Thanks to "RipOff" for allowing companies like JW Homes to be exposed for what they are.

The most outstanding comment in Cynthia's rebuttal was the one that something has to go wrong (or break) before we know to fix it. I am only happy that she is not a manager of an airline maintenance group with that 1800's archaic thout process. You would think that in 60 years the company would have learned how to fix before it is broken.

I'm called every couple of weeks by someone from JW Homes trying to explain that they have changed and basically I should give them my money. NO WAY!

My house was purchased in 2005. I'm still not in my home. We had no hurricanes in Jackson, Tn. You can view photo's of my house at myjimwalterhom.com . Cynthia, your customer support is the worst I've ever seen. Your people answer the phone and thats it. They respond to complaints only after the house is built and the damage is done. No response is in writing which keeps Jim Walters free and clear of a paper trail. It takes 6 months to even get a response. The sales people lie about when the house will be started and finished. I will let the photo's of my house and others do the talking. For those that have photo's of your house you can visit my site above and post photo's in the gallery and submit your stories. Help other consumers who might be thinking of making the same mistake we have.

I really would think hard on buying from JWH. I am one of the consumers that is having problems with JWH. I hired an attorney before I signed any papers of completion and that was my biggest hope. JWH took 10 acres instead of 1 acre which puts JWH in fault. JWH built the house on the back half of acre that I wanted it built on. The house was built on unleveled piers that I asked the contract manager to look at before being built. Mr. Huey never came out and the house was built with wrapped,mildewed, and etc. The roof has been change and worked on three times and still leaks. The floors, Walls, roof, and celling are warped. We contact as far as the main office and all we got was broken promises and threats. I would suggest to do like Cynthia Frost suggest. Ask for homes that are being built at the time before you sign and ask for people in the sounding area about JWH. If you are lucky Jwh will give you names. I asked for names and didn't received any. I went looking for JWH being built or had been built and everyone I talked to was not satisfied. JWH target people who can not afford to fight them. I was lucky enough to be able to fight and found a great attorney that cares. I would advise to anybody at this time not to build with JWH with out an attorney of your own to check JWH out. Sorry MS.Cynthia Frost but my nightmare has been going on for 4 years and still nothing. The company has not checked on the house one time for almost 2 years and it is falling apart. CONSUMERS BEWARE!

I agree that sites like this do help consumers in the search for the facts..but I also feel they should be looked at objectively. I am a Manager for Jim Walter Homes in the Panama City Office. While it is a fact that some of our offices have had some problem in the past I think you should also take a look at the dates of most of those complaints. Most of the complaints were after the many hurricanes in 04 when there were material shortages and many other issues to deal with that are not the norm. Also please keep in mind that we have been in business over 60 years and have over 80 offices in the United States. With this many offices that deal with not only individuals who are building homes but also the many people that are involved with the process, there are going to be times when unforeseen things will happen and sometimes you don't know something is broken until it needs fixing, so if the office has had a big turn around I would take that as a good thing, meaning they are aware of the past problems and are working to fix what might not have worked well. I know from first hand experience that the present upper management in the Jim Walter Homebuilders Group are some of the best the company has ever had. They are very conscious of the needs of todays homebuyers and demand that the branch managers be aware of each step in the selling and building process. They expect high performance levels from each aspect of the job from start to finish in sales, finance, building and warranty work. Each group is held accountable and is expected to do a good job which includes customer service.
I would hope as a consumer that this site would give you questions to ask your sales rep or the branch manager to help you make better informed decisions instead of using it as a tool to just say no and possibly miss out on a great home and some of the best finance options available in the market. I would also suggest asking the sales person or the manager to let you look at some of the homes being built at the present time so you can judge for yourself the workmanship at the different stages. Also ask for some referrals from people who live in A Jim Walter Home built by that branch. Don't be afraid to ask questions and expect answers. Just wanted to let you know my thoughts on the subject.
Cynthia Frost- JWH Branch Manager
Panama City, Florida