Complaint Review: Maronda Homes of Cincinnati

My husband and I recently moved from Wisconsin to Kentucky, we spent a weekend in Kentucky just before we moved the family to find a home.  We thought we found the perfect home.  It was a Spec Model home.  We decided to put an offer in on it.  I should have known since they didn't budge on the price and wanted us to use 'THE MARONDA PAPERWORK' to make our offer on, we should have RAN.  Yes, I know now, we should have waited...

That was Feb. 2010.  In March 2010, we had moved to the area, realized that we didn't know the area that well.

Problem#1- Maronda had the wrong schools listed on the spec sheet.  After much confusion and many phone calls we figured that out.
Problem #2- Maronda would not disclose the name of the company that put the kitchen cabinets in so I could talk to them about adding cabinets to the kitchen, 'until after we would close'. 
Problem #3- Not the correct tax rate listed on the spec sheet.  About a $3 diffrence per thousand.
Problem #4 - Strange 'rust' marks on the basment walls worried us, but the guy from the model home didn't know why that was and tried to tell us it was nothing. He was much less than helpful in many more points. He didn't seem to care either. Great customer service!

... and found out we could get more home for the same amount with a better lot with a different builder that would be a better location.  (We were not looking, but we happenrd to receive an email from one of the builders we had checked out)
After talking with the other builder we quickly realized we did not want that Maronda Home.  We were fully aware we were going to lose our ernest money of $3000.  We understood that.

BUT... Maronda Homes refused to let us out of the contract unless we paid him ANOTHER $3000!!!
I wish I had googled Maronda Homes before we made that offer.  Wow!  All the unhappy people, no wonder they felt they needed to keep our deposit plus plug us for MORE.
  
Maronda felt they missed out on all of the 'Bailout buyers' BUT we did not qualify for that bonus money from the government, Now, they have over a month to find another buyer before the deadline of April 30th. 
So they kept out first $3000 and got an additional $3000 from us, not to mention some of the worst word of mouth that you can, not from us, but our realtor, mortgage company, and the New builder we will be going with... Great Job Maronda, nice way to get your name out there!