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  • Report:  #480249

Complaint Review: Rick Merlini

Rick Merlini American Heartland Homes American Heartland Homebuilders This guy stole my $36,000.00 Deposit Troy, Michigan

  • Reported By:
    Max — Troy Michigan USA
  • Submitted:
    Sat, August 15, 2009
  • Updated:
    Sun, February 03, 2013
  • Rick Merlini
    http://www.americanheartlandhomes.com/index.aspx
    Internet
    United States of America
  • Phone:
    7042467336
  • Category:
    Building Services
*REBUTTAL Owner of company: Not all the facts have been told *Author of original report: How easily you forget rick *Consumer Comment: drain in our yard too

I was buying a home from Rick Merlini in the Brigatine Estates developement in Harrison Township Michigan.  I put $36,000 down on this house and was very excited about owning my own home.  Everything was going fine with the home untill spring came around.  Something was terribly wrong with the grading. as the three lots to the right of me and half the lot to the left of me all were draining into my backyard and the water was not going anywhere but in the backyard.  The City required them to put a drain right in the middle of the backyard.  Who in their right mind is going to spend $280,000 on a house with a drain right in the middle of their back yard.  I told American heartland that this was unacceptable.  They would not refund the deposit.  Instead they were hiding behind an arbitration clause in their purchase agreement so they would not have to go to court.


I find out not too long after that the original developer used an engineer who had stolen someones engineering stamps and was prosecuted for this.  So the whole developement was messed up and RICK Merlini would have had knowledge of this and never bothered to disclose that to me anywhere in the whole process of purchasing this house. 


In my opinion he is an unethical business man and does not deserve to be building houses.  I wonder why he fled the State of Michigan to North Carolina?  If anyone knows anything else about him please respond.

3 Updates & Rebuttals

wendy and peter lamont new haven mi

new haven,
Michigan,
United States of America

drain in our yard too

#4Consumer Comment

Sun, February 03, 2013

We also have a AH home with drain in the back of the property, not happy..but then again Merlini screwed us with leaky windows, siding that was not correctly installed, high winds, it falls off...$10K damage to house. Would not build with this a**hole and he will not respond to our complaints so I guess the Internet is our friend and will continue to file complaints. new haven, mi

Ex Elite employee

Troy,
Michigan,
USA

How easily you forget rick

#4Author of original report

Mon, February 13, 2012

The house was a 400k+ house and the city said there was something wrong. They forced you to put a drain in the backyard because the lot was not draining properly. I don't know anyone that will pay 400k for a house with a drain in the back yard. You needed to bring in more soil or fix the grade but you were to cheap to do it. You can live your life and steal peoples money in the carolinas but one day my friend I will see you again.

Rick Merlini

Sterling Hts,
Michigan,
USA

Not all the facts have been told

#4REBUTTAL Owner of company

Sat, May 15, 2010

I would like to give our side of the story but in bullet point form

  • Yes this Gentlemen did buy a home from us.
  • Yes he did give us a $ 36,000 deposit for the home.
  • We started to build the home , near the  completion of the home, homeowner complained about the grade.
  • We hired an outside engineers , had the city engineers , and had our engineers all out to look at the grade to see if anything was wrong.
  • All 3 partys did not find anything wrong with the grade
  • Homeowner would not close on the home
  • We ask him to get an outside professional engineer to show us what we did wrong , and if anything was wrong, we would repair it.
  • After 2 weeks , we did not receive any response from him
  • We put him notice that he either find a professional engineer to support his claims or we where going to put the house up for sale and he would be responsible for any cost or damages.
  • He contacts our salesperson and tells her he is walking from the home.
  • 3 months later , we sold home to a different person. They are living in the home for over 4 years with no complaints.
  • We did not hear from him until 1 1/2 year later.
  • He hired  2 different attorneys at 2  separate occasion over the next 1 year to file arbitration case against us.
  • We worked with each of his attorneys on both occasion and explain our side of the story . On both occasion his attorneys did not file for arbitration.
  • He file a complaint with the State Of Michigan. Once again we defended our position and was found of doing no wrong
  • I did not run from Michigan to North Carolina. I did open up a company in North Carolina.
  • I still leave here in Michigan.
  • All of these claims I have made have been documented with the city and state.

 

I really do not know what happen.  Towards the end of the home it seems like he was  just looking for a reason not to close on the home.

The strangest part of the whole story is, my salesperson explain to me that he was going to walk away from the home knowing he was going to forfeit his deposit. We do not hear from this person for over a year and a half, Than after that year and a half he starts with the attorneys and demands.

I am sorry that he decided to walk from his deposit. All he had to do was to prove we did something wrong and we would of corrected it.

Good Luck  Rick Merlini

 

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