Silvercrest Homes is a ripoff. Woodland, California
This is the first brand new house we bought, a Silvercrest Manufactured Home, in 1991. We were so excited! We leased the land for 55 years, including all the amenities. Then our nightmare began. We had problem after problem with the home. The contractor who put it in was the guy who did the warranty. Well, he didn't do much. They told us when the year was almost up they would continue to repair things, as they didn't have enough help. Besides the rest of the defects in the home, our windows and sliding glass door had water in them so you couldn't see out. At the same time our windows had a dark color of some sort that we just couldn't seem to get rid of.
With all the fighting we did, finally Silvercrest had a guy come out in 1995. They looked at the home and agreed to put new windows in, (9 windows and a sliding door). Windows will made by Phillips. Again the new windows and sliding door was put in, again the windows got fogged up and water in them. The problem wasn't solved. Silvercrest's web site said our home came from Woodland, Calif. http://www.silvercrest.com/factory.htm
Our insurance was Farmers Ins. and they wouldn't do anything. Wasn't covered.
We hired a lawyer who said it would cost us ten thousand dollars to do the case. We borrowed money. In the meantime experts came out to look at the windows and home. We found out the home had mold growing in it, as an expert took tests. Than the lawyer wanted more money--we couldn't believe it. We borrow another $5,000.00, still going more and more into debt. After the lawyer wanted another $25,000.00, we ended it with him, it was to much and the stress was getting worse. We hired another lawyer to continue, who will get 33% of what we win, if we win. But WE paid for all the experts, depositions and etc. More in debt we went...
In 1999, an environmental doctor looked at our home and examined us, and told us the house was making us sick and we should move as soon as possible. What a scary thing to have to do. From experts we found out our land was never graded, so it wasn't level. That's why water would run under our home, and we also found we didn't have the required vapor barrier under our home, (required by the Manufactured Housing codes). The expert opened our sidling up, and there was no vapor barrier in the walls. That's why the nails were sunken in the walls. They opened up the wall where it was dark on the wall, and mold was growing on the boards. Our sidling is hardboard.
Facts learned in depositions; when the Silvercrest guy came out to replace our windows, he saw what was happening. He called Silvercrest and told them I believe about all the mold in our windows, and they told him to just replace the windows and leave. Then we found out, before we moved in, a pipe had broken, and the belly was sagged to the ground with water. So they went in and fix the pipe, and left the insulation soaked and didn't repair the belly. We were never told about this until I believe in 1998, and read a deposition from one of the workers who worked there at the time. We also learned that we were supposed to get setup papers on the home, which we never got. Our windows had no flashing, like it was supposed to have been done. THIS IS A REQUIREMENT ALSO.
We recently learned that Silvercrest was owned by Champion Homes, biggest outfit in the United States. We paid $85,000.00 for our home and it will cost over $95,000.00 or more to repair it. We are heavily in debt, now since Aug 1999, on paying for two places, $1,100.00 rent and $1,000.00 for a home we can't live in. And all the expenses of buying new furniture, because we couldn't take the ones out of the home due to mold contamination that cannot be cleaned out of these items. Silvercrest is owned by Champion Enterprises. Jenny Gierman Internet Marketing
Champion Enterprises, Inc.
www.championhomes.net
Josie & Rick
Sparks, Nevada