Complaint Review: Factory Expo Home Expo - Leola Pennsylvania

 My mother and I live across the street from one another, in single wide mobile homes, in a mobile home park, in Stewartstown, PA. Since we are both retired, and we both live alone now, we decided to consider selling both single wide mobile homes and investing in one double wide mobile home and living together to save on expenses. We were fortunate enough to have a conversation with the park owner who agreed to buy both of our single wide mobile homes for what we were asking and he agreed to move one of the homes to his other park to accommodate a new double wide we would be considering. We Googled mobile home manufacturers and found Factory Expo Home Centers, in Leola, PA, about an hour away from us. We reviewed their website and scheduled an appointment to view the mobile homes onsite and the manufacturing facility.

The first home we entered met our requirements almost exactly, with the exception of a few upgrades that we desired. It just so happens the "Snowhill", the mobile home we were interested in, was on sale at a deep discount. We already had an idea of the total cost of the home we were willing to pay, so the sale was a big surprise. We did not anticipate the high cost of the upgrades that we wanted, so between the sale and the upgrades cost it leveled itself out. We visited the center on two more occasions; basically to look at the home again and to sign paperwork. Most of the correspondence occurred through emails and scanned forms with signatures and then emails following. I have a two inch folder of all the emails and forms. It was exhaustive, time consuming, and meticulous.

Our mortgage company, 21st Mortgage, is the worst to deal with, albeit you will never deal with them directly and only secondarily through the office coordinator at Factory Expo Home Centers. 21st Mortgage loses emailed documents, requires duplicative information, does not communicate internally between departments, and is slow to notify the homeowner of required documentation; some of it that seems totally unnecessary for processing a mortgage. Beware of the sales presentation! I cannot stress this enough. Buying a home from this company is NOT a turnkey operation, even though we were led to believe it was. We were definitely smart enough to know that the home would be assembled in two halves and require assembly, but my expertise is in healthcare (25+ years anesthesiology and pain management) and my mother's experience is in the hospitality industry. We asked our salesperson, Pete Caci, who would deliver the two halves, assemble the halves, connect the power, water, propane, cable, etc? We obviously are not home builders and have no experience in buying a new mobile home. We've purchased used mobile homes previously and didn't have to worry about any delivery or setup of a new home. Pete said that we didn't need worry about anything, that Factory Expo Home Centers has its own drivers, delivers the home, completes the setup, and works with a contracting company that takes care of the utilities, building the steps and decks, sewer, and that it would be a carefree process for us. This was the biggest misrepresentation that was provided to us.

In addition, I consider the absence of information, the same thing as lying. I was never told the name of the delivery company or the contracting company that was going to be responsible for setting up my home. I was never given a choice of who to use instead of who was chosen for us. After approval from the mortgage company and scheduling of the manufacturing of the home, the paperwork nightmare began. Since I am a type A personality and have been a COO and held many executive level roles in my career, I was not daunted by the task, although I could not control the incompetence of others I was dealing with. My turnaround times were almost, if not immediate. It's a good thing I saved every email, scanned document, and form because I had to resend information several times.

After the home arrived, I noticed that the back door was not on the back of the home where we wanted the deck, in the backyard. The back door was located under the plastic, at the end of the home, oriented to face our driveway, not a location for a deck. During the walk through and upgrade selection, it was never pointed out to us that homeowners usually have a sliding glass door installed in the dining room where our backyard was located. The salesperson didn't bother to ask us about the orientation of our home as it relates to our property. You have to understand, we were overwhelmed during the walk through and buying process and neglected to ask this and probably more questions. We were relying on the expertise of our salesperson to guide us through the process with honesty and integrity. I was suddenly advised by email by the office coordinator that we were responsible for getting all the utilities turned on prior to Skycare, the inside contracting company provided by Factory Expo Home Centers, visiting.This was the first I had heard that it was the homeowner's responsibility to be the liaison between the contracting company and the utility companies and responsible for getting additional contracting companies to perform additional tasks. The contracting company never communicated with our power company, township inspection service, or myself half the time.

Wolfe Manufactured Setup, LLC. is the contracting company, under the direction of Kevin Hess, who has been impossible to work with. The electrician he has working for him has argued with our power company about the power company's website posted regulations and standards. Our inspection has failed three times and we still don't have electric. The water line was installed without a proper piece, negating the ability to install a water meter. Had Kevin communicated with the utility companies, none of these issues would have surfaced. We still do not have a water meter installed. The salesperson neglected to tell us that the furnace and range were natural gas, instead of propane, which is what we use. We had to pay our propane company extra to convert the equipment to propane from natural gas. The home is beautiful! We are not sorry we bought it. We are sorry we bought it from an irreputable dealer. We would have paid the extra to have someone else take care of the permitting, liaisons between utility companies and contractors, and setup.

Factory Expo Home Centers is just a manufacturer of mobile homes, nothing more. You are responsible for permitting, zoning, seepage pits, getting your own contracting company, dealing with utility companies and termination and starting services. It is a huge task, similar to a second job. If you cannot dedicate the time, energy, and additional thousands of dollars, do not buy from this company. Once you sign the delivery certificate, you are on your own. The funds will be transferred from the mortgage company to Factory Expo Home Centers and they will act no different than a used car salesman. Buyer Beware! Thanks