Peter
Saint Charles,#2Consumer Comment
Mon, September 30, 2002
I feel for you... Our builder Perillium Homes of Saint Charles Ripped us off royally. Said we had a two year warranty but refused to take care of his obgligations. He left us with many of thousands of dollars in repairs also. You need to call some insurance companies to see if he had insurance...If he did, put in a claim !! Tell them the truth he was negligent. Hold them responsible. Insurance companies cannot hide like these scummy builders! No builder in the Illinois area will give you a hold back before closing...The intentions of many builders in the area are to ripp you off. Unfortunately the great state of Illinois allows this...
Cindy
Edmond,#3Consumer Suggestion
Mon, June 24, 2002
Some of this won't help you now, and some hopefully will: If at all possible a buyer should at least try to have some of the money held back in escrow, unavailable to the builder without the new homeowner's signature, until unfinished or incorrect items are addressed. However, once they have all your money, it's common for them to never come back, despite written contracts and warranties that say they "have to." Truth is, getting such a warranty or contract enforced is usually a lot of work and expense and builders know that. They count on you giving in when you realize it's just not worth it to pursue it any longer. For homeowners who have "only" a few hundred, or a few thousand bucks in repairs, they usually do give up, fix it themselves and grumble a lot. Check out www.hadd.com . File written complaints. Be sure the first one is to your builder, and sent certified return receipt mail so he can't claim he never got it. Sometimes just letting them know you're not a fool or a push-over, and putting things in writing will get it done. Really bad builders will ignore customers no matter what or hide complaints in arbitration so no one can find out.