Oh my gosh where do I begin. As I write this, I am so angry words cannot even begin to describe.
Our unfortunate saga with First Texas Homes began almost at the beginning.
On August 25 we made our first official visit out to Parkway Lakes to seriously explore the possibility of contracting with First Texas Homes to build a home. We had visited there previously, as well as other subdivisions where First Texas was present and were very pleased with what we saw. We also had a few friends who had built with First Texas within the year and they were happy, at the time, with their experience on the whole. On our first official visit on this day, we were advised that the sales person Lisa Borens was off and would return the next day and would follow up with us on our interest and answer any questions we had. The next couple of days we waited for a call from Lisa and it never came. We attempted several times over the next week and 1/2 to reach Lisa and always received the answering machine. We left messages but they were not returned. We also made two more attempts to visit with Lisa personally and she was not in the office. Finally, and only after I placed a call to the district sales office to inquire about who else I could speak with about building in Parkway Lakes, Lisa returned my call.
On September 16 we contracted with First Texas to build our home and placed a deposit of $2000.00 to do so. The following week I made a change in the original lot we had chosen and a new contract was signed on the new lot. I was advised at that time that work would begin once all blueprints and permits were recieved. I was given a time frame of shortly before Thanksgiving for the foundation pour. Thanksgiving came and went without anything being done. I inquired several times, too many times to list in fact, about what was causing the delay and I was told that they were still waiting on all the permits to come in. On a visit out to the sales office on December 2 I was told by Lisa Borens that all of the necessary permits were in and her supervisor had reviewed them and they were all ok so now the builders packet which must be received prior to the foundation pour was being finalized and that was causing a delay. On another visit out to the sales office on December 9 I was advised that because of the lot change I had made one of the permits was incorrect and had to be corrected (I thought they had already been verified) and that was causing a delay. On December 23 I went out to the sales office and was advised by Lisa that my builders packet was complete and "in". She asked if I could come out to her office on December 30th at 10am for a pre-redline meeting to review the blueprints and decide on where I wanted my options placed and the red-line meeting with the builder would be held the following week.
On December 30th while en route to the sales office I received a call from the sales assistant that Lisa was "trapped" at her house because of a storm and would not be able to meet with me that day to go over my packet. I asked if I could come in any way. The assistant stated she would have to contact Lisa to find out where my documents were and call me back. The assistant called me back and advised me that per Lisa my packet had been sent via Fed-Ex on December 28 and was due to arrive on December 29 but didn't arrive as scheduled. I asked the assistant for the Fed-Ex tracking number. The assistant had to call Lisa again and call me back. Upon calling back the assistant advised me that Lisa stated she didn't have the tracking number but she was sure that the package would arrive on January 2 and would I be available on January 4 to come in and review. I advised the assistant to advise Lisa, who was refusing to call me, that I wanted to sit down and review the packet immediately on arrival on January 2. The assistant called Lisa and called me back to advise that Lisa agreed to meet me on January 2 to review.
On January 2 I received a call from the assistant that the packet did not come in and that in fact the packet was still in Dallas and had never been sent. At this point I was livid and called the regional sales office and requested to speak to Lisa's supervisor. I was directed to Megan Garnica who agreed to check to see what was happening with the packet. Megan called me back to advise that she had verified that the packet was still at the corporate office in Dallas but would be overnighted to Lisa at Parkway Lakes that day and should be recieved January 3. I made arrangements because of a growing lack of faith in these people to allow an extra day until January 4 for the packet to arrive.
On January 4 I called Parkway Lakes for Lisa and received the answering machine. Repeated messages were unreturned. On January 5 I called the sales office and Lisa advised that the packet had still not been sent from the Dallas corporate office and she had spoken with someone in the office who told her that the paperwork was still awaiting the signature of the President of the company and it was on his desk awaiting his signature. Lisa stated that she was told not to expect the documents to be sent until Tuesday January 9. I expected to hear something from her one or the other by January 11 since she is off on Tuesday's and Wednesday, but as usual she didn't call. I called on January 11 and spoke to the assistant who advised that Lisa was off that day since she had worked on January 10. The assistant claimed no knowledge if my packet had arrived or not. I left a message with the assistant to have Lisa contact me. On January 12th I called the sales office repeatedly, each time getting the answering machine, my messages were unreturned. Finally, today January 13th, I called the sales office and Lisa answered and immediately went into how the packet came in but is at the corporate office in Houston but they refused to allow her to come and pick it up on yesterday. She stated they advised her she could come in on Monday and pick up the packet. Lisa stated they were holding on to the packet for some reason that she could not explain. I advised Lisa that at this point I want to cancel my contract and I want my $2000 deposit returned immediately.
These people are liars and their customer service skills are nonexistent! We are so disgusted we have waisted 4 months of our time on these people when we could have been halfway thru the entire process with another more organized and reputable builder who really valued us as customers. I would not trust them to build a box let alone a house at this point. One of my friends who built with them is going thru hell getting them to repair various defects in their home that was found in their one year warranty review.
I will provide updates on the progress in getting my money back! Past experience is a good indicator of future behavior so I have no doubt that the process to get our money back will be a hard fought effort. I am bracing myself for the fight!
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