To whom it may concern:
In August of 1995, my husband and I purchased a mobile home from a clayton home repensentive (Baker Homes Of Wilson, N.C.) When we moved to Florence, S.C. We wanted a home like the one we had lived in for four years. So we went to Clayton Homes Of Florence.
We took them the floor plans of the home we had. We were told they would have to order the home. We told them that we had our own finance company and had already been approved and that they would not finance the home until it was put on the land and had to been inspected.
We were told we had to sign papers for them to order the house and that it had to be finance with the finance company before they could order it. They ordered the house and brought it to their lot. I was still in N.C. And my husband went out to the lot and looked at it he said as for as he could tell it was the right house, but it had not been put together at that time. When they put the house on the lot it was a Somerset and not a Hearthlander that we had ordered.
It was a cheaper version of the one we wanted, so I told them it was not the house I wanted and that they could come and get it.
They talked very ugly to us and told us there was no difference.
Then after about a couple of weeks of arguring back and forth, the manager at that time called my husband and told us to come out to the office. Ernie Davis at that time, he said they would build us a porch if we would take the house on the lot. He was told we did not want it, he got ugly about the sitituation, but ordered us a house. I asked if him being upset with us would cause us any problem if we had problems later with the house. He said no, that Clayton Homes stood behind their houses.
Well we did not know at that time that there was different qualities of the Heartlander, no one had explained this to us. When we saw the house we could not believe the difference. He told us that it was the changes that had been made over the years since we had purchased one. So we decided to go back to the lot where we had purchased one in 1995 and Mr. Barnes said there was different qualities in the Heartlander and that he only sold the deluxe.
He said that he sold the deluxe for 39,999 dollars with everything in it and if we bought it without the fireplace and the furniture that he would sell it for 34,999. He could not beleive that we had been charged 49,000 for the home without no fireplace and no furniture. And that also we had got the cheapest model of the Heartlander.
Since we have purchased this home we have talked to four or five people that was suppose to be some kind of a manager, we have been told they could not do anything about the price of the home. That they had took a loss from us refusing to buy the house that was first put on our lot. It was not our problem that they tried to cheat us that way. But they ripped us off after all.
First of all they broke the mirror in the hall bathroom and it cut the bathroom floor. They order a mirror and floor covering to go on the floor, well when they put the floor down they did not pick up all the trash off the floor, there is a lump in the floor. He also did not take up the molding and when he put the floor covering down he put another piece of molding on top of the one already there and it is not as big as the first piece of molding. The next complaint was the carpet it was stretching. They have sent two different service men out here to stretch the carpet and it is still stretching. It never was scotch guarded. And we can not clean the carpet.
I talked with a guy who sells carpet. He told me if it was cheap carpet or cut on a bias, that it would keep stretching. It looks terrible.
The next problem is the house came without 2 screens, we have been told by at least 5 people that they were ordering the screens. It will soon be a year and we have no screens yet.
One of the problems is the comodes is for midgets, when we asked about them the goverment will not let them put a bigger comode in the new houses, but they are in some we looked at on the sale lot. It is very embarasing to have to keep a plunger in the bathroom so a vistor won't be embarassed when they cannot flush the comode.
One of our outlets is falling out of the wall.
We had asked that osb board be put around all of the house, well there is none on the ends of the house. When we first moved in there was spiders and crikets coming in the house, my husband has put something to keep them from coming in until we can settle this matter.
The door into the washroom is bowed and when it rains we can barely open the door, because it sticks.
They have had about 4 managers and 5 or 6 service men in one year. Everytime we decide to call about the problem we have to talk to someone new.
One other problem is cheap cabinets in the kitchen and the bathroom, we complained about them and a guy came out and replaced them with the same cheap cabinets.
We feel we have been overcharged 14,000 dollars for a house that is 14,000 dollars cheaper than the one we paid 32,000 for 5 years ago.
We have been to other Clayton homes in the past year, we were told that they sold the deluxe model for 45,000 fully furnished.
I have wrote Kevin Clayton, the owner of the company, talked to several people who work for the company, and they don't think that we should complain.
I have wrote the Better Business Bureau, Comsumer affairs and The manufactured housing board and no one has helped me yet. I have received 3 cards from the Housing board saying they would let me know something in 30 days and I haven't heard anything yet.
You know if I am poor enought to buying a mobile home I don't have the money to hire a lawyer. But looks like we are going to have to do without something to hire one, because no one cares if we have been ripped off or not.
I fell we have been ripped off and that someone should listen to what we are saying.
Betty R. Hunt
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