After Hurricane Andrew passed I realized I was now a homeless person as my old mobile home was completey gone. Lucky for me my job was located in Miami and I at least still had a job. I made the sad mistake of ordering a home from Prestige Mobile Homes/Nobility Homes. I first spoke to Nobility and was told I would have to place my order thru Prestige. Being a purchasing agent I felt confortable in placing my order via the phone, fed ex and regular mail. I picked out the floor plan and the accessories I wanted and I paid extra for upgrades for things such as carpet to black laminate counter tops which I had to locate the material for the factory. When my mobile home was delivered I was so happy becuase I had been living with people I didnt really know for over three months and it was nice to finally have myown place and to give the gracious family back their won life and home. The very first thing I noticed when I entered the home was the carper color was not what I had ask for and the quality was sub standard. The ceiling fan in the living room was attached to the center strip and there was nothing behind the strip to support the fan and shortly there after the strip came down along with the fan. When I hired a maintenance person to come out and put it back up he told me there was no rafter for it to attach to and the repair he would make wouldnt last long. Sure enough he was right. He searched under the strip looking for a rafter and the closet one was 8 inches away and that would put the fan out of center of the living room. When I had problems in the master bathroom it was discovered that the entire bathroom was an after thought as when the walls had to be replaced in the shower bathtub stall, there was two layers of wallpaper. I had ordered shut off valves all through out the house but for some reason the showers and tubs had none and the ones that were installed soon started to leak and I had to pay a plumber to come out and replace them all. I paid top dollar for a bare empty home that came with only a microwave and ceiling fans and paid over $24,000 back in 1992. The central A/C unit I ordered and paid for was a TRANE and what was installed was a off brand unit. The home was damaged when it was placed on the lot and also the interior walls had buckels and crease lines in them but the factory man said there wasnt anything he could do about it and advised me to hand something over those spots. Other mobile homes in my park cost around the same but they had furniture and complete appliance packages and upgraded carpets but I had chose in the beginning to buymy own when it was delivered. The color of the carpet was wrong, the wallpapaer colors were wrong and the counter tops in the bathroom were the wrong colors. It was as if the factory had a bunch of stuff they needed to get rid of and since mine was one of the first to be built after the storm, I got all the crap that needed to be used up incorporated into mine. I know in the future if I buy a manufactured home I will go directly to the factory and see their operation and talk with their sales department and then stay for a week or more when my unit is scheduled to be built. I have no one to blame but myself but after going thru one of the worst urricances to hit the US and then live in a strangers home for three months and I had a job to maintain and a brother looking at me to get us into a home and out of someone elses home I did what I thought was best. I am from a place in the US where a man's word is as good as a contract but I soon found out that not all in the business world hold these things close to their hearts. I was always told thatwhat goes around comes around and one day Prestige and Nobility Homes would get there due and now I have found a place where I can let other buyers beware of this shoddy company and their sales people. Never trust anyone when it comes to a big ticket item like this and make the effort to go to the factory and stay on top of everything right down to the last nail installed. DO your HOMEWORK before you buy and check out the companies you buy from prior to giving up your hard earned money and this could never be more true than now when our country is in a near collapse financially. If you would like more detals I still have all the original paperwork from 1992. To everyone who reads this posting, just remember that you as the buyer have to do our research and homework and then when you go to buy get things in writing were possible.
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