I am going to make this short and sweet, as we were able to get some of our deposit money refunded, and signed a promise not to pursue legal action in the future. Even though we will never get any more money back, I wanted to post our story so that other consumers will see these stories before they get scammed.
In the Fall of 08 we began looking at a manufactured home as our only option to get out of our rental apartment. We discovered Quality Wholesale Homes/DSH and got started.
Things started ok. Our salesman sent us a DRAFT contract with the options we had selected over the phone. He told us to sign it to show we accepted the options as listed, assuring us that this would not bind us to anything and we could cancel at any time and receive our money back. We sent our $2500 deposit.
Next came our "final contract" that would outline the total costs, to the penny. When we received that contract, it had suddenly grown and included charges for things like tires and lights and brakes for the truck that would haul the house, and we called to ask why those charges were not disclosed earlier. These charges totaled another 3,000 to 4,000 as I recall.
Our salesman was conveniently gone on vacation. Another took over. He told us "well those things are required." We said "yeah, we can figure that out. You knew they were required, so why weren't they listed up front?" He hem-hawed around and we told them we didn't like their little sleight of hand, so we wanted our deposit back. He said No.
Then the threats began. He threatened that not only would he not refund our money, but that he would place the order for the first contract we signed (the one called a draft and was not binding) and that we would be liable for the $40,000 that was listed on that contract. He told us that they would have it built and that it could sit in storage and we would still have to pay for it.
We were quite frightened. We let it drop for a day or two so we could think. We made more calls. The owner/bossman Dave Higbee also refused to give us our deposit back.
Finally, I had an idea. I wrote a letter to Fleetwood, the acutal manufacturer of the homes that DSH/QWH sells. I sent it to the CEO and another prominent individual. I told THEM my story and advised them to cut off relations with DSH/QWH before Fleetwood's good reputation was ruined. I cc'd Dave Higbee, of course. Within a week, we got a call from Dave Higbee offering us half of our money back. We were glad to get anything back, so out of sheer delight we accepted and signed a waiver promising no legal action in the future.
SO... Learn from us... These guys are crooks... And with anyone else... Don't sign anything!!!
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