Palm Harbor caused me to go to Therapy! And almost caused us to divorce. Palm Harbor messed up our double wide trailer (May), gave our money back, blamed us for having too many chances. Well excuse me. But their job is to write down customers request and submit it - RIGHT. She said we could reorder and try to keep the price the same as before as it was on sale. Knowing she messed up the 1st order, we took it upon ourselves (spend many hours/weeks) to fill out their form even with pictures so she and/or the factory would not have the chance to mess up again. Gave it to Rep June 27. She had it approx. Two weeks and ALL she had to do was forward it to the factory to see what they could and could not do.
We kept asking if she heard from the factory; she said something like we are not going to be happy with what the factory said. Then she proceeds to give me another company that could do it for us. I said what couldnt P.H. Do? She claimed she could not find the email and said she would call later. From experience, we knew she would not call. So we went to see her. (for infoshe never found the email from factory because we believe she never sent it or got a reply!)
She said she could not make us happy. How do they know if they could make us happy or not if they didnt even let us know what they could or could not do! When she said that, we lost $5,000 because when we ordered the trailer it was on sale. She refused to send our order in. We even contacted her boss to see if we could get help. He also said, sorry about all the trouble we are going through but he did not believe P.H. Could make us happy. Needless to say we were very upset and angry.
It effected me so much that I had to take primal therapy. It took me close to 2 months to get over it. I was a basket case. The idea that SHE would not even send it to the factory to see what they would or would not do made me upset and angry. I cried, yelled, screamed, banged on boxes. I could not stand my husband saying: trailer, changes, plans, designs anything related to a house for almost 2 months.
Make sure you have the form, take it home and look it over very carefully to ensure what you want you get! Dont depend on p.H. Put everything in writing. Nothing verbal. They will either forget or not write it on the form! Then get the drawings, look them over and only approve the drawings.
Fuller story
We searched many months for what we wanted. Got a price from Lufkin; called Austin and they said they could beat Lukfins price DUD. Went to Austin but the price came out moreplus they left us holding the hotel bill which the way the Rep put it she would pay for. Price didnt sound right so we called Cleveland (Cleveland is on the route from/to our property and her price was GET THIS FOLKS $20,000 less than Austin for the exact same thing. Canceled order with Austin. Worked with Cleveland from Sept to March 1 when we finally stopped making/additions changes and put the order in. (But as you can see above, Cleveland really STUCK it to us! Price good but RepBAD)
Many times the order would come back with different colors; items missing or what looked like double items on the form. She hardly ever called us to tell us the answers to our questions, always waited till we stopped by. Many time when asking to add/change something she would add it but other times - she would say. Got you covered and lots of times never wrote it down.
She thought vision lights were security lights. (this is why they were not on the trailer&DUD). We had to find out ourselves by calling the factory.
Then her and a contractor came to our property on a Friday to discuss the foundation for trailer. We asked when would the trailer be at Cleveland and she said Saturday. We found out the trailer was at Goodrich the prior week on Monday/Tuesday at the contractors property. Which means she knew it was there when we asked about it. We did go to look at it and saw it was WRONG! We were very upset and so deeply disappointed. We think they were going to try and get it on our property and make us accept it as Goodrich was close to our property.
Then we just happened to call Cleveland and ask Rep to give the trailer key to our daughter, who was coming to see us, and Rep said. The trailer is at her location. Again she never called. Not a good communicator, many times we felt she did not tell the truth and/or would make up stories to cover herself.
we asked for eng. Drawings we got three sets. The 1st set didnt look like ours and when we told her she said oh I gave you the wrong ones". Twice we were given the wrong ones. To this day, I do not know if we ever got the right set!
The last set we looked at after the trailer was built, (ALWAYS get the drawings and approve them BEFORE they even start building) we found windows wrong size and in wrong places from original, doors wrong size, color of kitchen wrong, tile not in all places and wrong color. The siding was wrong, water spigots in wrong location on and on. We are not sure if they even built it according to HUDs approval. All of this was a NIGHTMARE! We met our daughter at Cleveland, reviewed the trailer, and wrote down what needed to be corrected. We then discussed with Rep and she knew we would not accept the trailer and she was not willing to pay for the corrections. Rep put some of the blame on us because of all the changes. She already had the paper work ready to return our down payment. Ok; but now we were still without a trailer! She said we could put in another order and she would do her best to keep the price the same. She said she did not want anymore mistakes. This was end of May.
So my daughter and I spend many hours over a 3-week period of filing out THEIR form that PH uses so Rep would not have to put down or miss anything this time. We took it upon ourselves FULLY OUR RESPONSIBILITY. If we forgot something then it would be our fault. We submitted to Rep though email June 27 with detailed pictures so there would be no misunderstanding of what we wanted. She said she didnt want any mistakes on new order so that is why we took 3 weeks to put it together on THEIR form. She didnt have to take one note, type one letter, spend any time with us. Just forward it to factory to see if they could do what we asked.
AGAIN we called many times. Then on one of my calls, she answered and said we would not be happy with what she found out from factory and that we could get the same trailer from SE of Texas. I asked what things could PH not do? She said she would look for the email and call me back. She NEVER CALLED US BACK! So we went to see her. Needless to say we were very angry and upset when we found out that she never sent the order to the factory. (at least not to our knowledge) All these weeks she just kept stringing us along. From end of May till July 15ththe reason I say end of May; she probably knew then that she was not going to place our order. Husband thinks he recalls her saying to him one time that if a person gets on her bad side, she could make it very rough on them and Im in the position to do it.
July 15 She says I cannot make you happy". My husband got very upset because it is not HER decision what we will or will not be happy with. It is our decision. He did get loud did not yell or cuss at her he did say it was her fault we dont have a trailer yet and it was her fault it was not ordered correctly which she agreed this time. We said we would have to call her manager. She said they could not put the windows where we wanted themso we said fine, then she said they could not put the living/dining room fans where we wanted themso we said fine.
We just need to know what they can and cannot do! There was more discussion with her and my husband and then she said she was not going to order us one and that really upset my husband. The reason we wanted it through her is she was going to do her best to keep the price the same. And when she said she was not going to order. We just lost $5,000 because now the trailer was not on sale. I got up and left the room but my husband asked her one more time to find out if the factory could or could not do the changes and she said she would. When we left we called her manager and left a msg.
July 18 - I called her manger again and he said the Rep would call me and I told him. She is not good about calling people back. (DOES ANYONE ELSE HAVE PROBLEM WITH PH CALLING YOU BACK??? - OR IS IT JUST US?)
July 19 I called her manger again; he was no help, would not answer any questions, and would not even tell me if he received the order. He just kept saying we have to talk to Rep. Found out Rep was in a workshop and would not be back for a couple of days. Person that answered the phone said she would call me when she got a break. Guess she never got a break cause she never called. I called her cell twice and left msg asking if she sent the order so we could find out what PH can or cannot do.
July 20 we went home, and called another Palm Harbor and got some manager that said he was not aware of our situation and said he would call after he talked to other people. He called back and said that PH is cutting ties with us and if an order comes though that the factory would not make it. - NOW GET THIS!
July 22 husband got a call from Bryan, Tex location offering to build us a home? They said if we no longer have ties with Cleveland that another location can build our trailer for us and that the factory might be willing to build it.
July 23 we then made minor changes to the form. We decided to see if his boss would give us a $5,000 discountthey said. NO.
We held off for a few days and decided to look up cases against PH. WOW were we shocked what we found. Oh my Goodness! So although Palm Harbor wasted a year of our life, I feel that we were lucky NOT to have continued with a purchase. I hate to think what a NIGHTMARE that would have been. We are now looking at building our own home. We have built a 32/42 barn so we might as well do this too. At least we will know what we have in it. Responses welcome.
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