After being recently widowed I was looking to replace my old mobile home with a home of better quality not being able to make repairs myself.
I visited quite a few places before stopping in at Southern Luxury Discount Homes owned and operated by Scott Bradshaw. A few days prior I stopped in at Southern Showcase just down the street who also advertised Champion Homes. My daughter and I saw a very nice home at Southern Showcase, pretty much top of the line as far as building material. That home I could have bought for $47,000.
We then stopped in at Southern Luxury / Scott Bradshaws model lot. Scott greeted us and told us he was very familiar with Champion Homes had work with them for years. We told him about the home we saw at Southern Showcase his competetor and showed him the brochure. We discussed the upgraded windows, floors, fixtures, just generally about the upgraded quality of the way the home was built. And my need to have a home that I would not have to worry about.
Well we talked for quite a while, he won our confidence. He told us that the home at Southern Showcase was not ordered from the factory, it must have been moved from a lot that had gone out of business. Leading us to believe that the home was inferior to what he was going to have built for me and $2,000 cheaper. Which I was told later by Southern Showcase was completly untrue. He even talked about his Church and invited us to visit. Very talented sales person. I feel he is a master of deception.
To make the story shorter, I foolishly let him mis-represent what he was selling and not realizing that every little detail he told us should have been in the contract "I took the bait" and bought from him. Unfortunatly I took money from stocks and bonds my deceased Husband and I had been saving. He said to get that great deal he was giving me I would have to give him $45,000 up front owing him $2,000 when the home was completed. Of course that was most of my savings. I know, I know, what the hell was I thinking?
It has been a night mare for the last 9 months. He told me the house would be built in 2 weeks and delivered and set up A.S.A.P. How clever, the house may have been built in 2 weeks but was not set up ready for me to move into until March, of course making me pay a storage fee for my furniture, living with relatives. Now, finally set up I find the house is of such poor quality that I would have been much better off spending $10,000 to update my old home.
I have tryed every avenue I know, the Company, no help, The President of the Company, no help. Action 9 on TV, which Scott had been on the week before with another complaining customer, Scott's wife wrote them that I had not payed the remaining balance and had not fulfilled my contract although my floors, ceiling, siding and roof are warped, so they said they couldn't help me. I finally was able to get th state of NC inspector here, he found little he could do on the first visit because he said the problems were cosmetic and there was nothing specific in the contract. I was even given the warrantee for another home, which was never replaced by the correct one!
The second time the inspector came he did find the house was not set up correctly. It should have had 7 footers in the center but only had 3. Still waiting for Scott / Southern Luxury Discount Homes / Champion Homes to contact us about that. He still has a week or so to comply with that or risks losing his license. I was sent a letter saying the Attorney General had contacted him. Hopefully the "master" didn't cover all his bases.
Believe me I could go on and on, but, I guess I will pay for my mistake of putting my trust in someones word, not realizing every little tiny detail should be written out. Just another shameful story of an elderly widow being taken advantage of. Of course I can't prove any of this, I guess I should have carried a tape recorder.
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