During last few days March of I made an offer on a Ryland Home. The Ryland sales rep (Jennifer) declined my offer stating that other people are looking at the home. A week later in April of the same sales rep called me back and told me that if I am still interested, then they will move forward with my offer. I hesitated and told her I would get back to her.
At that point I was looking at other home builders. The sales rep called me back and told me about the specials that Ryland is currently offering and that I can take advantage of these specials. The specials were $10,000 towards closing costs and 40% off you principal payments for the first year. She also told me about the great warranties and everything else that goes into building a Ryland Home. After a few days, I decided to take her offer and signed with Ryland to close in May.
I was working with Ryland Mortgage and Ryland Title, because of how great the sales rep talked about them and the way the process would be handled. About 2 weeks into the process, getting a hold of people in Ryland Mortgage and Ryland title became a challenge.
I found out that certain people work from home, certain people are out on vacation and other people are filling in and it was not uncommon to leave a voicemail/email with someone on a Monday just to finally hear back from someone on a Wednesday or Thursday. Also, my sales rep slowly became dissattched from the process and took her time returning my calls.
At that time, Ryland Mortgage offered me a 7% rate for the mortgage. I thought it was high. I started shopping around and found Country Wide is offering the same mortgage for 6%. I also found out from Ryland Mortgage that they resell the mortgage to Country Wide. Ryland Mortgage would not match Country Wide's offer.
I then told the rep that I will move forward with Country Wide. The Ryland Mortgage rep told me that if I do not move forward with Ryland Mortgage, then I will forfeit my $10,000 toward closing cost promotion. I immediately called my sales rep (Jennifer). I left her a voicemail letting her know of the situation. 24 hours later I received a call from my sales rep telling me that it is true. We discussed the situation and I asked her to lower the price of the home by $10,000. Another 24 hours later goes by and I recieve a call from the Sales Rep that Ryland will lower the price of the home.
I was relocated by my company and I was renting at the time. My lease was up at the end of May and the closing date for Ryland was set for May 25th.
It was a few days before the closing date, I receive a call from my sales rep telling me that the close may not happen of the specified date because the paper work may not be ready. I was furious. I didn't have any other options. My rental was already leased to a new tennent & the moving van was scheduled for May 25th. My wife and I (plus our 2 kids and 2 dogs) didn't feel like sleeping in a hotel. My sales rep told me to stand by the phone on May 25th and will call me if the close is still happening.
I received the call from Ryland that the close is happening and then rushed to their office. At closing, the 40 year anniversary sale promotion (40% off your principal for the first year) was not reflected anywhere in the contract. My sales rep would not pick up her cell phone when I called and would not return my call. Ryland title did not have any paper work on the promotion. At this point, there was no turning back. If I walk out now, I could potentially lose my sizable deposit and have no place to live. I signed and closed on the home.
I tried for several weeks to contact someone in Ryland, but no one (not even my sales rep) would return my calls. I started calling Ryland Homes corporate office and they kept pointing me to the Orlando, FL office. I finally got a hold of my sales reps Manager (Brian). He told me he's the guy in charge and will make things right. He also told me he would return my calls and would not make me wait. He also conveniently forgot about me and would not return my calls for sometimes 24 hours and at one point, a whole week went by with no return calls. After 3 weeks of telling him about the process and promises, I was then put in contact with his boss (Larry). Larry stance was, it's not in the contract and there is nothing we can do about it.
Here's a definition of Bait and Switch: Bait and Switch is a form of fraud in which the fraudster lures in customers by advertising a product or service at an unprofitably low price, then reveals to potential customers that the advertised good is not available but that a substitute is. The goal of the bait-and-switch is to convince some buyers to purchase the substitute good as a means of avoiding disappointment over not getting the bait, or as a way to recover sunk costs expended to try to obtain the bait. It suggests that the seller will not show the original product or product advertised but instead will demonstrate a more expensive product.
Juanita
Orlando, Florida
U.S.A.
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