Complain about a product or service

Advanced Home Builders

Melissa of Glen Allen, VA May 13, 2009

An ADT representative, Tom Dogantzis, came to my door selling the security system. I allowed him to tell me about the system. He then produced a contract, with no time permitted to read. I was asked to give my social security number and bank account information. I replied that I would like time to discuss this with my fiancee. Tom assured me that if I signed and submitted the requested information that I would have 72 hours to cancel the contract. The next day I called to cancel. I was told that I "wasn't in the system yet" and that someone would call me back the following day. By 4:30pm the next day, I had not yet received a return call. I called and asked to speak with Mark, the individual whom I had spoken to the day before. Mark was not available. I was transferred to another supervisor. I informed him that I wanted to cancel the service. I was coerced into continuing with the set up.

I told the supervisor several times that I wasn't interested and he insisted that I needed the system. The system was installed 4/28/09. The installation tech was rude and in a hurry to get to his son's baseball game. When he called activate the system, he was told that the contract had been canceled. I told him that I tried to cancel it but was unable to to so. Eventually, the account was activated. I was asked to do a service survey while the technician stood next to me and listened. Again, I felt coerced. I wasn't able to give accurate answers to the survey while he was standing next to me. After he rushed through the instructions on how to use the system he left. I had not read the contract until now. I wasn't given time to read it before signing it and I didn't bother to read it after the sales rep left because I had every intention of canceling.

I now realize that I am stuck with this system for 3 years! I was never informed of this. The next day 43.85 was debited from my account for 4/28-5/31. I received a bill stating that I owed 43.85 for the same billing cycle. The amount was debited 5/19/09.

Sean of Sebring, FL January 21, 2009

We started our home buying process in about August or September of 2007 and were approved and informed them what area we wanted and they just so happended to have a home that was supposedly near complete that someone else had backed out of because of financing reasons. We liked the location and it was the model we liked so we chose that propoerty and they assured us that the home would be done in November of 2007 so we were at the end of our lease and gave notice to our landlords that we were moving. When we were supposed to close they said there was a hitch in our financing and had to restart the financing process all over again but finally got an approval after quite sometime. We were already past our lease end date and our landlords had a new renter waiting to move in and we ended up having to move our belongings into the property before we even closed.

We went to closing and got bombarded with additional costs that we were not expecting and had no choice at that time but sign the papers because we have 4 kids and nowhere else to go and now we are paying almost 400 per month additional for PMI which was never explained to us until we had to sign the papers and the closing agent explained it to us when my wife asked her about the additional amount every month. Advanced Home Builders never came and fixed the hole in our roof on the side of the house where they tried to run the elctricity overhead and ended up having to run it underground instead. They removed the wiring they had overhead but left the hole in the roof. The soffit guy came and did the soffit work but the roofer never came to patch the hole.

Now our hot water heater breaker keeps tripping after almost every shower and we lose hot water and have to reset the breaker. We called the electrician multiple times with no response. (I did't even mention that the hot water heater and the water pump were both stolen before we even moved in the house and they did replace those as well as the appliances that the salesmen had to install because the insurance company wanted pics of the house with the appliances and they weren't even installed yet).

We closed in 2/2008 and still do not have our screen doors and a tree that was supposed to be taken down because they ran into the tree and killed it and it was right next to the master bedroom and could fall onto the house was never removed as promised but has in the meantime broken off and half of it has fallen but lukily not on the house. We also have a boat and 2 trucks that are in the woods on our property that were never removed when they cleared the property and they knew the boat was there because they told us about it and our kids happened to find the 2 trucks sitting next to the boat when they were exploring the woods. We have had an awful experience with this whole home buying situation which was supposed to be a wonderful event in our lives and after this experience I really have no desire to ever buy another property again. We also have multiple cracked tiles in the master bath, kitchen and foyer that we advised Advanced Home builders of 3-4 months after we moved in that still have not been fixed. We now have a hole in the side wall of the inside of the guest bath tub. That the water leaked into and under the wall and soaked the carpet in the family room.

Sheryl of Ocala, FL January 19, 2009

Sheryl of Ocala FL (01/19/09)
I purchased a home 4/20/08 and I am still waiting on my closing paperwork and a 5000.00 check that was PROMISED to US UPON CLOSING!!!! we had no hot water for over one month and many other problems!! Our appliances were wrong and they wouldn't help us with SEARS to get them right!! we spoke to them weekly and still 9 months later WE ARE STILL WAITING!!! BUT WE KNOW THEY GOT THEIR MONEY!!!!!!!!!!

We have a stove that doesn't work properly we have floors that are cracked a door that took someone 7 hrs to fix because of the SUBSTANDER work on the house

Brian of Sebring, FL November 15, 2008

Brian of Sebring FL (11/15/08)
We closed on a house from advanced on april 9 2008 and were told before the closing that it would be ready to move in at closing.. well we closed and there was no electric or water on the house so we ended up having to arrange for both to be connected. it took aprok 2 months for this to happen after closing.... now it is 7 months on and we have just been served with a notice that we have a lien on our property and that they are going to forclose if not paid in full in 30 days..

this is really annoying because we have signed notarised and dated documents stating there are no liens on the property as at the time of closing only apparently this lien was filed in october 2007. now we have to pay for an attourney to help us out on this matter which isnt cheap... and to make matters worse the sebring and ocala office both have apparently shut down and we have no way of contacting advanced to have it sorted out for free (if they are even in business any more) but anyway this is just me venting and writing this incase advanced home builders are still out there somewhere and people are still buying from them... dont do it!! lol

its costing us time and money we do not have as we also had a new baby in this time and its really stressing us out.

Paige of Sebring, FL September 15, 2008

Paige of Sebring FL (09/15/08)
We were promised a 6,000 furniture allowance, even up to three months after closing. Then the corporate office out of Ocala said we didn't qualify because our home was a spec. Meaning they financed it while it was being built. We picked out the lot and all the colors etc. We ended up paying a lot more for our house than promised. They had us in a bind. It all started out costing 155,000, we ended up paying 193,000.

I had gotten rid of some of my old furniture while moving into the home. I had to use my income tax return to buy a bed. I just wanted what had been promised to me many times. I also have a newspaper ad showing this offer with nothing saying anything about a spec home.

Albert of Belleview, FL August 7, 2006

Albert of Belleview FL (08/07/06)
We are building a home which has been at a standstill one mistake after another one problem on top of another. The slab was poured and the cement was streched which caused a ripple effect the house was built on the slab before it could cure and has caused a huge crack in the slab the walls are up roof is on finish work is complete except for the floor. The builder has promised to rectify the situation by hiring a professional to grind the floor and float it so if in the future we choose to tile or hardwood floor it would be level and smooth. The builder is hiring fly by night people who don't know what they are doing and they are making the problem worse they come at night on a weekend to fudge it and it is just getting progressively worse.

We need professional help at this point and legal advice so we can get this fixed before it is too late. They tried to cover the floors without fixing the floor and we had it removed, a 9 month pregnant woman who couldn't even bend down painted the trim outside, they did not put green board in wet areas and the texture was done in the dark and the outside of the house was done in the rain. The plumbing was put in the wrong place, the shower is bowed out due to the plumbing being installed wrong. The insulation that was in the rafters was pulled out and put in the dumpster when the sheetrockers came to put up the drywall. All the insulation was accounted for prior to the sheetrock guys coming when they left there was several pieces thrown in the front of the home now we don't know where that belonged and where it is missing will cause heat loss and ac loss in the home causing our electric bills to run insuffiecient.

This is inferior work and substandard building the sinks are not level to the countertop the edges are lifed and bent the roof is dipped in several areas, cracked rafters. Main concern at this point is the slab the floor is a nightmare could never be right the contractor for the concrete was fired and the work speaks for itself we are now suffering the effects of that due to the builders inability to make it right.

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