Mercedes Homes

Yes, if an attorney could take this case, it would be really nice. My home has wall, ceiling and floor cracks inside and out of our home. Mercedes Homes or the warranty company they sold us doesn't want to cover repairs or be responsible for this mess. We are already afraid to be living in this house. I can't even sleep with all the cracking noises going on day and night. There's a leak and septic problems. My wooden floors are coming apart and we paid Mercedes Homes $9,000 just for that! We paid $488,000 cash to Mercedes Homes and I just think it is just an abuse just to have them wash their hands off like nothing and not take responsible actions towards our home problems, which are caused by their unprofessionalism and all their fault for not building our home in a safely way.

Please report all these ASAP to everyone out there as it is not fair to us or anyone to have to go through all these hassles just because Mercedes Homes wants to keep building unsafe and junk homes. On top of it all, they sell you a Bonded Builders Warranty Group insurance that won't cover any of your home repairs! Just because they work together, they are both crappy and fraudulent companies! Thank you for all and any help you could get us. And if you want my permission to publish all I have said you just got it, because I am so sick and tired of going through so much hassles and suffering because of Mercedes Homes' unprofessionalism and lies. And if you even want to send in a TV reporter to have all of what's going on in this home, you could do so, too. Maybe Mercedes Homes would start to care a little bit and would start taking action towards all my home problems caused by them.

We were approved for a new home to be built by their mortgage company. When were were scheduled to close on the home, we were told that the company could no longer finance us. So we started looking for other financing, and at that time could not get it. So we asked for our funds ($5,000) to be returned and we were told that we could not get the money back because they had built the home. I recently found out that they were not supposed to keep my money and I want it back. How do I go about getting this accomplished? This happened in 2007 and now it is 2012, and I have found that this same thing happened to other people.

I built a 2 story home with Mercedes home in 2006. There were too many problems to list from cracks to improper grading ,appliances, well,septic, sliders not closing ,leaks in roof and ac. It goes on and on. We had someone come out 8 months after we closed to address some of the issues. They stated there was nothing they could do. We cannot get return phone calls etc. Is there a class action suit? I would love to know.

We had a home built by Mercedes homes and moved in 12/2008. In less than 3 months of moving in, the foundation has cracked on the entire width of the left side of the house and fallen about 2 inches in some spots. You can see the crack in the carpet. This should be covered under our structural warranty, but Mercedes Homes won't cover it or do anything to repair our home because they filed chapter 11 bankruptcy. They are free and clear and out of bankruptcy, still doing business but won't fix our home.

We have cracked walls, doors that won't close and a house worth nothing with the damage it has. We have contacted a handful of lawyers and no one will help us. This is not fair to us as consumers. We suffer while they stay in business. We just wanted a nice safe home built, but instead we got a house that is falling apart. They built our home without taking out the clay soil and were even told we'd have foundation issues if they didn't replace the clay with fill dirt, but the foreman said to pour the foundation anyway. Our dream house is a nightmare for us and our two small children. It is not fair. Our house is falling apart, worth nothing and we don't have the money to fix it, nor do we believe we should be held responsible for fixing it when it was the builder who caused this.

On 3/12/05 we entered into a contract with Mercedes Homes to purchase a house, after we had been pre-approved for a home loan by Pinnacle Mortgage Company at which time we had to pay $1,000.00 in earnest money. When the time came to close on the purchase of said house, the mortgage company did not have a laneder. The home loan was denied. We were unable to purchase house as planned. We learned that being pre-approved for a home loan cannot always be reliable.

We have sent copies of home loan denial letter from Pinnacle Mortgage to Mercedes Homes. We were offered a credit for $1,000.00 from Chris Osborne toward the purchase of another home. According to the contract, if a home loan is denied the customer should be eligible for a refund. We have copies of all of the paper work (copies of home loan denial have been sent to Mercedes Homes).

We paid and agreed to having all screws, no nails used to install the drywall, before the new home was built. We walked in the home after drywalling was put up and there were more nails then screws. We told Mercedes this isn't what we agreed to. They admited they made a mistake, but would not redo the drywall. There abswer was to put screws by the nails, leaving the nails. 6 months later and we have nail pops and they refuse to refund us our money.

Mercedes has built houses behing me in St. Johns county Florida and it is causing foundation erosion and drainage problems in the streets. Cars are stalling in the water and when we complain they tell us that we signed a non picket clause and that we will just have to live with it.

After buying our home in Dec 98, we discovered numerous construction flaws. These included attic entrance not framed, window seals leaking, water penitration into den from outside, improper grading of property causing ponding around house's immediate proximity, siding nails rusting through paint, and paint chiping in places on exterior of house. These discrepancies were faxed to Mercedes Homes as per their policy. However, no one made any effort to correct these problems.

Only after NUMEROUS faxes and telephone calls did anyone contact us. On numerous occasions we were stood up by repair personnel causing us to miss work. After a LONG period of no communication from the company, we sent the president (Corra Johnston) a certified letter indicating the difficulties we were having. It went unanswered until we again started calling everyday and leaving messages. Finally David Krouse, the Warranty Manager at the time, made an appointment to come out and inspect the home. I pointed out all the discrepancies and he agreed that the work needed to be done. Another two months went by without any further action from the company.

After another round of phone calls, David Krouse came back out to inspect the house again, once again I pointed out the needed repairs. Someone was finally sent out to apply sealant over the rusted nails and seal up what was suspected to have caused the water penitration. The work that was done was substandard and incomplete. After complaining to the company about it, I was ignored for a period of time and then someone was sent out again. Once again the technician did a poor job and the work wasn't completed. After another round of phone calls David Krouse came back to the house to inspect what needed to be done. This time he told me some of the repairs agreed upon before, weren't going to be done. I then made arrangements for the president (Corra Johnston) to meet with me at the house to resolve this issue.

She offered no opology for the grief I had experienced in all this, and was generally unconcerned that these repairs had been neglected. By then, there was serious mildew and mold damage to the carpet and molding in our den. She told me that they weren't going to replace the carpet, and the house would be "spot" painted to cover up the sealant. She also refused to properly address the property grading. I then contacted an attorney who sent a letter requesting another meeting with her to discuss a resolution to this matter which was completely ignored. I am now pursuing a class action suite against Mercedes Homes and in my research I have discovered some very alarming information. There are dozens of upset homeowners in Jacksonville, FL alone who have had very similar problems with them. Some of these horor stories are much worse than mine.

Numerous complaints have been made to the city and Florida Department of Business Professionalism and Regulation but have been essentially brushed under the carpet. There is evidence that the investigations were hampered by politicians removing vital documents from these files and causing these matters to be disregarded. There is evidence of drug use on construction sites and when informed about it, Corra Johnston claimed "this happens in construction all the time, there's nothing I can do about it." The company practices in strong arm tactics to force the buyer to close on the house before all necessary repairs on completed and threatens them with ripping up their contract and keeping their large deposits. It is my opinion, and the opinion of the dozens of home owners I represent, that this company's business practices are criminal, and have gone unchecked for too long.

How can these individuals be above the law, and how can they get away with treating their home owners like this? Is this another case of "The Untouchables?" I, and the homeowners I represent, are willing to do what ever it takes to bring this matter to justice.