PULTE DEL WEBB HOMES ANTHEM Our 6 month old home is falling apart! Anthem Arizona

Valerie,

I never blasted you! You call Anthem Customer Care Rep. Trained liars, you are the one blasting people. You are talking about someone that I love in a disrespectful way. Not all Customer Care Reps are bad people, but you put them all in the same category by saying that. Your words were,"I work at the place where Pulte/Del Webb holds their meetings and I get to hear all of their "customer service" training meetings.

I also here their sales training meetings. They are trained liars basically." Is that not blasting everyone that does that job. I take offense to that! I am truly sorry that your home was built poorly. That is upsetting, but you can not sling around words like that with out expecting to get called out on it.

I just get sick of how most people complain so easily, but do not give out praise just as easily. I am not directing that towards you Valerie. I think it is great you also send in positive feedback.

I wish more people would. Valerie you know how hard it is to be a Customer Service Rep. People do not realize how hard the job is. I do not know that I could do the job day in and out and my family member has been doing it for seven years now. For the record he is not a lair!

"No house is perfect."

No one's asking for perfection, they're asking that it be RIGHT. There is a difference between an imperfection and a defect, and many builders call ALL defects "cosmetic" or "imperfections," to minimize the complaint. I have seen severe foundation failure, code violations, leaking roofs, etc, all refered to under the excuse that one cannot expect "perfection."

"You're the only one complaining."

The majority of complaints go unseen by the public. Arbitration clauses in builder's contracts prevent disputes from ever going to court, and it is a private, (not public), record, so consumers won't find it. Most homeowners can't afford to sue even if not prevented by arbitration. Most states (if any) do not run a database on all builder complaints in one handy spot, and some state agencies keep comsumer complaints confidential. Most BBB's do not make individual complaints public information and may even tell callers there are "no complaints," even if there are. Less than half the states license home builders, (though AZ does have the Registrar of Contractors), therefore there is no agency that regulates builders in many states, and no agency that tracks complaints or publicizes them. Many homeowners don't complain...they are afraid, apathetic, or just don't think it's worth it. Even when asked, they may not complain for fear of harming their property value. Builders have sued people for complaining even when the complaint was truthful and technically protected under free speech. The internet is one place homeowners might be able to post a complaint and warn others when their attempts to get a builder to honor the warranty have failed.

If builders want to continue to advertise that they have enormous customer satisfaction rates, then they need to explain how/why they pushed for legislation in AZ to protect builders from "all the lawsuits."

There is an active chapter of Homeowners Against Deficient Dwellings, hadd.com in AZ. AZ is my home state and I am sickened by what is happening there and all around the country with shoddy construction and breach of warranty. Never assume a complaint is the only one or that it's not valid. Happy homeowners don't make up complaints and post them to the web.

I can understand why many of the residents in this town want to blast those of us who do have problems with our home. Many of you want to keep the value of your home going up and you want to believe you live in "pleasantville".

I like Anthem. Anthem is a beautiful town and the homes are nice. But like crime, predjudice and roaches, "bad things" don't discriminate. "bad things" can happen to anyone and anywhere. We do not live in camelot or the fairytale forest.

I/we, who have problems with our home have a right to say that we do. We have a right to get the value we deserve for the money we spend. Our homes were not free, however, I do know for a fact, that employees of Pulte/Del Webb in Anthem get a discount on the purchase of thier home. So I do not really want to hear anything bad from Pulte/Del Webb family memebers and employees.

Although we have not gone around town trying to persuade our neighbors and friends not to buy in Anthem or from Del-Webb, we are being attacked by those of you who love your perfect home.
We just want to let Pulte/Del Webb know that we are not satisfied with our home. We want them to fix whats wrong. If you all had the chance to see and/or had to live in the mess we are in, what would you say then? It's not you, so you feel perfectly content passing judgement on us.

We loved our home when we picked it out. We want the right to feel happy about our home the way you do about yours. We want things fixed. We want no more exscuses. We want employees to keep appointments that they make. We want to know that something will be done even if it can not be done immediately.

Let me ask you all something else; Do you all have hot water in your new home? Is your heater being replaced? Are your walls full of cracks? do you have bowing windows? Is your house sinking? These are just a few of the problems.

Enjoy your Pulte/Del Webb Home. You have a right to that. I'm glad it's not all bad for everyone, that gives me some hope. But that's not the message we are trying to convey here. We are trying to let the company know how we personally feel and how we feel they dropped the ball with us.

Thank you all for you comments.

This is to all of you in Anthem who love your home: Good for you! You are supposed to love your home! I want to love mine too.

As for the whole story, you don't know me and you certainly don't know how the customer care representatives handled my situation. What you also do ot know is that I have sent letters to Pulte/Del Webb praising the good things about certain other representatives who stepped up to the plate to handle business correctly.

We are not idiots or unreasonable people. We completely understand that their are numerous people working on one house. Here's something else you do not know, My fiance is a master carpenter who has done outstanding work for famous people when we lived back east...we know how it's supposed to work.

Unfortunately for us, we have to go through our representatives to get the contractors to do thier jobs well. I have never screamed at any of the Customer care representatives or made outrageous demands. I have asked them to please keep us informed about the progress on our home.

I understand that job probably better than any of you responding to my posting. I am also a customer service representative. I follow-up with all of my customers in a timely fashion.

If I don't know the answer to something, I find someone who can. When customers come and scream at me for things I am not responsible for and make some of the most ridiculous DEMANDS, I keep my cool and try to help them as best I can.

To those of you who give orders and to those "who work for or have family who work for Pulte/Del Webb, I could'nt care less about your biased opinions.

Furthermore, I agree that you should'nt take one persons view of this or any other matter. There are also a whole slew of others like me in Anthem who love our town, but our homes are falling apart. Where were you during the meeting held at the hotel for over 100 people? Do you know about the class action suits?

Last, if your home is fine, I am happy.

If you are referring to a builder using subcontractors to do the work, it is the builder's responsibility to monitor that work and ensure that it is done correctly. I do not know of one newly built home that did not have at least one thing that required fixing, but the problems this poster has is unbelievable. One of my clients is a builder and I have done new home inspections. If this was my client's finished product, he wouldn't be my client. The problems listed here far exceed shoddy workmanship. If I were the orignal poster, I would find an independent engineer and have the home inspected. It almost sounds like the house is unstable. If you can scan the pictures you have and post them, perhaps a builder monitoring this sight can tell you how to proceed.

I am related to someone who works for Del Webb and I do not feel like people are getting the full story. I own a Del Webb home in Anthem. It was not built perfectly, but what home is? I am very happy with my home here in Anthem. I am buying my second home here.

I sold my first home for over sixty-five thousand more than I paid two years ago. That is my experience and I know many others with the same. Do not rely on one person's story. Anthem is like no other community, and as it stands now there are no shortage of people moving here. It is hard to get a lot to build a house on.

Customer Care Reps. for Del Webb work very hard, and can only do so much. They have limits to what they can do. I agree contractors that are supposed to fix problems, do not always fix the problems. I have had that happen to me personally. When contractors do sub-par work it only causes more work for the customer care reps. assigned to the house.

Do you realize how many different companies and contractors work to complete a house? More then I care to list. Please remember this is a job for these men and women... calling them trained liars is unfair. They are people too, trying to make a living for their families.