Complaint Review: CENTEX and CENTEX Homes - Tampa Florida
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- Author Not Confirmed
- CENTEX and CENTEX Homes 5110 Eisenhower Blvd, STE 200 Tampa, Florida U.S.A.
- Phone:
- Web:
- Category: Builders & Contractors
CENTEX Home Builders deceptive and misleading sales practices, breaking and entering by subcontractors, consumer rip-off *Consumer Suggestion
*0: BELIEVE ME, YOU SHOULD BE THE 1 PERSON TO GO FORTH--AND STAND CONFIDENTLY FIRM IN YOUR POSITION
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We purchased a new home from CENTEXHOMES of Tampa, Fla. We have had numerous problem every since we moved in. They have ranged from non performance of repairs, to breaking and entering by subcontractors, to rude unprofessional conduct by numerous employees of the company to finally deceptive and misleading sales practices.
The last of these is our primary concern. After nearly a year battle we have finally gotten the original repairs completed but the Corporation refuses to answer our questions about the contracts.
Until November we never questioned that we got a "free pool" as represented to us by CENTEX when we bought this home. This came about during a November meeting with Mr. Mike Belmont, CENTEX Tampa, President. During his inspection of the fauly repairs and poor service that we had received to that point, he asked if we received a free pool as we were supposed to. I told him I was not sure but I would review our closing documents. Over the next couple of days we researched our closing papers and found a major discrepancy. The home has an appraised value of $166,000 (appraisal was done by a company of their choice) which includes the pool. If the pool had been "free" the purchase price should have been $150,000 (CENTEX Shows it at a value of $16,062). What we accepted based of sales conversations was $161,596. We sent this information back to Mr. Belmont on several occasions (between Nov 2000 and May 2001) and never received a response. When we finally got something about 4 weeks ago he claimed that the home was actually a $180,000 home.
The second point is that at closing we were shown a good faith estimate that our payment would be $1,281 effective Jan 01. When we received our new payments they were $1,352. While it was explained that this was an estimate we were told we could expected a couple of dollars difference either way. Not over $70 higher. Again this was very deceptive since our budget allowed up to $1,300 which was why we may a substantial down payment. Had we been shown a fair estimate we could have either made a larger down payment or found a different home.
These are definitely misleading and deceptive practices. We wanted to handle this with the company but things get progressively worse with each attempt. It all comes down to what Mr. Belmont stated last November, They have a whole office full of lawyers that work for them in Texas, so they aren't worried about a single home buyer.
We have worked our way from Mr Belmont in Tampa all the way up to Mr Laurence Hirsch the CEO of CENTEX Corporation. The last contact we had with the company was an E-mail from Mr Milgrim (SE Regional President) who's sent an e-mail that stated "Mike, See Below Persistent, isn't he? Pls call to discuss. ED"
We forwarded this response to our inquires to Mr Hirsch and Mr Eller at the Dallas Offices and have not received any response. We ahve given three possible solutions to this situation and have not heard anything about them or even been acknowledged.
We have all the e-mail and letter traffic as well as contracts and good faith estimates. We can not afford to hire a lawyer, they know this and have apparently decided to just forget about us. I am hoping this will lead to both resolution and end these deceptive practices. It is discouraging to see how large corporations abuse individuals. Our country is built on the principles of equality and justice. Unfortunately when it comes to consumer rights these principle do not apply.
When we purchased this home, we took CENTEX for there word. We assumed that since it said "free pool" this was additional equity in the home. That is not the case as you can see from the appraisal. We also assumed that the payments would be as presented in the GFE. As you can see we are not even close.
We would appreciate some assistance with this. How many others have been taken advantage of by this same process? We are asking that CENTEX meet the spirit of their contract. Had we not met our closing obligations I guarantee we would have been hauled to court.
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This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 07/24/2001 12:00 AM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/centex-and-centex-homes/tampa-florida/centex-home-builders-deceptive-and-misleading-sales-practices-breaking-and-entering-by-su-5883. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content
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#1 0
BELIEVE ME, YOU SHOULD BE THE 1 PERSON TO GO FORTH--AND STAND CONFIDENTLY FIRM IN YOUR POSITION
AUTHOR: - ()
SUBMITTED: Monday, August 20, 2001
This email is a rebuttal to RipOff #5883.
It was sent by JACKI AND JEFF BEHL at JACKILBEHL@AOL.COM.
CENTEX Home Builders deceptive and misleading sales practices, breaking and entering by subcontractors, consumer rip-off(#5883)
They filed the following rebuttal to the above Rip-Off Report:
Their email: JACKILBEHL@AOL.COM
Their name: JACKI AND JEFF BEHL
Their relationship to the company: Advocate
Rebuttal:
DEAR TAMPA, FL CENTEX HOMEOWNER:
I AM SO SORRY TO HEAR OF YOUR SITUATION.
I AM NOT SURPRISED, HOWEVER--THEY TRULY DO NOT CARE ABOUT HOMEBUYERS, LIKE YOU SAID, WHEN THEY REFER TO THEIR LEGAL DEPARTMENT AS IF IT IS EVERYDAY BANTER.
I LIVE IN TEXAS AND WAS HUNG UP ON BY THE VERY LOCAL DALLAS EXEC
CEO'S AND THEIR RUDE ADMIN ASSTS YOU SPEAK OF IN YOUR
LETTER--DISCRIMINATED AGAINST IN FLORIDA (WOULDN'T SELL US A HOUSE WITH BROKER-SALESPERSON AS OUR WITNESS)--AND THEN ACT ALL SURPRISED WHEN WE GOT HUD INVOLVED, A LAWYER, AND OF COURSE, MY FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHT OF FREEDOM OF SPEECH! AND BELIVE ME, IT IS NOT LIBEL, SLANDER, OR DEFAMATION IF IT IS TRUE, TRUE, TRUE! WHICH THEY KNOW IT IS! AND CAN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT!
SO HERE'S MY TOP 3 SUGGESTIONS:
1)IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY, FILE A COMPLAINT WITH HUD AT WWW.HUD.GOV--OR THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION, BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU, LOCAL TV NEWS, EDITORIAL SECTION OF PAPER, YOU NAME IT.
2)CONTINUE TO POST TO WEB SITE--START A FREE WEB PAGE--GET A GUEST BOOK UP AND RUNNING--AND SUBMIT YOUR SITE TO ALL URL SEARCH ENGINES YOU CAN GET YOUR HANDS ON!
I.E. MINE:
WWW.STOPHOUSINGDISCRIMINATIONINITSTRACKSBOYCOTTF
OXANDJACOBSCENTEX.FREEHOSTING.NET
AND UNDER MY AOL HOMETOWN WEB SITE PAGE, 'JACKILBEHL'.
HAND OUT BUSINESS CARDS TO YOUR FRIENDS/CO-WORKERS, RELATIVES, YOU NAME IT--TO VOICE YOUR DISAPPROVAL IN THEIR BUILDING PRACTICES, CODE OF ETHICS (OR SHALL I SAY LACK OF ETHICS?), ETC.
LASTLY, FIND A LOCAL/REGIONAL/STATE ATTORNEY WHO IS WELL-VERSED IN YOUR AREA OF REAL ESTATE LAW--OR IN MY CASE, ADA DISABILITY/HOUSING DISCRIMINATION/VA BENEFITS RIGHTS...AND TAKE THEM TO COURT! FILING A FEDERAL CASE IN THE STATE IN WHICH THE ACTION TOOK PLACE WILL OPEN THE EYES OF THEIR STOCKHOLDERS, INVESTORS, HOMEOWNERS, AND PROSPECTIVE HOMEBUYERS!
I AM GOING INTO REAL ESTATE, AND BELIEVE ME, WHAT THEY DID TO ME AND MY FAMILY HAS LEFT A VERY SOUR TASTE IN MY MOUTH...TO DISABLED PEOPLE EVERYWHERE, TO VETERANS EVERYWHERE, TO PEOPLE WHO ARE 'PERSISTENT' AND THEY JUST CHOOSE TO BREAK THE EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY LAWS AND NOT SELL TO YOU--SUE THEM!
IF YOU DO NOT HAVE THE MONEY FOR A LAWYER, SERIOUSLY, GO TO A LAW LIBRARY, OR DO FREE RESEARCH ONLINE YOUR COMPUTER; YOU CAN SUBMIT AN ORIGINAL PETITION TO THE FEDERAL COURTHOUSE OF YOUR JURISDICTION TO START THE BALL ROLLING, AND HAVE AN ATTORNEY AFFILIATE HIM/HERSELF WITH YOUR CASE BY A SIMPLE SUBSTITUTION OF COUNSEL FORM. GRANTED, IT IS INTIMIDATING IF YOU DON'T KNOW THE LAWS OR HOW TO PREPARE A PETITION FOR FILING, BUT MAKE FRIENDS WITH THE LOCAL CLERKS AND ASK FOR STYLE SAMPLE SHEETS OF HOW TO GO 'PRO SE' PLAINTIFF ROUTE...AND BE SURE TO ASK FOR AND PAY FOR A JURY TRIAL, RIGHT UP-FRONT. YOU DO NOT WANT A TRIAL BY JUDGE--BECAUSE IT IS THESE LAWYERS WHO END UP VOTING THESE JUDGES INTO THEIR POSITIONS, AND THE PRO SE LITIGANT; THEY CONSIDER IT A
WASTE OF THEIR TIME--BUT DON'T LET THAT STOP YOU...THERE IS A JUDICIAL COMPLAINT PROCESS IF THE JUDGE ACTS ONE-SIDEDLY AND YOU CAN POLITELY REMIND THE JUDGE YOU ARE AWARE OF THIS SO THAT YOU CAN ASK FOR A CHANGE OF JUDGES IF THIS ONE CANNOT BE IMPARTIAL IN THE PROCEEDINGS...
LASTLY, SO WHAT IF CENTEX HAS A ROOM FULL OF LAWYERS IN DALLAS? YOU HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR...YOUR CASE IS VALID, THEY ARE TRYING TO MAKE YOU THINK YOU HAVE NO CASE VALUE BY THEIR OBVIOUS NON-RETURN OF PHONE CALLS AND DOWNPLAYING YOUR COMPLAINTS--THIS IS THEIR TYPICAL LEGAL PROCEDURE...DENY, DENY, DENY...DISCOUNT, DISCOUNT, DISCOUNT...BECAUSE THEY FIGURE, 9 TIMES OUT OF 10, YOU WILL NOT BE THE 1 PERSON TO GO THROUGH THE HASSLE OF PRESSING CHARGES AND PROCEEDING FORTH.
BELIEVE ME, YOU SHOULD BE THE 1 PERSON TO GO FORTH--AND STAND CONFIDENTLY FIRM IN YOUR POSITION--DO YOU KNOW WHAT A LAWYER'S #1 FEAR IS? THAT YOU WILL ACTUALLY GO FILE A LAWSUIT OR GO GET A LAWYER TO REPRESENT YOU AND THAT THEY WILL HAVE TO ACTUALLY DO
SOME WORK! BECAUSE HOW DO YOU THINK THEY CAN DEFEND ILLEGAL, UNETHICAL, OR FRAUDULENT ACTIVITY (MEANING THAT THEY KNOWINGLY SOLD YOU A HOME WITH A POOL THAT WASN'T FREE--CALLED CULPABLE NEGLIGENCE, IN LEGALESE...) ANYWAY, I AM NOT A LAWYER--SO PLEASE TAKE MY ADVICE AS JUST FROM ONE AGGRIEVED PARTY TO ANOTHER--I FEEL YOUR PAIN--AND WANT TO SEE THEM PAY FOR WHAT THEY HAVE DONE JUST AS MUCH AS YOU--SO YOU GO GIRL--AND DON'T LOOK BACK. IT IS THE RISK-TAKERS IN US THAT THEY FEAR--AND THEY WILL LOOK FOOLISH IN A COURT OF LAW FOR THEIR TRANSGRESSIONS--AND JURIES, ESPECIALLY IN FLORIDA, ARE MORE LIBERAL IN MY HONEST OPINION; THROW THE BOOK AT BIG BUSINESS AND MAKE THEM PAY FOR RIPPING OFF THE LITTLE GUY! GOOD LUCK. AND KEEP ME POSTED. I'M ON YOUR SIDE!!
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