K. Hovnanian Home Builders A very dishonest, racially biased ripoff company that respects only the color of money Red Bank New Jersey

I purchased a home from K. Hovnanian in November of 2002, after viewing it for about 30 minutes. I don't usually make rapid decisions but I felt this was the home I searched long and hard for. I purchased even though it was an hour away from my job and even farther from my family.

I am a single, immigrant, professional female who came to this country alone at the age of 17. I worked hard, obeyed the law, took advantage of the advantages America afforded me. Buying this house was (in my mind) really, truly, realizing the "American Dream". K. Hovnanian stomped on this dream.

During my walk through process, after the house was completed, the superintendent Scott, who was always very nice pointed out some things that needed attention, and this was added to my list of things to get repaired.. Because everyone was just so very nice and accommodating, I agreed to get these items addressed at my 45 day walk through. I received no notice or telephone call about this walk through. I finally called and one item was addressed. The major item, my fireplace was left unattended for the
entire winter. This is a fireplace that I paid $5100.00 for and was not available for my use for the entire season. Whenever it snowed, the fireplace would be filled with snow.

My gas company attributed my exceedingly high gas bill to this fireplace. I had to threaten K. Hovnanian with legal action to get them to attend to this. This was finally addressed in June 2003.

During my home buying process I wanted hardwood floors throughout my home, and asked the design consultant to show me the different options. I decided to wait on this because they had only one option which did not suit me. Their explanation was that Bruce Hardwood would not accommodate any changes in the wood they offered through K. Hovnanian. I went with linoleum because I intended to change this ASAP.

In April 2003 I contacted a company to install $8000.00 worth of hardwood flooring. Within a month after installation the hardwood floors all lifted up and cracked, leaving this unbelievably dangerous mess. The company came to evaluate, and as a courtesy reinstalled believing that this was due to bad product.

About 3 weeks later the floors lifted again. This time the installer came to evaluate the concrete after sending a sample of the wood back to Bruce Hardwood Inc. The representative from a Bruce supplier tested the concrete and detected that there was too much moisture in the slab of my home. This evaluation was sent to both my closing attorney and K. Hovnanian,
and a letter was sent to K. Hovnanian from my attorney requesting that they address this.

The warranty manager from K. Hovnanian sent a letter to my attorney about 3 weeks later to say that the Bruce Hardwood supplier retracted his statement. Please remember, K. Honanian uses Bruce Hardwood floors in their homes. Surprise surprise!!!! Coincidence? How did this pass inspection with the township of Galloway?
All this was told to the warranty company that will cover my home after the 1 year is completed. Their response was that my 10 year warranty does not cover this. They suggested that K. Hovnanian should be responsible. K. Hovnanian refuses to rectify this. I worked out a deal with the floor installer that if they took care of it, I would put ceramic all over my downstairs. Ceramic apparently is more expensive so he installed ceramic. This additional cost was again paid by me.

I took this route because it was now October, and walking on bare concrete was becoming unhealthy.

I completed my 1 year list detailing the areas of concern for repairs in October, 2003. The list that I sent to K. Hovnanian still has not been addressed in its entirety. I will not bore you with all the details of each of the problem but will list briefly a few of the additional issues that I found with this house.

* Cracks and nail pops all over the walls
* The staircase to upstairs creaks like a haunted house
* The master bath shower pan shifts and creaks when being used
* The sprinklers in my yard have a mind of their own( we were told that all sprinklers would be turned over to us, but
* Doors don't close properly in several rooms
* The front door flies open when there is a strong gust of wind
* The garage door is dented
* The pipes in the bathrooms are rusting

*Backyard is constantly wet. The landscaper can barely cut the lawn, etc, etc

*Baseboards on walls lifting off wall

They sent a contractor to fix the shower stall in my bathroom. He cut a huge hole in my bedroom wall connecting to the shower, then discovered that this would not rectify the problem, and he would have to speak to K. Hovnanian to get approval to take out the entire stall and re-install. So far, I have not been contacted by K. Hovnanian about this, and I still have the huge hole in my wall. This hole stands a constant reminder of my vulnerability and how a huge multi million dollar corporation can usurp its powers.

These are just some of the many issues. There are many more since the 1 year has passed, but those, according to the agreement will have to be absorbed by the home owner.

I ask America, does this reflect K. Hovnanian's desire to make their customer happy?

Should K. Hovnanian be allowed to treat customers like this and escape with nothing but your money? Is my $266,300 the only color K. Hovnanian employees respect?

This isn't supposed to happen!!! This is America, where the little people are supposed to have a voice.

The last straw was being hung up on, after racial comments were made by their warranty clerk. I feel have no recourse. They left me feeling helpless.

The goal to get enough individuals with experiences like mine, so we can let these folks know that we don't have sit and take this anymore. We are spending our hard earned money and we want to be treated respectfully

Lorraine
08205, New Jersey
U.S.A.