Patriot Homes, Patriot/ Lennar Homes ripoff, victimized insulted sewage, plumbing, new homes, along with United Plumbing victimized as the result of a sewage issue that occurred as a result of their having to rebuild our home that was destroyed in a fire by one of their contract employees Columbia Maryland

I am writing this letter to bring to your attention a matter that was mishandled. I went to settlement on a home on June 20, 2005. Let me start by giving you some background information on my experience with Patriot Homes. From the moment that my family showed an interest in the homes built by Patriot, Larry Campbell was excellent as the front line person for Patriot. He was always courteous, honest and became a family friend. Unfortunately, prior to settlement, my home was lost in the fire on December 6, 2004. I was not upset, because I felt like it was out of Patriots control. The home was rebuilt and I went to settlement on June 20, 2005. Upon my arrival at the home site for the final walk thru on June 20th, I was informed that my finished basement (rec. room) was flooded. According to Jim (previous employer) someone left the water hose on for three days and the water got into the basement. The carpet was soaked. Again, I was not upset and allowed Patriot to handle the situation. Service Master came in and vacuumed the water. I was assured that there would be no mold in my basement. I left the home site and went for settlement. For the first four days in my brand new house, I had to leave drying and dehumidifying equipment running at my expense.

Again, I was not upset. On July 8, 2005, my husband and I discover that the powder room was flooded into the mudroom. We went into the basement and the water was coming thru the ceiling, into an unfinished portion of the basement. Because we had just moved in less than thirty days prior, we were using the room for storage. We attempted to get the water up by using 10 of our personal bath towels.

I contacted Larry Campbell for assistance, and as usual he had all the answers and put a plan into effect. By 1:30pm that day Tim Schwartz and his crew were there to assist. Initially they believed that it was a clog in the pipe so they (Patriot rep / United Plumbing rep) plunged the toilet. During the plunging too much pressure was put going into the pipe and the ?rough in?, in the unfinished /storage portion of my basement blew off. The backed up sewage sprayed all over the unfinished portion of the room and continued to erupt until once again we had about 3 ? - 4 inches of sewage on the floor. This sewage went from the unfinished concrete to the finished portion of the basement (rec. room).

I had several items that were damaged. Tim and his workers attempted to move items so that they would not be contaminated; unfortunately the heavy items that could not be moved were ruined as well as boxes that did not get moved in time.

After the eruption the problem still had not been located. They attempted to snake the pipe from the inside and outside, to no avail--a backhoe was brought in to remedy the situation. The backhoe was driven across my yard up to the front window so that the cleanout pipe could be dug up. After locating the pipe and snaking it, a large block of cement was pulled out of the pipe. The cement must have filled the pipe during the second time the home was constructed according to Tim. Because the pipes were left in the ground from the initial build. He immediately stated that it was the plumbers issue (United Plumbing) a contractor for Patriot Homes.

Service Master arrived to clean up the sewage and fecal matter that was in my basement; this was after it had sat for about six hours. Service Master came in and immediately began cleaning the basement, tearing down the drywall, and pulling up the carpet. They informed me that any items touched by the sewage that were porous i.e. wood, fabric etc. had to be tossed out immediately, due to contamination.

The air conditioning system had to be shut off also as to not circulate the germs thru the house. Upon Tim's departure from my home I questioned him about my damaged property. He informed me that I needed to contact customer care. Due to the lateness of the day customer care was closed and would not reopen until Monday July 11, 2005. Monday morning I contacted customer care (Robin Foster) and was told to send a list of the damaged items and I would then receive further instructions. I sent a list immediately and was told I should contact my insurance company. I refused to contact my insurance because the incident did not occur due to my families' negligence. I did not want to file a claim based on another person's mistake, which would potentially place a mark on my insurance record. I was told that someone needed to come out and take pictures. Tim and a representative from United Plumbing came to my house on July 13, 2005.

I informed them that due to contamination reasons and the fact that I have two children under the age of two, things were thrown out as directed by Service Master. Eventually I received a call back indicating that I needed to contact United Plumbing's insurance company. The findings were that due to the fact that many of the items were thrown out we could not be reimbursed fully for the damages, regardless of contamination issues and the fact that they came to take the pictures four days later.

I will note that United Plumbing reported to their insurance company that the pictures were taken the day following the incident and apparently this statement was confirmed by Tim Schwartz (Patriot Rep). I will further note that it is illegal to make false statements to an insurance company. When I contacted United Plumbing as well as Tim Schwartz to address the fact that the pictures were taken four days later, which had a direct result in the findings, my calls were never returned. I requested a copy of the pictures taken and the damage was evident in the pictures.

For example I was told that the wooden dresser that was damaged was at least two inches off the floor. In deed the dresser is at least two inches off the floor in the front, due to the scalloped design; however, the sides and the back are flush with the floor. In the picture you can see how the water discolored the dresser from the side view. My wedding pictures and dress were destroyed as a result of the sewage flood, along with boxes of clothes and other items. Many of these things can never be replaced and I feel like not only was my family victims of a sewage flood, but we had to pay out of pocket to replace the furniture and clothing that were ruined.

It was more of an insult to get a $1,000.00 offer for losses in comparison to the actual estimated value. The purchase of this home and it's many malfunctions / incident's has been like the money pit. This incident and the handling of the investigation / repairs has led me to believe that the most important thing to Patriot was selling the house. If the companies that you hire as contractors cannot accept and fairly remedy their faults it may be best to go with more reputable companies. Because this has put Patriot / Lennar in the posture of conducting unfair business, as you are ultimately responsible for your contractors. As a consumer I prefer quality.

The above is an edited version of what was submitted to both Patriot Homes (Rick Kunkle) and United Plumbing and is being shared with the Public in hopes of protecting other consumers. As consumers, having had to endure a fire of our home prior to settlement, and then having to endure a sewage backup, we feel that we have been victimized by our builder Patriot/Lennar and their subcontractor, United Plumbing and we are sharing this in hopes of preventing other unsuspecting customers from having to endure this type of a scam.

The plumber (United Plumbing, owner Larry) lied and Patriot concurred with the Plumber which led the insurance company to believe that they were not responsible and we had a lost of $9,000 and only received $1,000 which was an insult. It actually took both Patriot/Lennar and the Plumbing Company 4 days to come to our house to take pictures and because the items were damaged by sewage and we had infant children, we had to discard them as instructed by Service Master, one of Patriots contractors. I should also add that the same plumbing issue that we experienced went throughout our cul-de-sac within a two week period.

Takeysha
Indian Head, Maryland
U.S.A.