Search Ratings by Builder
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February 29, 2008, 2:20pm
Comments:
Stay far far away!
Where does it start? First we waited, and waited, and waited for plat approval which was promised week after week as they held onto our money for out lot reservation. Then I sat and listened to the site agent bad mouth other previous customers of Charter Homes. There was miscommunication about our lot the point we lost significant use of at least a third of our back yard. We would have walked away but they held us ransom to the substantial investment we made in non-refundable upgrades. Then our closing date moved, then we fought and fought about a very necessary retaining wall they didn't feel was their responsibility. Funny thing was, the retaining wall they did agree to install came crashing down one night into a major street while we were on vacation. Needles to say, getting e-mails of catastrophic damage to our lot while vacationing ruined our much needed time away. It was lots of fun to watch the city and Charter scramble to fix the wall... so we thought. One would think that Charter would have worked quickly to repair the wall considering it was a really bad advertisement for the unsold lots in the community. No, they wanted to wait several months because they didn't want to get wet in the rain. After much insistence on my part, the wall was fixed. Our street has been ripped out, repaved, curbs and sidewalks ripped out and left with out anyone being notified of the work. Again today, my sidewalk is ripped up and nobody seems to find it necessary to return my calls. I have major diagonal cracks forming in drywall and really worry that our problems have just begun. While this house is what I wanted, I wish I could have somebody else build it, somewhere far away from any involvement with Charter Homes. If you want a good builder, use a builder that has the confidence to use their name as their company name. What does Charter mean anyway? That gives the impression of a customized experience. Charter doesn't seem to realize I am the customer or that this is my house and not their property. Do not buy from this builder.
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5.5 |
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8.0 |
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9.0 |
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November 07, 2007, 2:03pm
Comments:
What next?
It's difficult to pinpoint exactly where our problems began. Our customer service agent acted in a professional and courteous manner but communicated false information during parts of the process. I don't feel she was being dishonest, I feel that Charter upper management does not effectively communicate with their representatives or buyers. I was even told during one meeting with upper management, "Well, I wasn't there. You can't expect me to be responsible for what my representatives say." Any short course in business law proves this statement to be nothing short of ridiculous. The product we were sold is not what we ended up with. Thankfully, after months of fighting and consulting legal counsel, we came to a fair compromise. It's so difficult not to become emotionally vested in the building process. That's why when Charter went back on their promises countless times, I was physically ill and just couldn't enjoy our pending move. So much negativity resulted for our building process that I was afraid to move my family into the home. These fears were nearly confirmed after moving in. I had been suspicious of faulty door knobs during our walk-through but couldn't figure out exactly what was wrong with them. A couple weeks after moving in, I was locked IN my bedroom with my baby daughter. My 3-year-old son was alone in the rest of the house for over an hour until someone rescued me. I had no phone and no way of communicating with anyone. It took a few days to get the door knobs changed out and I was told to tape them open to keep them from closing. Again, the customer service agent took this very seriously and put out the alert and work order immediately with sincere apologies. However, it should have been taken care of right then and there. I removed the door knobs myself to make sure the tape didn't fail again... which it already had resulting in another locked door. I've been through the new construction building process before and I expected mishaps here and there. Things like the wrong rock going on the front of the house or the wrong color paint were things I expected. While I was lucky and didn't experience problems as simple as these with Charter, our issues were much greater. My advice? If you want a Charter home, buy the completed product. Getting in as early as we did proved to be worth it because we have the house we really want on the lot we want... even though there are drastic differences between what we were told was going to be done with the lot versus what we ended up with. However, since I've moved in, the prices have dropped over 5%, which I understand is business and a bad market, and several of the upgrades we paid thousands for are now standard. Their final product is beautiful and I love my house. Building it was just a nightmare. If you do buy before the house is finished, make sure you get the specs in writing down to every detail! This can include things to flooring and hard surfaces, outdoor railings and lighting, landscaping, etc. At times I wondered if they were going to tell us that carpet wasn't included because it wasn't to code. Code seemed to be the driver for Charter, not goodwill or delivering on promises made during the sales process. Hopefully the business they have lost from my experience and that of my neighbors will be enough to turn their business practices around. It's too bad Charter builds such a great product but has such incredibly poor service.
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November 05, 2007, 5:53pm
Comments:
Buyer Beware!!
We chose Charter Homes because of their reputation for building quality homes. While the overall quality of our home is excellent, the Customer Service and follow through of the builder to resolve seemingly routine items was far from adequate. I would recommend that any potential buyer get all details and commitments in writing prior to settling any negotiations or agreements. Also, any statements or claims made by the builder about their customer service team are simply that, statements. In our experience with Charter Homes, there was no evidence of anything resembling customer service or any care or concern for the buyer once the sale was closed. In every instance, it took over a month to get any resolution to issues we were told would be resolved within a matter of days. We were also handed off to multiple individuals more than once who initially indicated they would help us resolve our issues, but only to have them refer us to someone else after nothing was done. In most cases, it took an escalated email to upper management and ownership of the company to get resolution. Overall, we are satisfied with the quality of the construction and don't regret our decision to buy this home. However, it is extremely frustrating that the quality of construction did not match up to the quality of service or care provided by the representatives for the Builder.