Getting home builder to own up to mistake (office, deal)

[TripTychTwo]

Originally Posted by JPD

Look at how you entered the discussion.

He's not talking about that, he's talking about the comments I made to you after you attacked me for getting your feelings hurt about the way I talked to OP. OP consistently talks down ITP and about the people who live here. He's now asking mindless questions, and I pointed out the mindlessness of it. But it's cool, I've never met a White Knight before. It's endearing.

[flamadiddle]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

until my wife said, "Why don't you see if the original builder would do anything?" I was just hoping they might respond as an act of goodwill.

Pulte is a corporation that really only cares about its bottom line so don't expect any act of goodwill from them...

I bought a Pulte home many moons ago. Overall they're a decent builder, but we had a serious drainage problem that washed out most of our sod shortly after we moved in. I learned quickly that customer service after the sale was not one of their strong points. This is where it gets good.

Unfortunately for Pulte, this community was still being built out and our home was just a few doors down from the model home. Since they refused to address our drainage issue, we got creative and constructed a very large and colorful Lemon sign, which we placed in our front yard for everyone to see as they drove to the model home. It was literally a big bright Lemon saying something like, "We bought a Lemon! Needless to say this created quite the stir at the office and after several failed attempts to get us to take down the sign, Pulte decided to re-sod our yard.

Unfortunately, you do not have that kind of leverage at this point, but best of luck...

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by convextech

I understand that, but making personal attacks is not tolerated. Also, his reply was no worse than many others.

Convex,

Take a look at how I replied to him

and then how he replied to me.

One doesn't have to like what I say or agree with it, but the snark, and insecurity-induced insults are starting from one individual. The conversation is ratcheted up by one person. People speak up, so all people can have a base-level of humility when someone is too over-the-top and can continue having good discussions in the future. Something that is being missed by this poster who is ratcheting up the snark and insults more.... It takes the maturity to acknowledge it, not make a big deal of it, move on, and realize no one really cared that much either way. That has clearly been missed here.

It wasn't like JPD was very aggressive at this guy at first. His comment was plain, simple and showed the clearly logical inconsistency in the person's argument. His response to JPD was a bit snarky and that typical of a younger immature man to be bluntly honest.

So maybe JPD could show slightly more restraint, but he isn't the one continually ratcheting things up and laying it on thick and being the instigator. But if you're going to call him out on that don't 1) act the same way back to JPD and 2) just blindly stick up for the instigator


The OP needs some defense here too. He pretty much stated he thought there was nothing he can do, but we merely asking if anyone else ran into and handled a problem like this. That is a pretty important function of a community forum. (ie. Has anyone run into this problem; what did you do?)

That is worth defending. It is some of the drawn out ITP-OTP fights that aren't worth defending, which we now see has something to do with why the instigator is so hostile to the OP. Again it is the careless actions a younger man would do is carry the fight from a past subject to a completely different unrelated subject for the sake of snarking the individual.

This is what is great about this forum community, you can come here to describe community based problems and find out if others had similar problems. That is worth defending.

The other dude laid it on kinda thick too. It wasn't exactly a simple, clever one line response.


None of this was ever a big deal and it doesn't have to be if people can learn to take the smallest steps of humility and learn to just move on the first time.

[sedimenjerry]

If you want to narrow the cold spots down on the cheap, infrared thermometers only cost 15-20 bucks. Lot cheaper than an IR camera or paying for some consulting visit. You may be able to trace it down to some small hole or something that can be easily filled in.

[bellhead]

You'd have better luck suing the building inspector of your local municipality for negligence as this should have been inspected and signed off on.

I would start my lawsuit doing research on our houses building permits and inspections.

Pulte will fight you tooth and nail, but your local municipality will turn it over to insurance and give you a payout if you file a lawsuit on your city. The city carries insurance on these situations and the inspector is done retired by now so tarnishing his name is no problem.

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by sedimenjerry

If you want to narrow the cold spots down on the cheap, infrared thermometers only cost 15-20 bucks. Lot cheaper than an IR camera or paying for some consulting visit. You may be able to trace it down to some small hole or something that can be easily filled in.

I think this sounds like a great idea.

This cold snap would have been a great time to have used it.

At least this will tell you if it is a limited problem for problem spots or all over.

I know there are some homebuilders in this forum sometimes. Isn't there suppose to be a vapor barrier too? It might be worth checking a spot (back of the closet or under the counter).

If the problem is limited it might just be cheaper to handle yourself.

I wonder how much this impacts utility bills.

[sedimenjerry]

Originally Posted by cwkimbro

I think this sounds like a great idea.

This cold snap would have been a great time to have used it.

At least this will tell you if it is a limited problem for problem spots or all over.

I know there are some homebuilders in this forum sometimes. Isn't there suppose to be a vapor barrier too? It might be worth checking a spot (back of the closet or under the counter).

If the problem is limited it might just be cheaper to handle yourself.

I wonder how much this impacts utility bills.

One can also use it to check air vents to make sure air coming out is the right temp. Can also check outside surfaces. Woulda been great this past weekend to see if the roadway was below freezing or not. Plenty of uses for under 20 bucks.

[aslowdodge]

Originally Posted by sedimenjerry

One can also use it to check air vents to make sure air coming out is the right temp. Can also check outside surfaces. Woulda been great this past weekend to see if the roadway was below freezing or not. Plenty of uses for under 20 bucks.

Dang I've got one of these temp guns and never used it except for reptile cages. I am in an older house so I'm going to start using it.

[arjay57]

If the OP can get a hold of the head knocker over at Pulte he might make some headway. A lot of times the man at the top came from an older generation when people took pride in their work and stood behind it.

[ATLTJL]

If the OP can get a hold of the head knocker over at Pulte

I've gotten a lot of results at a lot of companies this way. It's a lesson I learned a long time ago....

Never, ever, ever deal with customer service. Send a letter -- a real one, with a stamp and everything -- straight the CEO. He won't open it, of course, but his secretary will and she will just send it over to some VP to deal with who has an office on the same floor. So it's the shortcut to getting to the right person, let the CEO's secretary route it for you! They still tend to open paper mail.

That's the secret. It doesn't matter how many people know it because most people are too lazy to write well-worded letters and send them through the actual mail.

I think I'll use this route again. Not that I'm expecting to get an actual result, but even if I don't, what did it take me, 15 minutes to do? That's how long you'd spend on hold at customer service anyway.