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Huntington Chase CorpThis business is NOT BBB Accredited.
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Complaint Details
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Initial Complaint
06/20/2023
- Complaint Type:
- Sales and Advertising Issues
- Status:
- Answered
My home was built quickly and is very pretty to view, but has been riddled with internal issues since closing date and on an ongoing basis that has caused us multiple damages. The history of issues is as follows: My home flooded at ground level 2 days after closing ruining our walls/baseboards flooring. The builder came for repairs and in doing so and monitoring repairs, we found no insulation placed in our basement walls during water remediation. Although insulation was said to have been sprayed into the walls after the finding, our basement is still very cold. A leak was noticed on our upper level and water was found to be slowly leaking in over time. We were informed this was due to guttering that was too short for the flow of water necessary and a lack of the necessary soffiting that was tall enough to prevent the issue. This water came in behind furniture and had caused carpet fungus to grow which is unhealthy for my family. We've experienced plumbing breaks and issues on all 3 levels of our house. These major instances that caused significant damaged and required repair have occurred on 4 occasions and resulted in the loss of home owners insurance due to frequent claims. The current manger assumed responsibility for repair after consultation with his plumber that plumbing was run incorrectly, but failed to return to finish the job or respond to calls leaving our carpet torn up for months. In addition, we have a new water leak coming in our main level ceiling onto a flooring we've already once had to replace. Finally, we have had a foundation expert come out and verify that we have significant foundation issues with our home much like our neighbor next door whom used the same builder. The current manager is uncaring of the building issues within our home which was very expensive to purchase. We cannot afford to continue home owner insurance claims and loose our current insurance like the last one. We'd like them to be accountable and provide good service.Business response
06/28/2023
June 28, 2023
Better Business Bureau
Dispute Resolution Department
******************
RE: Response to Claim ********
To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing on behalf of Huntington Chase Homes Corporation
(“Huntington”) and acknowledge receipt of the complaint against Huntington
filed by ****** ***** (“Claimant”) (the “Complaint”). This letter is intended
to respond to all allegations set forth in Claimant’s letter.
As a preliminary matter, Huntington was the builder and closed on the
sale of the home located at * **** **** **** ***** ******** (“Property”), to
Claimant on August 14, 2013. As such, the Property is outside of the standard
one (1) year builder’s warranty, as well as outside the applicable statutes of
limitation relating to builder liability. While Huntington will respond to the
homeowner’s allegations in turn, it believes that the homeowner is attempting
to circumvent responsibility for standard, routine maintenance issues which are
customarily the responsibility of homeowners.
The former manager of Huntington died in 2017. With this home being
built 10 years ago, most records for said home are no longer available. However,
as stated in the Complaint, there was a plumbing pipe leak discovered
immediately after closing on the home. The leak was repaired, and the
basement was restored to its original condition. All affected materials, fixtures,
and furnishings were removed from the basement and replaced with new
identical materials, fixtures, and furnishings at the builder’s expense. This
included drywall, carpet, trim, doors, cabinets, and paint and labor to remove
and reinstall the same. The homeowner was made whole and given additional
considerations; we do not understand how this issue could be considered as a
portion of this complaint. Moreover, basements are frequently cold because
they are below ground level and many homeowners do not take the time to, by
opening and closing supply registers, balance the HVAC systems with the
changing of the heating and cooling seasons. Claimant alleges nothing here
which can ascribe liability to Huntington.
Next, the Claimant alleges water leakage issues without a timeframe or
evidence. Similarly, the Claimant has alleged fungus issues without
photographs, proof of injury, or one piece of substantive evidence. The
homeowner also indicates that excessive homeowner insurance claims have
caused the Claimant to lose the ability to contract homeowner insurance.
Again, all of these allegations have no supporting evidence and Claimant’s
concerns were never conveyed to the builder--until December of 2022 when the
hose bib froze due to the extended period of extremely cold weather-- an act of
god, beyond the control of any contractor or builder. Like a cold basement,
these issues are outside of the applicable statutes of limitation and impossible
to address because there is no context or nexus proving liability.
Claimant suggested that Huntington somehow conceded liability by
having a plumber evaluate the Property at the homeowner’s request. This is
incorrect. On December 27, 2022, Claimant sent a plumber to the Property to
inspect it. The plumber’s invoice is attached and indicates that it found no
liability on the part of Huntington related to water or plumbing issues. The pipe
was 12 inches from the outside floor truss (well within plumbing code) and was
insulated correctly. The hose bib and a section of pipe were already removed
and disposed of when Huntington’s plumber went out to inspect and repair.
Huntington did agree to remove carpet in the basement playroom after
the homeowner said the carpet got a little wet. When the plumber went out
the carpet was dry. When the flooring vendor went to the home, he stated
additional carpet in the family room was removed, presumably with the
Claimant’s expectation that Huntington would replace it as well. This was never
discussed with the builder nor was it ever agreed upon. Again, this house was 9
½ years old at the time and the builder replaced a frozen hose bib that self-
drains and had never frozen in the prior 9 ½ years, despite many instances
where temperatures had been cold enough to freeze. These hose bibs only
freeze if a hose or accessory is left on them, yet the builder replaced carpet and
repaired the hose bib as a courtesy to the Claimant. Huntington operates in a
small community and has a very good reputation so they fixed the only issue
known to them—despite the fact there is no legal reason or other expectation
2
that Huntington should be held responsible. In fact, it is likely that no other
builder would have provided such repairs, as the house was 9 ½ years old and
well outside of the builder warranty. Despite all of Huntington’s efforts to
satisfy its former customer, and going above and beyond what any other builder
would likely do, the Claimant has filed this claim and is placing negative reviews
out on the internet.
Finally, the Claimant alleged issues with regard to the foundation-again,
without timeframe, context, or proof. It is impossible to respond to an
allegation when the scope of what is being alleged is unclear. As for the
neighbor’s foundation issues, the claimant neglects to mention that the
neighbor is the claimant’s immediate family and up to this point has not had any
negative contact or conversations with the builder.
Claimant has asked for repairs to address its complaints. Despite the fact
that homeowner has not provided Huntington with any proof of damage or
evidence that the home is not properly constructed, and that Huntington is
under no legal or ethical obligation to perform such repairs, Huntington initially
took a conciliatory stance and offered to perform limited repairs (i.e., the hose
bib, limited replacement of a small segment of basement carpet). Instead of
resolving the matter, it has seemingly increased the scope of repairs Claimant
has requested. Huntington is concerned that the Claimant is looking for a
lifetime warranty on the Property and that no repair would stem further
complaints.
Huntington respectfully requests that you review the above, consider the
absence of tangible, verifiable information provided by the Claimant, and close
Claimant’s Complaint.
Thank you for your time and consideration of this matter.
Very truly yours,
Huntington Chase Homes Corporation
** ***** ********* ********* *Customer response
07/05/2023
In response to Huntington Chase’s remarks regarding my Better Business Bureau claim, I’d like the following considered.
As a preliminary matter, Mr. ***** ********, current President of Huntington Chase, has put forth a plethora of misleading remarks in his response to the Better Business Bureau. For example, Mr. ******** fails to mention that the preceding President that passed away was his immediate family member (Father: ***** ********) and that upon taking ownership of the company has direct access to all prior files including that of our home. Furthermore, upon contacting him about the latest issue with our home, he initially argued with me on whom our plumber was able to pull the file on my own to verify the Plumbing company that was used to be Preferred Plumbing as I repeatedly stated to him. It is dishonesty that he does not have access to the files of our home.
To enlighten Mr. ******** on why the initial leak in our home days after closing was brought to the forefront, it was for two reasons. First to explain, if it had not happened we would not have come to the realization there was no insulation in our basement walls as paid for in the purchase of our home. This sets a precedence for ongoing negligence in building our home that has caused us repeated expense and damages. Who knows what else was done incorrectly that we are unaware of. Secondly, this leak 2 days after closing is important to illustrate the timeline of issues with our home as the President of this company continues to repeat “this home is nearly 10 years old”. The age of our home cannot be accepted as an excuse for poor building services when our first issue was on day 2 of closing and continued major plumbing and building occurrences as well as major foundation issues have occurred not JUST now (10 years later) but THROUGHOUT our stay in this home. There are homes that are 50 to 100 years old that have not had these types of issues thus we believe this company is very cavalier with their client’s trust, money and the level of service they advertise that they provide. We feel this needs to be reflected on the review of the company so that prospective clients can see what they are getting into and can make an informed decision.
Mr. ******** has been as dishonest with the Bureau about the latest damage to our home as he has about the prior occurrences. While his crew did arrive to find the carpet dry, he fails to mention to you that we had called him for over a weak begging him to come mitigate our home and telling him that not only did we have to ask friends to offer up large fans and suck up water with shop vacuums, but that a terrible smell was beginning to rise from the basement upstairs causing my family to cough. His most honest statement is that he did wait to help us at all until my carpet was dry, dirty, and bacteria/mold was likely forming. Then he authorized the replacement of our carpet, only partially fixed it, then removed authorization to fix the rest leaving a large area of my basement torn up but without flooring. We simply asked of him to finish and make this right, and was mocking in response before ignoring our calls.
Mr. ******** has chosen to question our integrity of claims vs. caring about the services he represents and provides to people that are paying good hard earned money for a proper home. Proof of our damages is very easy to acquire. It would take nothing for me to attach my report from the company that inspected our foundation damage. We can call Preferred Plumbing by subpoena to repeat what they told us when they looked at the pipes: That they were run a way that didn’t make sense. My immediate family member that lives next door as well as 2 other neighbors I did not mention previously will happily testify to their home issues for free. The respect and lack of complaint from us previously has caused us to loose our homeowner’s insurance due to frequent claims. That too is very easy to prove. Our prior insurance company can easily provide history, pictures and dates of claims. They use a portal that maintains photo’s and record of all. Mr. ********’s alluding that these things are “made up” in any way is an attempt at “free discovery” that we will not award him. In the event we proceed seeking repair for damages from this company, Mr. ******** can pay to view such discovery in that faction.
As it is clear the business is not willing to make things right with us, we ask that the Better Business Bureau reflect our experience of this company for no other reason than to alert innocent prospective buyers from spending a lot of money on the building of a home that will cause them to be victimized by a home that continues to fail them.
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Contact Information
1339 Timber Ridge Trace Dr
O Fallon, IL 62269-7427
Business hours
Today,8:00 AM - 4:00 PM
MMonday | 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM |
---|---|
TTuesday | 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM |
WWednesday | 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM |
ThThursday | 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM |
FFriday | 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM |
SaSaturday | Closed |
SuSunday | Closed |
Customer Complaints Summary
2 total complaints in the last 3 years.
0 complaints closed in the last 12 months.