Coldwell Banker Howard Perry & Walston

On 11/13/15 Coldwell Banker-Howard Perry & [redacted] accepted an offer promising to complete repairs prior closing. Closed 12/30/16. Work not done yet. I made an offer through [redacted] of Re-[redacted], NC 27616 on November 13, 2015 for a December 22, 2015 closing made and it was accepted that same day by [redacted] and [redacted] who were represented by [redacted] of Coldwell Banker-Howard Perry & [redacted]. I signed the Due Diligence Request and Agreement on November 24th and the work to be completed prior to closing was accepted by the seller on December 2nd which provided approximately 3 weeks for the repairs to be completed. (See attached.) That agreement was broken. As time drew nearer to closing, attempts to schedule access to the home were continually postponed. By the 21st most of the minor work had been completed, however, none of the major work (kitchen flooring repairs, windows with broken seals replaced, siding replaced) had been done. The closing date was moved to the 28th. On the 26th of December, [redacted] and I did an unofficial walk-thru. The kitchen floor repairs had destroyed the kitchen floor, making it much worse than its previous condition and the floor replacement had to be renegotiated. The windows and siding replacement had not occurred and the rot on the patio door and frames had not been done.The closing was extended to the 31th of December. My agent began more closely monitoring the work to be done. On the evening of the 28th, my son and I went out to see what work had been completed. The appliances from the kitchen had been moved to other places in the house and some of the kitchen floor had been removed, the siding had not been done and the patio door, which had been painted, was bubbling and clumpy. I informed my realtor who spoke with [redacted] (License #XXXXXX). He assured us that all work would be completed properly by the newest closing date. The next day we went out to the house and no new work had been done.Upon learning on the morning of the 30th that a closing at noon on the 31st would not be registered until January 4, 2014, I requested to move the closing to 4 pm on the 30th. That would allow me to take occupancy on the 31st. We were also promised by the seller's agent that the siding had been replaced; that the flooring would be completed by 4pm on the 30th and the windows would be replaced the next week. We agreed to close with that promise.At closing, neither the seller's agent nor the sellers were present. However, the closing attorney did include an agreement for me to sign acknowledging that the work was to be completed. I learned several weeks later that the agreement, which included the siding, was scratched over on the sellers' version of the document. I also learned that the seller's agent signed a third agreement. (See attached.) At approximately 4:56 pm, I began moving in on the 31st. No new flooring had been installed and the kitchen appliances were in the living room and sunroom. (See pictures.) This meant that only beds and the dining room furniture could be moved in. The installation was not considered "completed," according to the worker, until the evening of January 1st, 2016. The work was sloppily done and still there was work yet to be done. (See pictures.) My family and I spoke to the worker about problems we saw and he said that those things would self-correct. The contracted worker was present and packing up to leave when we called my agent to complain.At this time, the Team Leader of the seller's agent, [redacted], became involved. He brought with him another flooring specialist who agreed the floor was not instilled properly and was a poor job. After Mr. [redacted] own personal inspection, he accepted his agency's responsibility and vowed that the work to be done would be to my satisfaction even if they needed to hire contractors of my choosing. In addition, [redacted] not only admitted that he'd made a mistake hiring the contractor and that he had lied about the siding being repaired. Estimates for this work have now changed.Desired SettlementI would like the work to be completed by licensed reputable specialists for each repair/work to be done. I would like for them to agree, that removal of the siding to be replaced may reveal underlying issues that would have caused me to withdraw my offer or include repair in closing or financial renumeration. And, that they will cover those additional expenses. Business Response This matter is ongoing, hence the response is limited. The crux of the case is that our sales associate, working as a listing agent on behalf of a home seller, arranged for work the seller agreed to have performed prior to closing. The sales associate relied upon a general contractor who was employed to do certain repair work to do the work fully, competently and on time. The contractor failed to do a complete job, was called back to complete the work and later told the sales associate it was completed, but it was still not extensive enough and was done poorly. The sales associate failed to observe the problem carefully and therefore said the work was completed. However, upon later seeing further work was needed, a very generous offer was made to have all the work redone at no expense to the buyer by contractors selected by the buyer. Nevertheless , a conrtrovery arose about unknown defects in the property that might be discovered when the work was redone (that had not been a part of the work the seller agreed to do) and that controversy caused the buyer to refuse the offer that was made. It is anticipated, though, that this matter will be ultimately resolved by agreement. Additionally, the siding defects requiring repairs continue to worsen because of very strong sunlight reflections onto the siding from the windows of the adjacent home. This complicates the matter.Consumer Response Based on the company's response to Revdex.com I expected to hear from them. I waited two weeks from the date of notification to hear from Coldwell Banker-Howard Perry & Walston and they have not contacted me nor my realtor representative. They have made false claims to the Revdex.com and to the [redacted]. "Nevertheless , a conrtrovery arose about unknown defects in the property that might be discovered when the work was redone (that had not been a part of the work the seller agreed to do) and that controversy caused the buyer to refuse the offer thatwas made." The realtor and I did come to an agreement. They asked my representative to draw up the agreement, but Coldwell Banker-Perry & Walston's attorney then advised them not to sign it. Buy the time they responded ** had added taxes to labor, which meant that the original cost had increased significantly. My position is this: If the work had been completed prior to closing as promised all of these issues would not exist. For example: had the siding been replaced the contractor would have noted if water damage or mold existed behind the siding. That would have changed my offer. Final Business Response This is a disputed matter. Nevertheless, to resolve this matter, our firm offered to pay many thousands of dollars for all necessary repairs to this property that were requested in an amount the complaining party said was acceptable based upon estimates obtained by the complaining party. However, she refused to then settle the matter because we would not agree to pay for any unknown issues that were discovered later when siding was being replaced. That had never previously been discussed or agreed. That offer has never been withdrawn, but the complaining party seems to think we should have done something further. Our offer to pay what was agreed to be a sufficient amount remains outstanding and this interaction adds nothing to the process.

It took over 60days and multiple emails and called to get our security deposit and prorated rent sent to us. Poor customer service and accountability During our move out process, multiple staff members were rude and abrupt in phone calls as well as emails (mid April 2016). Once we moved out we were assured that our security deposit along with prorated rent would be sent to us (Moved out April 2nd, assured return of deposit mid April). 30days later we still had not received it. We sent several emails to the tenants agent with no reply. After sending an email to a general account we finally got a reply (May 23rd), we were again assured the check would be mailed. It has now been 60days since we moved out and we still have not received the check. No one in the office will take ownership of this issue. The manager only offered excuses. We are really disappointed with the level of customer service received since we expected a lot from the HPW brand.Desired SettlementAt this point we just want our check and to be done with HPW. We won't use them for future needs and will not recommend them to friends. Business Response Contact Name and Title: [redacted] HPW Rental MContact Phone: [redacted]Contact Email: [redacted]The payments by check of pro-rated rent refund and full return of security deposit in this matter were printed and placed in the outgoing mail to the tenant's new address on May 23, 2016. This was one day beyond the time allowed, which ended on a Sunday that our offices were not open, and the fact this was occurring, why it happened and an apology for the delay were communicated to the tenant in writing on that day. We have no idea why delivery of the checks we sent was delayed, but there was an intervening Federal holiday. There was never any agreement or statement made that these payments would be made in "mid-April" as stated by the Complainant, particularly since the early termination of the lease that the landlord agreed to allow did not even occur until April 22, 2016. Further, our staff was never rude to the tenants. Since most communications about the early termination were with the co-tenant of the complaining tenant, it may be that she did not fully understand what had been agreed. Although the tenants moved out on or about April 2 after purchasing a home, the lease did not actually terminate for 3 additional weeks.The lease referred to in the complaint was originally set to terminate on May 31, 2016 and the tenants (Complainants) sought to terminate the lease early. Although the lease contained no provisions for early termination, we attempted to and did arrange an early termination to accommodate the tenants. This required consultation with and agreement by the landlord/owner, who set the terms for early termination which were clearly communicated to the tenants in writing. It was agreed in late March, 2016 that if the property could be shown to prospective tenants right away and was put under a new lease by April 20, 2016, then an early termination would be allowed on the date the new tenancy was to begin. Because of our efforts and highly effective rental management practices, a new tenant was quickly found and a lease written and the beginning date of that new lease was April 22, 2016. This then was the termination date of the lease in question. In addition to full refund of the security deposit, the landlord also agreed to refund pro-rated rent paid until the end of the month, which was also paid at the same time.The Complainants were aware and correct that HPW enjoys a sterling reputation in the communities it serves for honesty and highly professional practice of real estate brokerage and management, and it is unfortunate they feel this is not what occurred for them. Nevertheless, we know that the facts of this matter, all clearly documented in writing in our records and available for inspection, reflect an entirely professional and courteous handling of this special request from these tenants to terminate their lease early, despite the lack of any provision in the lease to do that. Once again we see a demonstration that no good deed goes unpunished.