I am writing in response to a letter of complaint I received from Mr. [redacted]. The complaint ID number is [redacted]. Following my review of Mr. [redacted]'s letter, I have prepared the following response.The [redacted]'s entered into a contingent contract to purchase a patio home located...
in our Essex Greens community in Clarence, NY on April 11, 2015. An initial deposit of $5,000 was received as per the terms of the contract on April 14, 2015. This deposit was also held in escrow as per the terms of the contract. The contingency was set to expire on May 13, 2015 and if released on or prior to its expiration would secure the price per the contract. The pricing for this project is registered with the NY State Attorney General as a matter of record. The [redacted]'s were informed that if they were unable to sell their home prior to the expiration the selling price would be revised to the current published price which is stated in the contingency rider.On May 13, 2015, Essex Homes of WNY granted a two-day extension per the customer's request. On May 15, at 4pm, we received the "Notice of Deletion of Contingency" deleting the contingency from the contract of sale. At that time, an additional, non-refundable deposit was due of $34,200. The [redacted]'s were advised that this deposit could be given to us on Monday of the following week. At the time the release was received all deposits became non-refundable per the contract terms. On Monday, May 18, after 5pm, we eceived an email from Mrs. [redacted] requesting that the contract be terminated. Our attorney responded to their attorney indicating that the contract was in full force and per the terms could not be cancelled On Wednesday, May 20, I received an email from Mr. [redacted] and asked him to call me directly. I reviewed the terms of the contract with him by phone at which time he went into other personal matters related to his request in an effort to cancel the contract. At that time, I explained that costs had been incurred and I offered to retain $2,500 of the total, non-refundable amount owed of the $39,200. Mr. [redacted] advised me that he wished to review the offer with this wife and would get back to me. He responded that he would agree to my offer and would send his daughter to our office with the $2,500 check and he then proceeded to cancel the original $5,000 check. The $2,500 check was received and we, at Essex Homes, considered the matter complete and release documents were prepared. Ten days later I received a call from Mr. [redacted] during which he stated that he had given further consideration to our prior, agreed upon offer and he now wanted Essex Homes to refund $1,000 of the $2,500 amount retained. I advised Mr. [redacted] that we would not be willing to do that and I communicated that it was disconcerting to me that he would continue to pursue this issue after the matter had been concluded. I am willing to produce copies of the contracts and various emails confirming the above stated facts from Essex Homes of WNY. Please fee! free to contact me at my offices at [redacted] ext. 211, should you require any clarification or if you have any additional questions.Thank you forthe opportunity to respond to this inquiry.Sincerely,Philip J. N[redacted]President
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
The majority of Mr. N[redacted]'s response is simply restating
what I had already described in the initial complaint. Most of the main facts
are not in dispute but the reasons, details and motivation behind the actions
are at the heart of my complaint.
First, on May 13, when the initial price expired, our home
was up for sale for two days and no purchase offer was forthcoming. As I stated in originally I was abundantly
clear and precise, since we had been in a situation with two mortgages in the
past, that we were not comfortable releasing a contingency until our house was
firmly sold so the pricing can be allowed to expire. This was, by far, chief among all other issues
in possibly purchasing a new home so we were very careful not to get into that
situation again. It was Mr. H[redacted],
the new sales representative, who suggested exploring an extension for two days
and I agreed. The extension was granted.
Second, on Friday May 15, we were contacted again. As stated
originally, we had heard from our real estate agent that there were interested
parties in the house and he was expecting to receive offers but, no offers were
in hand. When we spoke with Mr. H[redacted]
on the afternoon of May 15 we explained the situation and once again were going
to allow the pricing to expire when Mr. H[redacted], with what I believe to be
were good intentions, very clearly indicated to us repeatedly that Essex was a
very reasonable company and was not interested in keeping our deposit. He
offered to us verbally that we could sign the release (which we did at 4:00pm
on Friday May 15) and that since no activity would take place over the weekend,
we could have two extra days to receive an offer while still holding the
pricing one last time. If an acceptable
offer was not received then we could release on Monday with no harm and still receive
a FULL refund on the deposit.
We clarified that position with him several times before feeling comfortable to
follow his recommendation. As stated, we tried to contact Mr. H[redacted] on
Monday morning and, when we were unable to do so, we sent an email on the
afternoon of Monday, May 18 to be sure that we complied with all
instructions. You may check public
records to see that the house was, in fact sold AFTER, May 15 so the condition
for the contingency release had not been met. There was no reason for us to
sign the contingency and Essex asked for no contract to back up a sale. I have attached the contingency release which
references the wrong house to be sold. I also have the emails asking for a
contingency release and referencing a
contract price increase from the day after our home was listed.
Third, as stated in the original complaint I was away on a
business trip when I received notice from my attorney that, despite all
assurances, Essex was indeed enforcing the contract. When Mr. N[redacted] asked me
to contact him I was still on my business trip in a rental car while he was on
vacation and our conversation was limited by an impending conference call he
had to attend. Given the short time of the phone conversation and the fact that
I did not have the details to research in front of me I did end the
conversation with paying $2,500 to initially move towards a resolution. I did
not reconsider the offer but, I waited for Mr. N[redacted] to return from vacation
to discuss a more equitable final resolution while not under time pressure and
I had my facts. Even though I was told
that I would receive a full reimbursement I am a reasonable person and was willing
to negotiate some compensation as a form of goodwill. Mr. N[redacted] claimed expenses (which were never
specified to me) regarding this transaction. If I had not signed the
contingency release then there would have been no possible recovery of any
expenses incurred, which are in the normal course of a sales business anyway.
In addition, I can't imagine what additional expenses would have been incurred
from Friday at 4:00pm until Monday morning to recover since no work was done on
the property over the weekend and an "available" sign was placed on
the held lot on that same Monday afternoon. Finally, the demand for half of the
deposit seems arbitrary. As I mentioned in the original complaint, I consider
myself reasonable and would have compensated Mr. N[redacted] something fair, even
though I was continuously assured of a full refund, but $2,500 was an excessive
amount and unreasonable.
As I expected Mr. N[redacted]'s response illustrates a very hard
line with no expression of culpability or goodwill towards a potential client.
Best Regards,
[redacted]
I am writing in response to a letter of complaint I received from Mr. [redacted]. The complaint ID number is [redacted]. Following my review of Mr. [redacted]'s letter, I have prepared the following response.The [redacted]'s entered into a contingent contract to purchase a patio home located...
in our Essex Greens community in Clarence, NY on April 11, 2015. An initial deposit of $5,000 was received as per the terms of the contract on April 14, 2015. This deposit was also held in escrow as per the terms of the contract. The contingency was set to expire on May 13, 2015 and if released on or prior to its expiration would secure the price per the contract. The pricing for this project is registered with the NY State Attorney General as a matter of record. The [redacted]'s were informed that if they were unable to sell their home prior to the expiration the selling price would be revised to the current published price which is stated in the contingency rider.On May 13, 2015, Essex Homes of WNY granted a two-day extension per the customer's request. On May 15, at 4pm, we received the "Notice of Deletion of Contingency" deleting the contingency from the contract of sale. At that time, an additional, non-refundable deposit was due of $34,200. The [redacted]'s were advised that this deposit could be given to us on Monday of the following week. At the time the release was received all deposits became non-refundable per the contract terms. On Monday, May 18, after 5pm, we eceived an email from Mrs. [redacted] requesting that the contract be terminated. Our attorney responded to their attorney indicating that the contract was in full force and per the terms could not be cancelled On Wednesday, May 20, I received an email from Mr. [redacted] and asked him to call me directly. I reviewed the terms of the contract with him by phone at which time he went into other personal matters related to his request in an effort to cancel the contract. At that time, I explained that costs had been incurred and I offered to retain $2,500 of the total, non-refundable amount owed of the $39,200. Mr. [redacted] advised me that he wished to review the offer with this wife and would get back to me. He responded that he would agree to my offer and would send his daughter to our office with the $2,500 check and he then proceeded to cancel the original $5,000 check. The $2,500 check was received and we, at Essex Homes, considered the matter complete and release documents were prepared. Ten days later I received a call from Mr. [redacted] during which he stated that he had given further consideration to our prior, agreed upon offer and he now wanted Essex Homes to refund $1,000 of the $2,500 amount retained. I advised Mr. [redacted] that we would not be willing to do that and I communicated that it was disconcerting to me that he would continue to pursue this issue after the matter had been concluded. I am willing to produce copies of the contracts and various emails confirming the above stated facts from Essex Homes of WNY. Please fee! free to contact me at my offices at [redacted] ext. 211, should you require any clarification or if you have any additional questions.Thank you forthe opportunity to respond to this inquiry.Sincerely,Philip J. N[redacted]President
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
The majority of Mr. N[redacted]'s response is simply restating
what I had already described in the initial complaint. Most of the main facts
are not in dispute but the reasons, details and motivation behind the actions
are at the heart of my complaint.
First, on May 13, when the initial price expired, our home
was up for sale for two days and no purchase offer was forthcoming. As I stated in originally I was abundantly
clear and precise, since we had been in a situation with two mortgages in the
past, that we were not comfortable releasing a contingency until our house was
firmly sold so the pricing can be allowed to expire. This was, by far, chief among all other issues
in possibly purchasing a new home so we were very careful not to get into that
situation again. It was Mr. H[redacted],
the new sales representative, who suggested exploring an extension for two days
and I agreed. The extension was granted.
Second, on Friday May 15, we were contacted again. As stated
originally, we had heard from our real estate agent that there were interested
parties in the house and he was expecting to receive offers but, no offers were
in hand. When we spoke with Mr. H[redacted]
on the afternoon of May 15 we explained the situation and once again were going
to allow the pricing to expire when Mr. H[redacted], with what I believe to be
were good intentions, very clearly indicated to us repeatedly that Essex was a
very reasonable company and was not interested in keeping our deposit. He
offered to us verbally that we could sign the release (which we did at 4:00pm
on Friday May 15) and that since no activity would take place over the weekend,
we could have two extra days to receive an offer while still holding the
pricing one last time. If an acceptable
offer was not received then we could release on Monday with no harm and still receive
a FULL refund on the deposit.
We clarified that position with him several times before feeling comfortable to
follow his recommendation. As stated, we tried to contact Mr. H[redacted] on
Monday morning and, when we were unable to do so, we sent an email on the
afternoon of Monday, May 18 to be sure that we complied with all
instructions. You may check public
records to see that the house was, in fact sold AFTER, May 15 so the condition
for the contingency release had not been met. There was no reason for us to
sign the contingency and Essex asked for no contract to back up a sale. I have attached the contingency release which
references the wrong house to be sold. I also have the emails asking for a
contingency release and referencing a
contract price increase from the day after our home was listed.
Third, as stated in the original complaint I was away on a
business trip when I received notice from my attorney that, despite all
assurances, Essex was indeed enforcing the contract. When Mr. N[redacted] asked me
to contact him I was still on my business trip in a rental car while he was on
vacation and our conversation was limited by an impending conference call he
had to attend. Given the short time of the phone conversation and the fact that
I did not have the details to research in front of me I did end the
conversation with paying $2,500 to initially move towards a resolution. I did
not reconsider the offer but, I waited for Mr. N[redacted] to return from vacation
to discuss a more equitable final resolution while not under time pressure and
I had my facts. Even though I was told
that I would receive a full reimbursement I am a reasonable person and was willing
to negotiate some compensation as a form of goodwill. Mr. N[redacted] claimed expenses (which were never
specified to me) regarding this transaction. If I had not signed the
contingency release then there would have been no possible recovery of any
expenses incurred, which are in the normal course of a sales business anyway.
In addition, I can't imagine what additional expenses would have been incurred
from Friday at 4:00pm until Monday morning to recover since no work was done on
the property over the weekend and an "available" sign was placed on
the held lot on that same Monday afternoon. Finally, the demand for half of the
deposit seems arbitrary. As I mentioned in the original complaint, I consider
myself reasonable and would have compensated Mr. N[redacted] something fair, even
though I was continuously assured of a full refund, but $2,500 was an excessive
amount and unreasonable.
As I expected Mr. N[redacted]'s response illustrates a very hard
line with no expression of culpability or goodwill towards a potential client.
Best Regards,
[redacted]