Payne Family Homes

On behalf of Payne Family Homes I would like to apologize for the delay in service you experiencedWe pride ourselves on our service and building a quality homeI see that this work was completed and signed off on by *** *** on July 28thPlease let us know if there are any questions or
comments on the service that was completed

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/10/21) */
Contact Name and Title: *** *** CFO
Contact Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXX
Contact Email: ***@paynefamilyhomes.com
The *** are correct in that we have been dealing with this issue for some timeWe apologize that we have not been able to
bring it to a successful resolution before nowOn October 6th, we scheduled a meeting for 10:a.mon October 13th at their home with the supplier and the manufacturer of their patio doorTo accommodate the schedule of the door manufacturer, the meeting was subsequently moved up to 7:a.mUnfortunately, the door rep had car trouble on the way to the appointment and had to postpone the meetingApparently, the *** filed this complaint sometime that dayThe meeting happened at 3:p.mthat day and it was agreed that the door would be replacedOur company did not receive notice of this complaint until October 15thThus, before we received notice of the complaint, we believe we committed to the resolution of the issue to the satisfaction of the ***
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/10/25) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I would like to have the case remain open until the new door is installedPayne committed to having the new door ordered and delivered within weeks of Oct 13thThey also committed to install the new door promptly

On August 1st we received a phone call from this homeowner stating their rear yard was too wet for fence installationThat same day our field superintendent went to the home and investigated the rear yard and took picturesAugust 1st was a Monday and it had rained all weekendThe field
superintendent spoke with the homeowner letting her know that he was working on a solutionOn August 2nd there was a meeting on site with our Superintendent, Storm Water Manager, and our grading subcontractorDuring that meeting it was decided to get our land development team involved and also an engineerThose meetings were coordinated for the first available dateOn August 18th our superintendent, land development manager, engineer, and HOA representative all met onsiteThe existing french drain was also scoped with a camera on August 18th to ensure there wasn't a clogWe received the proposal from the engineer with their recommendations on a solution on August 25thOn August 26th all parties met back onsite and developed a plan of actionWe immediately scheduled the work, weather pendingOn September 1st our rough grade contractor cleaned off the swale in preparation for the work to beginOn September 6th our contractor dropped machines and on September 7th the work beganThe work was rained out on September 8th and 9th but will commence on Monday September 12th and will be complete by the end of that week, weather pending. The rollout trash drawer was noted on the month warranty walk through as needing to be inspectedWe sent someone out to fix this issue but the trash drawer could not be repairedThis is not covered under the Payne Family Homes written warranty but we have scheduled the work to supply a new trash drawer and the labor to install the drawer as we understand this is an inconvenience to the homeownerIt has been ordered and our customer care department will communicate with our trades and customer for a date and time to schedule this work to be complete

I have been in contact with the homeowner today, January 30thHe is experiencing a leak in one of his windowsWe sent out a tradesman in October to evaluate this issue and find out the source of the leakWe identified the source and were in the midst of getting the window manufacturer to the home
to start the repair processThe person needing this information was on vacation and our customer care department was waiting to follow up until he was back from vacationA reminder to follow through on this was never set up and this slipped through the cracksThis is very unusual for Payne Family Homes as we pride ourselves on customer serviceWe will be sending out a representative as soon as Thursday, February 1st as long as this works for our homeowner's scheduleThe homeowner did state that they have had nothing but a great experience with Payne Family Homes and did feel this was out of the normThis issue will be resolved directly

Customer service and quality is not taken lightly at Payne Family HomesAfter hearing of this homeowners complaint, we immediately started researching the filesDue to some personnel and trade changes, the siding problem on his home was never properly documentedI have reached out to the
homeowner on the phone and ensured that this would be addressed ASAPWe will be contacting the homeowner for a time that we can come out and perform the repair on his homeWe have determined that the water damage was caused by a deck that was added after closing by the homeowner but will make sure there are no water intrusion issues when the repair is madeOnce this repair is complete, there are no further outstanding items

Payne Family Homes did not build a home for this homeowner. We hired professional, registered engineers to look into the drainage issues and they concluded the following: a.) The issues, if any, are on the common ground of the community b.) The drainage issues that exist are a
result of the mass grading in the community performed prior to our firm purchasing any of the lots.Our attorney put the HOA and the original developer on notice of these issuesThe HOA and the original developer continue to be aware of the general problems with drainage in this developmentOur firm is not at fault in this matterWe are trying to help with the overall resolution

We bought a house in June and several items that were on our 60 day service request were not completed. We have called and emailed several times to now get no response. We paid for upgraded paint in our finished basement. That was not done at the time of closing until we brought our contract. It was then done with one coat. The marble in our bathroom counter and shower was broken and bubbling. The screen door to our porch does not close properly. We finished our basement and paid to have hardwood flooring installed. There was no leveler done to the concrete. When Ambassador came to "fix" the problem they replaced 3 boards.

My wife and I built a home in the *** subdivision in O'Fallon, MO which is still under development.
Two homes behind us are under construction and their yard backyards have not had sod laid yet.
The lots slope downward towards our yard and every time there is even a light rain this results in
water and mud washing onto our property and pooling. This has left a large area (20% of the
backyard) of dead grass and and dirt on which grass will not grow. We have contacted Payne many,
many times and requested the drainage issue be addressed and the area of our lawn that was
effected by the run-off repaired. We have been given empty promises that this will be taken care of
but, to date, nothing substantive has occurred. Yesterday, we received an email stating they would not repair our yard after all despite previous messages claiming they would. Their only response was to repair the plastic "slit
fence" that is on the property line but this is not strong enough to hold back the mud and water that
continues to pile up on our lawn. We consider this destruction of private property and ask that the
responsible party (Payne Family Homes) fix and pay for the damage. I have months of correspondence documenting an
ongoing exchange with Payne's Customer Care along with photos and video showing water and mud pooling on our
property from the lots behind us. There is a very clear cause and effect in the images that could have been prevented had those lots been graded properly and with appropriate drainage. I will be glad to provide the photos and videos if requested.

I purchased a house on 12/29/2017. The extreme rains in early 2018 caused the yard around the perimeter of the house and the entire backyard to sink between one foot to a foot and a half. The builder persists in stating they will only repair areas at their discretion. They will not restore the entire backyard to the original height like it was when the house was closed. Normal settlement is expected with any new yard, but the extreme rain caused the dirt to sink and wash out creating a ditch and down hill slope that was greater than when purchased.

Several issues with Payne on follow thru:
- My Wife(***) and I pointed out an issue with the carpet not wearing properly and requested that someone from Ambassador take a look at the carpet as we felt that the installation may not been done properly. Going by the carpet that we walked on in the store vs what was installed in the BRAND NEW HOUSE did not feel the same. NO WORK has been done on the carpet until over a year later and now we are being told the carpet has the incorrect pad installed which I feel has added to the carpet wearing incorrectly; the upgraded pad was suggested heavily by Ambassador to help with wear of the carpet. Ambassador stated that ONLY the pad will be replaced and not the carpet; and also stated that should this have been brought up with the 2 month walk that they would have handled the replacement of the carpet however they will not handle it now....The carpet was brought up on the 2 month walk with John Rice however NO FOLLOW UP. This is Payne's fault for not delivering and overseeing the proper installation of the carpet that was written out in the contract that we all agreed on. Now we are basically having to move all of our stuff out of the house with a 7 MONTH OLD CHILD which to me is a massive inconvenience. While I appreciate the fact that Ambassador has at least stepped up and decided to pay for movers; this is still a huge issue as we will not be in our house for 3 days or more and have to deal with packing things up and securing. This is all over an issue that was brought up months ago but Payne did not follow up on the issue.

- The Landscaping has also been another issue. The drain spouts did not have water blocks installed which was supposed to be included with the house and yet again Payne dropped the ball. The front downspout has completely destroyed the landscaping that WE PAID FOR and no one has addressed the issue even after several attempts of contact and complaints. The sump pump drain has made a swamp of the area next to our house as well and that remains to be solved. At the 2 month walk we were told nothing would be done and felt that was the incorrect statement; bottom line is that if you pay to have a sump pump installed it should drain away from the house, not right next to it. The whole purpose of a sump pump is to move water AWAY from the house the not just dump it right next to the foundation. This has also caused the sump pump to run several times a day - On days that I work from home I often hear it go off at least 15-20 times during an 8 hour day.....and that is on a day where it hasn't rained. On days that we have a fair amount of rain, I have heard it run close to every minute because that side of the house is saturated with water to the point that you can't walk on that area without fearing that you will sink into the ground like walking in quick sand. Water generally stands in that area well past 48 hours which was a concern when my wife was pregnant and that was a mosquito breeding ground. Our neighbors have even complained about the issue and no one seems to care.

- We also requested that paint be cleaned off of the wrought iron spindles that we purchased as part of the build of our house. This again was on our 2 month walk and again no follow up. I am not going to attempt to clean the paint of as I do not want to damage this. This was supposed to have been followed up on as well.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2015/06/23) */
I typed a short response on the "case page". It asked if I wanted to include any attachments. I clicked on "Yes" but I didn't see where or how to proceed by including any attachments. So, our response is attached hereto. I believe I have been...

instructed in the past that this email response is acceptable. If that is not the case, please let me know and I'll do something else.
Sincerely,
[redacted] W. [redacted]
C.F.O.
XXXXX [redacted] Suite B
St. Louis, Missouri XXXXX
Office & Fax = [redacted]
Mobile = [redacted]@paynefamilyhomes.com

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. Once they actually took the time to communicate with us, resolution of the issue went smoothly and the problem was resolved as stated. Staying in touch with the customer is a huge weakness after closing with this company. They do provide a quality product, but their post marketing customer service needs a major overhaul. Regardless of the action that may be happening behind the scenes, if I, as a customer, recieve no updates without repeatedly asking, I do not feel valued as a customer. It should not require the filing of a Revdex.com complaint to hear from someone.Thank you.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

We closed on our house December 21, 2016. From before we closed on this until now we are still dealing with issues that were suppose to be resolved. The main issues that are still unresolved are the basement framed in wall is leaking when it get wet from the outside. January 2018 we notified Payne regarding thick ice being formed on the inside of the framed walk out basement wall (the same wall noted above). They had a subcontract come and re insulate the wall. This month the siding got wet on the outside of the same wall and water began leaking in from the top of the wall and pooled on the floor. I contacted ***, manager of the customer care department, after I was told to speak to him directly from the customer care representative. Long story short he refuses to look at the wall or even repair anything further on our house. I also discussed with him about our floors that are still squeaking and they are not fixed. They did a one time repair as they call it to fix nail pops in the dry wall. Those nail pops that were supposedly fixed have now again popped the nails out in our ceiling. The exact once that were supposedly repaired. I was told by him "we will only repair nail pops once". I then said you didn't repair it when the same exact nail in now popping out of the ceiling. He refused to do anything further with the nail pops or floor squeaking.

We have had many major issues with this house from day one and should never have closed until they were fixed. The chimney on the wood burning fireplace did not vent right and had to be fixed. Smoke from the fireplace was drafting in our house. The vent for the stove wasn't vented to the outside and there was a wall stud blocking the venting. After arguing and multiple attempts at fixing the stove vent the microwave/vent combo was finally removed from the wall and discovered that it wasn't even vented to the outside of the house. The ceiling fan wasn't working right and had to be replace. The ceiling fan couldn't be turned up above the lowest setting as it shook and it was discovered the mounting was broke. The sidewalk had cracked because the ground was properly repaired. Every item that was repaired we had to fight with Payne to get it fixed.

All I'm asking if for my house to be fixed properly. If you supposedly fix it then the same issue shouldn't happen again in the same spot.

The absolute worst builder you can ever imagine! Run far far far away. Where do I begin? Cheap construction everywhere in the home. Cheap materials. Builder grade material used in every aspect of construction - yet they charge premium prices. I cannot begin to tell you how many problems our home, and other homes in our community have had, due to cheap materials, cheap construction practices, and builder grade materials. Come to the Townes at Belleau Creek and look at the sloppy landscaping. My yard has hills and valleys as if the person grading it were drunk. I have crack pavements outside, poor drainage, and a backyard which is basically swamp land. Good luck trying to get them to work with you. Payne Family Homes has a reputation for bullying buyers. I decided to become a Homeowners Association Board member after watching homeowners get bullied. What was even worse than all of this: Payne Family Homes employs Omni Property Management Company. That was my first order of business as a HOA Board member: Firing Omni Property Management. Talk about a poorly run and operated company! The list of complaints from homeowners about Omni was longer than you could ever imagine. But it fits a bully like Payne Family Homes. If you are thinking about buying a home - avoid yourself long-term PAIN and avoid PAYNE!! They will not stand behind you as your home and lot fall apart.

In August of 2012 my family and I purchased a new home through Payne Family Homes. We have now lived in the home for over 5 years and still have not had a leaking window in one of our closets repaired. Payne has sent someone out a few times over the last 5 years and they have been unable to fix the issue. In September of 2017 I received an email from Payne Customer Care stating that a work order had been issued by *** for repair to the window. On October 4 we had a contractor come out to the house and located the issue on the leaking window, which turned out to be an attic window above the closet window. After they left we never heard anything from anyone. On November 1 I sent an email to Payne asking about what was going on with the repair. No one from Payne responded to the email. On November 14 I sent another email and received a response the next day on November 15 apologizing for the lack of communication and stating that they followed up with their contact at the contractor's office. This was the last communication my wife or I have received from Payne regarding the window issue. I would have thought after 5+ years this should be an issue that would have been addressed by now. I feel we have been more than patient with Payne Family Homes.

BUYERS BEWARE!!! I’ve hesitated to write a review until now. I gave ample time for Payne Family Homes to live up to their (so called) standards, pending our 11 month warranty, but now that the time has come and gone and we are still so very unhappy I’m hoping this will prevent anyone from going through what we have. It began with our Community Sales Manager, “pulling deals out of her sleeve” to get the price down to our budget. She told us the only way we could have this deal was if we got a contract on our home we had on the market. That was the only stipulation she gave. We got a contract on our home within the next month. When we went to the development, to show the kids, pick out our lot and sign the contract imagine our disbelief to find that the “deal” had been pulled off the table. After much going back and forth with corporate, since our approved loan was not contingent on us selling our home, corporate worked out an acceptable offer; yet still many thousands less than the originally deal and they eliminated certain premium lots from our choice to build on. We signed thinking the worse was past us. Don’t get me wrong, we love our development (neighbors & location) and our floor plan, but we have seemed to get mediocre contractors and the buck always gets pushed to someone else, like our HOA (that was chosen by the builder and board members consist of Payne Family Home employees) - which ends up out of our pocket at the end anyway. If you decide to build with Payne Family Homes be sure to know up front all the options in regards to what is considered an upgrade and standard. Be sure to visit your lot during construction and report anything & everything that does not look right, but know it may not get fixed or changed. Know that you are unable to upgrade your landscaping, and they chose the only shrubs and hedges that will grow in rock because they fill the driveway and surroundings with gravel before the concrete is poured and feet of rock is what you will find within a foot of the soil they put down to pant the shrubs and hedges in your landscaping. Be prepared to take off work to be available for contractors because they will continue to have to come to your home to fix something or another. Know that they feel that your property is still theirs and they will trample, drive their machines across your lot, and even dig up your yard without notice, even after you have closed and moved in. Be very observant and make notes of everything that goes wrong or doesn’t look right from the day you move in up to your eleven month warranty date. If you report something after this date they will shrug their shoulders and remind you your 11 months have passed. You won’t need to hold off painting your walls until after the 11th month, to prevent having to repaint them all after they repair the nail pops, because they will not use the same finish nor repair/repaint all that was marked and you will have to repaint them anyway…even the ceilings (after three total appointments for mudding, sanding and painting you will end up completing the job to not miss more work). Get everything in writing. If you are told something verbally email it back to them and have them confirm it. This will allow you to remind them what they said and prevent any misunderstandings. Not sure doing this will aid you in winning a dispute but it’s always best to have everything in writing. And remember, no matter how friendly they are to you prior to you closing on your new home, they are not your friend, they are doing a job and until your relationship goes from potential buyer to homeowner they will tell you what they think you want to hear until you are no longer their problem so they can pass you on to someone else. These were not personal as these things happened not only to me but others in our development.