A client of mine just cost the Vice President of Sales for a major homebuilder his job. Actually, the VP cost himself the job.
Let me take you back for a bit of history on this particular transaction. After ample due diligence on the community and the home builder, we signed up for a new build in Queen Creek, AZ in January. My clients passed on a minor preferred lender financing incentive in favor of an institution that could provide an extended rate lock (Wells Fargo). Thus began the contentious transaction that was to ensue.
Additional earnest funds were demanded for using the services of an outside lender. After these funds were deposited, the rep claimed that the amount required was actually more than outlined in the contract. We declined to meet this new demand which contradicted the purchase agreement, despite threats from the VP.
New buyers were later offered huge financing incentives due to flagging sales. The sales rep told my client that he would be included in the new incentive program should he choose to switch to the preferred lender. Any existing customer who was using the services of their lender was eligible. He agreed to make the switch ... only to be told from the higher ups that he was, in fact, not eligible. After much haggling, and unpleasant conversation with the VP, a compromise was reached. During these conversations, the VP falsely accused my client of being in breach of contract for not demonstrating loan commitment from his outside lender. He wrongly assumed that we were just drifting between lenders, when in fact, the commitment letter had been in the file for months. Compromise in place, my client switched to the preferred lender, AMERICAN HOME MORTGAGE.
You know what happens next. AHM goes belly up. My client wishes to go back to Wells Fargo at this point with his financing incentive intact. He made a good faith effort to work with the builder's lender, but there is no longer a builder's lender! The builder is frantically attempting to forge a new banking relationship, but my client is nervous about the stability of the financial market. He would really like the opportunity to go back to a trusted institution like Wells Fargo, especially given the rate lock fee he had previously paid. Thinking that the builder would be more than happy to accomodate a stable buyer while everything was going up in flames around them, we make the request. The VP declines, telling us we have to go with whatever institution they line up to keep the incentive. After considerable scrambling, a new preferred lender is named. I am not familiar with the institution in the least. My client is told that his purchase price will be reduced by $40K if he goes with the new lender. My client grudingly agrees, with the provision that the terms of the loan are competitive with the Good Faith Estimate provided by Wells Fargo.
One week later, Jumbo loan rates go through the ceiling. We say thanks, but no thanks to the new preferred lender. We request a copy of the appraisal be sent to the original lender, Wells Fargo. Guess what? The $40K price reduction was not really an incentive to use the builder's lender, it was due to the appraisal coming in low! We had been demanding the appraisal information for weeks and kept getting the runaround from the builder's brass. So now, the builder concedes that the purchase price will remain at the appraised value regardless of the lender used. The VP had been outright lying to me regarding the appraisal and for the true purpose behind the reduction.
Meanwhile, construction essentially halts while we have debated various issues, and the completion date is delayed nearly two months.
4 weeks from closing, my client receives a call from the preferred pool builder. They need his go-ahead to start digging the pool. He says go. One week later, he receives a very cryptic message from the VP of Sales demanding to know what his intentions are, and why he is in such a hurry to dig the pool. He is told that the builder is not too keen on the prospect of having a big hole on the property prior to closing. Keep in mind that this is the "preferred" pool builder. The icing on the cake is that the VP claims the home would not pass city inspection with a hole in the backyard! As if a pool has never been dug in conjunction with a home! The pool builder is baffled, but does offer that several homes had fallen out of escrow recently. I surmise that the VP is making an executive decision not to allow the pool to be dug (despite my client being contractually allowed to dig a pool prior to COE using the preferred company) because he fears being stuck with another pool should the deal blow up at the last minute. My client calls back, leaves a message, and never gets a return call. 48 hours later, he sends a scathing email to both the VP as well as the President of the company.
Flash forward to last Friday. The president calls my client directly. My client airs his grievances. Letting the president know that he was not looking for anything, he simply wanted to clue him in on the aggravation he had experienced throughout the entire building process. While my client is very pleased with the product, and eventually got everything he could have asked for out of the transaction, the manner in which he was treated by the VP at every step was inexcusable. After laying out his complaints, which are actually far more numerous than the synopsis I have provided here, the president agrees. He offers my client a gift certificate to the restaurant of his choice, and my client feels better for the opportunity to vent.
We get a call yesterday from the sales rep that next week's meeting with the VP (which was to be the first time we actually met the guy in person) has been cancelled, as he no longer works there!
The moral of the story? My client is a great buyer and a reasonable person. The issues that we had with this particular person had very little to do with the actual points of contention, but rather the way in which they were handled. The president saw what the VP did not. Especially in a down market, you simply cannot afford to treat customers with anything other than respect. Even if you believe their demands to be unreasonable.
I know my client never intended to cost this person his job, and I certainly don't revel in contributing to his ouster, but it goes to show that you are never too important to take the customer for granted.
Please visit my site for all of your Scottsdale AZ Real Estate needs!
;)
Links;)
Tags (Tag Cloud);)
Archives
Ther is enough money in this industry to make a good living without being like the guy you described above. Frankly people who do the things you blog about deserve to go as they make it harder for the rest of us