The Median Sib

I just paid $40 for a locksmith to spend five minutes repairing my front door lock.  As soon as he looked at the lock, he turned to his assistant and said, “Look at that!  It still has the plastic thing in it.”  The builder had left a plastic space-holder in the lock rather than putting a screw in it.  No screw - No wonder the lock was wobbly and turned in circles.

So that $40 added to the almost $400 I paid to the plumber last week to repair two leaks in the crawlspace that were most likely there since the house was built less than two years ago, along with $74 for the official termite inspection I had to do.  And don’t forget the AC repair.  This move is getting more and more expensive.

Everything (except the termite inspection) are things that the builder SHOULD have handled.  If you live in Tennessee - never buy a home from the Jones Company in Tennessee.  I don’t know if they’re in other states or not.  I’ve owned several homes and have had to deal with home builders and repair folks, and I’ve never seen any worse than them.  The absolute worst home builders I’ve ever dealt with - bad workmanship and complete failures in dealing with customers.  Plus, the guy who handled my initial walk-through when I bought the house and also handled my one-year punch list flat out lied to me - both times.  Apparently it’s a pattern with him, and he does it very convincingly.  They have so many people trying to buy their homes that they don’t care about the quality of their work or the satisfaction of their customers.

My only consolation at this point is that what goes around comes around.  It will eventually come back to bite them in the butt . . . I hope.