We had a HearthStone home built during 2008, and moved into the home in November of that year. Our goal in building the home at the time was "square footage per dollar," which the home achieved. However, just about every other aspect of owning this home has been a disaster. Almost immediately we had cracks and flaking of the paint and drywall that were too numerous to keep track of.
The kitchen cabinets were very poorly installed, and continue 3 years later to sink and pull away from the wall. "Customer care" has provided no solution to this whatsoever, and has made nothing but excuses.
The hardwood floor we had installed in the kitchen immediately began to show "divots" throughout the room. These weren't caused by anything we were doing, but simply began appearing. Others have told us it is poor workmanship, but "customer care" has provided no solution to this whatsoever, and has made nothing but excuses.
The kitchen cupboards have pulled away from the walls in a number of locations, and we were told by "customer care" people that it is just seasonal and will go back to the correct shape as the home heats and cools in the first year. Its been 3 years and the problem is worse now than ever.
The kitchen faucet was improperly installed and leaked less than 2 years after installation. HearthStone took no responsibility for this, and it was our expense to have it repaired.
When the refrigerator was installed, a fan for the motor was never hooked up, so the motor burned out in less than 2 years. Of course, HearthStone took no responsibility and it was our expense to fix it.
Several nuts/bolts on the furnace were improperly tightened (only by hand) and shook loose during normal use in less than 2 years, causing damage inside the unit. HearthStone took no responsibility, and we paid for repairs.
Water has entered our attic through the attic vent on the side of the house and caused the bedroom ceiling to crack and show water damage. HearthStone won't agree that the water entered from that area and won't do anything to repair. Again, our expense.
The sliding glass door in the basement began to leak in year 3, causing significant damage to the carpet and trim. This is probably the one thing that HearthStone has admitted and responsibility for, and they have to make this repair. To date, however, they have not cleaned the water damage to the carpet caused by the leaking door.
As most of our neighbors, we have had significant cracking and heaving of the driveway cement. HearthStone, again, has taken no responsibility for any of this, and has commented that it is very common. All of these damages have been verified as poor workmanship by independent, 3rd party contractors or repair technicians. Owning this HearthStone home has been a terrible experience for us. We love our location and our neighbors, but have had perhaps the worst customer service imaginable from HearthStone. And the reactions/word of mouth of our neighbors has been very largely the same as ours: repeated problems with NO CUSTOMER SERVICE or responsibility by HearthStone. We will continue to live at this location until it makes sense for us to move, and only hope that is before the poor workmanship in this home is so evident that it becomes impossible to sell. We would NEVER build or buy a HearthStone home again, and will do everything we can to make sure none of our family or friends do either. Its been an awful experience. |
