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Dan Ryan Builders - Please take a moment to read about my horrible experiences with Dan Ryan and why I would NEVER buy another home from them. Upon moving into my new home (February 2001) in "St. James Village" located in Hagerstown, MD everything seemed

 
Dan Ryan Builders - Please take a moment to read about my horrible experiences with Dan Ryan and why I would NEVER buy another home from them. Upon moving into my new home (February 2001) in "St. James Village" located in Hagerstown, MD everything seemed

Dan Ryan Builders - Please take a moment to read about my horrible experiences with Dan Ryan and why I would NEVER buy another home from them. Upon moving into my new home (February 2001) in "St. James Village" located in Hagerstown, MD everything seemed wonderful and I was (for about a day) a proud homeowner. Immediately after settlement, I began to notice "major" problems with my new $250,000 investment.

 

 

 


Dan Ryan Builders: POOR QUALITY/POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE

 

Please take a moment to read about my horrible experiences with Dan Ryan and why I would NEVER buy another home from them. Upon moving into my new home (February 2001) in "St. James Village" located in Hagerstown, MD everything seemed wonderful and I was (for about a day) a proud homeowner. Immediately after settlement, I began to notice "major" problems with my new $250,000 investment.

 

First was the garage: The garage was litteraly NOT attached to the foundation! Can you believe that? Measurements where incorrect, or whatever, and the walls of the garage sat OVER/BEYOND the foundation by several inches on each side. So much so, that the fastening straps could not be attached! I contacted Dan Ryan builders who would not acknowledge the mis-calculation as a mistake. As a corective measure, however, angle iron was installed to help attach the walls of the garage to the foundation (why would you correct a non-mistake?). I notified the county inspector who said, "Yeah, your right...but some things are just bigger than us." I have a strong suspicion that the County Inspectors were good friends with the site supervisors. As you read on, you'll discover more evidence to support this statement.

 

Next was the flooring: No I don't mean the floor coverings, I mean the actual floors. I had HOLES in two different rooms in my house. I could actually step into them through the carpeting! Again, I contacted Dan Ryan builders, who blamed it on the flooring subcontractor, who blamed it on the floor covering subcontractor, who told me, "It's not our fault, it's Dan Ryans fault." How's that for customer service? This continued on for several months...alot of blame being placed, and no work being completed.

 

At one point all of the floor coverings throughout the house were removed and were merely lying (unattached) in place with dangerous and exposed nails and tack strips. The carpeting remained this way (unattached and unstretched) for approx. 1 month. After this event I had to pay for new padding because they wanted to use the old padding that was ripped up and full of holes from being stapled down in the first place.

 

How about my nice Oak stairs and railings? This was a $2,000 option and a TOTAL waste of money. The stairs were installed (admittedly) by a "punchout" guy who had absolutely NO experience in installing this type of stair. You could shake the post at the bottom of the stairs and all of the railing spindles would jiggle. Heck, one even fell out. I had a one and a half year old son who was learning to walk down the stairs at this time using the railing.

 

God was obviously watching over him. Once again, the blame was placed on the stair company, who blamed Dan Ryan, who blamed the punchout guy, who blamed the stair company. Was the entire stair case replaced? No, it was bandaged. Made to "look" as appealing as possible without the added cost of replacement. By the way, only one lag bolt was used on the post during initial installation, as opposed to three, as required. Quality?

 

Then comes the front of my house. I paid for the all brick option. The final phase of the building process is the cleaning phase where the inside is cleaned and the outside is power washed. Mine was powerwashed by a kid with no experience who got too close to the brick with the sprayer set too high and actually etched swirl patterns into my house. Was the brick replaced? Nope, not even close. Instead they sent a guy over who specializes in removing grafitti off of walls who more or less "painted" over the swirls to disguise them.

 

Another bandage rather than remedy. I assure you, I could go on for an eternity about all of the problems I have encountered, and I have photographic support of my claims. I have found customer service and support to be horrible and the reps and supervisors to be less than sympathetic. One even said, "what do you expect for a production home?" Through my numerous efforts to speak with Dan Ryan, I've only managed to reach Ron Morris, who is the number three guy (I believe) and he too blows me off every time.

 

I'm running out of space so I'll only touch on a few more topics, otherwise I could easily write a 10 page report. Another "major" problem I have (that I contiue to be ignored on) is my rear yard. I paid an additional $10,000 for the largest lot in the community (almost 1/2 acre). What I received was a river and pond that forms anytime it rains. My basement walls are always damp and my neighbors house has flooded (2 of them right beside me). I have NO grass growth in my back yard due to the volume of water that flows through it.

 

For three years now I have been trying to have this issue resolved to no avail. My warranty manual clearly states that I must have an established lawn of at least 80% before the builder can walk away. I have maybe 20%. This leads me into yet another point: Landscaping. My "professionally" landscaped yard contained NO mulch (promised to come back in the spring, and never did), a dead tree, a dead bush, and only 3 healthy shrubs which I could have purchased for approx. $40 at Lowe's. I think the alotted money for landscaping was around $700-$750. Hmmmmm???

 

Currently, I am seeking out leagal assistance which will truly cost me. You see, Dan Ryan has done their homework. When you enter into their contract you agree to arbitration. Please read up on this (do your homework) I truly wish the best of luck to any perspective home buyers. Please just look before you leap!

 

Click this link to e-mail the above consumer: Email User Consumer

 

From: Message Author (click here to email author) (no email address available)
Date: Monday, 06-Dec-04 00:00:00 CST

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I to had the same issue but there are so much more at hand. Please dont ever buy from them and make sure the PM knows what he/she is doing.

MICHELLE

MATT

I have gotten as far ad Ken Gardner and that is it.

March 17, 2007- I signed contract for the Auburn model end unit lot 32. Stated to Chara Kirkman that we would not be able to move in until the end of January due to apartment lease agreement. Put down $500 to have contract written up.


April 2007- Went to model townhouse home to pick out options. Chara did poor job of going over options. She didn’t explain all the options we had to choose from. Asked about the sump pump being moved under the stairs with water heater, etc and she stated she would let us know about it after speaking with the project manager.


May 2007- Paid the rest of the $3000.00 to get the house started. $2500 total.


June 2007- Still haven’t heard about sump pump location. Chara is poor about returning phones or any correspondence for that matter.


October 16, 2007- Went in to model townhouse for our pre-construction meeting with Chara and Jamie. Made a clarification for the darker wood stair railing for up and down stairs. Told the home would be ready for move in by the beginning of January 2008.


December 2007-Ground just broken. Called Chara numerous times to find out the timeframe since we had to let our apartment complex know if we would be renewing, renewing to a month or month, or moving out at the end of January. Chara explains that Dan Ryan will reimburse us the difference in our rent.


January 2008- Chara stated our house would be ready in February. Went to look at our soon to be new home and saw dry wall was up. We never had a pre-dry wall meeting. Chara said she would call us on Tuesday, never got the call, she said she called and we had to reschedule the meeting.


February 2008- Bernie went to the meeting for what was supposed to be the pre-dry wall walkthrough. Everything looked good and Jamie stated that there was bad communication. Yeah, no kidding. Jamie stated we would close the beginning of March and we would receive the letter stating the time and place of settlement in a couple of days.


March 2008-Received certified letter with the time and place for closing and pre-settlement walkthrough.


March 5, 2008-Showed up at lot 32 for the pre-settlement walkthrough and Jamie was not present. It was scheduled for 1:00P and at 1:30P we decided to go to the model home to find out what was going on. Chara was surprised to see us and informed us our closing and walkthrough had been rescheduled with out a call to us. Carrie Yeakle never called or anything to state these times had been changed. We found this completely unacceptable and had no choice to close the week we were supposed to. Jamie, Chara, and Carrie made it work out so we would have our pre-settlement walkthrough and closing on the same day.


March 13, 2008-We should up at the house at 12:30 for our pre-settlement walkthrough and meet with Matt. Matt seemed very inexperienced and we felt like we were being rushed through the walkthrough. Matt informed us that the 2nd bathroom bathtub upstairs was white and that he knew it was supposed to be bone colored. Also, our stair rails were of a natural color and not the darker color we had chosen. Our kitchen sink was chipped and had to be replaced as well. Matt stated he would get someone in there the next week to completely replace the sink. Matt stated someone would contact me about coming in and painting the wrong colored bathtub. We noticed that our siding was extremely badly buckled. It is not supposed to be buckled right after it is put on. Matt stated he would get someone out there to correct it.


March 17-21, 2008-Had to repeatedly call Matt about replacing the sink, correcting the siding, and the bathtub. After the sink was finally replaced, the plumber was supposed to come out and hook up the faucet. It took two days for the plumber to come out and hook the faucet back up. The siding was never replaced.


End of March 2008- Al from Renew It All contacts me about setting up a time for him to come in and “refinish” the wrong colored bathtub. I check out his website to find that he is painting the bathtub and there are many don’ts on how to care for it, scratches easily, can’t scrub it, etc. I am very leery of having this done, but decided to give it a chance. Bernie calls Matt, Jamie, home office, and other people about getting someone out there to fix our buckled siding.


April 2008- Jamie calls to let us know they will be fixing the problem with the siding. They fixed it, however, now the buckling is down closer to the front of the house.


April 14, 2008- Al from Renew It All comes out to “refinish” or paint the wrong colored bathtub. I immediately did not like it. The color doesn’t match the rest of the bathroom and every other bathroom the fixtures match perfectly. There is are runs in the paint on the bathtub. Al leaves a care paper and you can’t do anything to this tub. You have to be so careful, and having two boys and maybe more children on the way that is not going to fly.


April 16, 2008- Bernie calls Matt to let him know we are not happy with the bathtub and we want it replaced. Matt doesn’t know what to say and said we won’t be able to do that. Bernie states to Matt that he is a poor project manager and should be checking the fixtures to make sure they are correct before they are being installed into people’s homes. Matt says he will give him a call back after he speaks with his supervisor. Never calls back.


April 23, 2008- Bernie calls and leaves a message stating we will not deal with Matt or Jamie anymore. They are young, very unexperienced, and extremely unprofessional. We threaten to get a lawyer involved. Receive a phone call back from Todd but Bernie doesn’t return it until the next day.


April 24, 2008- Bernie speaks with Matt and Jamie’s supervisor Michelle. Michelle is very unprofessional and just rude. Bernie and I look into complaints online about Dan Ryan Builders and not surprisingly there are many complaints and/or lawsuits involving them. Bernie speaks with Todd. As a rare commodity to Dan Ryan Builders, Todd is very professional and explains to Bernie about the coating put on the bathtub. Bernie is okay with it, but just states Al needs to come back out to take care of the runs in the paint. Todd states he will let him know to give us a call. Bernie states that the siding still has not been corrected, and Todd states he will come out to take a look at it. Also, our basement door leading to the outside is leaking. Todd states he will be out tomorrow to fix the gaps on each side of the door. Bernie and I still plan on reporting Dan Ryan Builders to the Better Business Bureau along with telling our story to all the local Martinsburg area newspapers.

This is as of April 24th and still no resolution.

From: Message Author (click here to email author)
Date: Thursday, 24-Apr-08 15:40:33 CDT

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WELL PUMP NEEDS REPLACED IN 2 YEARS. SHOULD WORK FOR 5 YEARS NORMALLY

AM CONSTANTLY DIRECTED TO GLS PLUMBING THAT DOES NOT SERVICE THE AREA

From: Message Author (click here to email author)
Date: Monday, 21-Jan-08 14:33:57 CST

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