OK. I am in negotiations to buy a manufacturd home. The owner of the company has a sterling reputation in our small town for honesty and fair dealing. Unfortunately, he has (within past 2 years) hired a sales manager who is quite the bait and switch make the sale at any cost of your soul kind of guy. The sales guy is, in some ways, good for this man's business. Since he obviously wants to make sales as his only goal in life he HAS made great changes to the business adding superior service techs and upgrading product lines. The owner is very happy. But... consumers are being ripped off by this guy. He promises buyers ANYTHING to hook them and then once they have waded through the very tedious process of ordering a home (if you've ever done it, you know, once you've chosen a company to go with, you get 1/2 way through and you'd rather compromsie/settle than swicth and start at a new company from scratch... ) he suddenly comes up with either faulty memory (I don't remember discussing that option) or he gives some excuse as to why it is no longer an available option (as if it ever was!) People go in trusting the reputation of the man who OWNS the business and they don't get evry little detail in writing until it gets switched on them. I find myself at this stage and I went in with a list of promises and wAnted them put into writing. Sales guy got belligerent and told me I wasn't going to tell him how to run his business and that I needed to trust in him and the company's reputation and he wasn't going to put certain things into writing. (laid a guilt trip on me as if I was insulting him) Now I am frankly afraid to order my home, feeling not only that I can't get a lot of the options I'd been promised, but also that if I order I will end up last on his service call list to put the house together or to fix any problems. The main trouble is that the owner was selling me the land to put the house on and now I can't get out of that purchase and I can't afford a stick house and really do not want to have wasted the last 3 months w/ this home place and not order a home.


What approach do I take and with whom? Do I go to the owner and tell him the lies the sales guy has made to me and to others I've since talked to? (A small town talks) When I spoke with him it really seems like he genuinely doesn't know (or maybe he does and doesn't care? But that REALLy is NOT in keeping with his long-time reputation.) or do I go to the sales guy and say, look buddy, you've lied to me and I've been talking to others who've told me the lies you told them. But, what is my leveage? The details that are missing aren't in writing anf now he refuses to put them into writing. It's my word against his. I want my house and if I can't get the options I was originally promised I want a price reduction and I don't want to find that they screw with my service (you pay out a BIG chucnk on delivery even before you house is assembled on the lot. They could easily get my $ and let the house sit unassembled for weeks)

I can't stress enough that I do believe the reputation for honesty and fairness fomr the owner. I think he'd be shcoked to know what jsi sales guy is doing, but I don't know how to approach to get him to believe me (whom he doesn't know) oever his sales guy who's done great things for him.

Talk to the owner & explain that you're having problems with the sales guy. In the long run, that sales guy is a major liability to the owner. Even if he can't be sued because things didn't get put in writing, he's going to ruin the reputation of the company the owner spent all those years honestly building it up. He should know the risk that sales person is bringing to him before the damage gets worse especially if he's pulling a bait & switch constantly, since it could subject the company to consumer fraud actions not just civil suits by disgruntled buyers.

The point of a written contract is so BOTH sides know exactly what is expected, there is nothing insulting about it. You'd be doing the owner a big favor by blowing the whistle on that sales guy. Let him know you're interested in making this transaction happen, but won't deal with the sales guy at all until you & the owner have a written contract. One which guarantees a time for your concerns to be properly addressed in case problems do happen (which you know will).