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Amerlink/In The Woods Nightmare
Please read this before even considering Amerlink/In The Woods Log Homes! My wife and I have just consulted an attorney to help us deal with our situation with Amerlink.
We purchased a "Ventura II" package from Amerlink in Dec. 2007 and scheduled our delivery for July 10th, 2008. We did everything they asked us to do to prepare for delivery including 3 friends missing a day of work to help us, renting an expensive fork truck, even had our framing crew on-site to stage materials and start work. They said 2 trucks would be arriving with our package. But only one truck showed up with 2/3rds of the logs we were supposed to get. Nothing else! And we had to give full payment to the driver before unloading that!
I called John Barth, Amerlink's President and CEO to find out where our materials were. He told me the "local supplier" that would be bringing our lumber and all other materials was closed for 4 days for inventory. I asked him what that had to do with our delivery which Amerlink had 7 months to prepare for? He could not give me an answer. And now, here it is, 3 months after our confirmed delivery date and we still have not received all of our materials.
This was the beginning of a long string of lies to us from the president of Amerlink. He promised to reimburse us for the expenses we incurred due to their negligence in the delivery of our log home package, totalling over $16,000. We submitted our receipts for reimbursement and we haven't heard from him or Amerlink in 6 weeks!
We were naive to believe there is honesty and integrity with Amerlink. Please don't make the same mistake we did! Don't be another Amerlink victim!
If you have had a similar experience with them, or discussion, please share it with the forum. We need to inform all the potential buyers we can reach!
We purchased a "Ventura II" package from Amerlink in Dec. 2007 and scheduled our delivery for July 10th, 2008. We did everything they asked us to do to prepare for delivery including 3 friends missing a day of work to help us, renting an expensive fork truck, even had our framing crew on-site to stage materials and start work. They said 2 trucks would be arriving with our package. But only one truck showed up with 2/3rds of the logs we were supposed to get. Nothing else! And we had to give full payment to the driver before unloading that!
I called John Barth, Amerlink's President and CEO to find out where our materials were. He told me the "local supplier" that would be bringing our lumber and all other materials was closed for 4 days for inventory. I asked him what that had to do with our delivery which Amerlink had 7 months to prepare for? He could not give me an answer. And now, here it is, 3 months after our confirmed delivery date and we still have not received all of our materials.
This was the beginning of a long string of lies to us from the president of Amerlink. He promised to reimburse us for the expenses we incurred due to their negligence in the delivery of our log home package, totalling over $16,000. We submitted our receipts for reimbursement and we haven't heard from him or Amerlink in 6 weeks!
We were naive to believe there is honesty and integrity with Amerlink. Please don't make the same mistake we did! Don't be another Amerlink victim!
If you have had a similar experience with them, or discussion, please share it with the forum. We need to inform all the potential buyers we can reach!
Tags: amerlink, carroll, county, in, the, woods
Replies are closed for this discussion.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Josh Murphy on -
Sorry to hear about your issues Eddie. Unfortunately this sounds like a classic case of the company having some serious financial issues. I hope all goes well for you. Keep us posted. Thanks for the info.
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Permalink Reply by Eddie Carr on -
Thank you Josh. We did receive a response from Mr. Barth yesterday indirectly through the BBB where we had filed a complaint. He said he still fully intends to reimburse us, but it may take some time due to the downturn in the economy and the housing market. Imagine that!
Given the history so far, I am not optimistic about this at all. But we will see what happens. You are correct that the company currently has financial issues it cannot resolve. I will keep posting the progress for everyone's information.
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Permalink Reply by danielle walters on -
Wow, i'm really sorry to hear this. We purchased our package from Battle Creek Log homes out of south pittsburgh, tn and the contractors who came to erect the house also built for amerlink. STAY FAR, FAR, FAR away from battle creek. Our home leaks when it rains, is freezing in the winter, hot in the summer, it is awful. The company owes us over $200,000, so we can rebuild our house that they screwed up. If anyone is reading this and your building a log home, don't forget the gasket tape and caulk in between the logs like this company did to us, or you will be living our nightmare. Our dream of owning a log cabin, was ruined by the company who shouldn't even be allowed to be in business, the BBB couldn't even help because their membership was revoked!!!!!! good luck on getting your money we haven't gotten ours and its been 2 years.
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Permalink Reply by Terry & Shelley S on -
Danielle, I'm sorry to hear this for you as well!! Kind of scary to think that even in the event of building a dream....something could go so wrong! I hope everything works out for you as well. God Bless!!
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Permalink Reply by Terry & Shelley S on
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Eddie, I'm so sorry this has happened to you. This is just horrible!!! It does explain why Amerlink is bombarding my husband with phone calls. They need the business!! And here I thought they were just being courteous. We did send them a copy of our plans for an estimate and they came back with a figure stating it included a 25% discount if we signed a contract within three weeks. My husband and I both felt the quick reply tactic was nothing more than a ploy to get us into a contract on their terms. I'm glad we held off. Thanks so much for sharing your story with us. Hope everything works out in the end for you. God Bless!!!
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Permalink Reply by Lesa on -
I also purchased a kit from Amerlink, and I am waiting on my doors. I have my house up and ready to be dried in except for those. I was informed yesterday that they are in "financial distress" and aren't sure when I will get them. So now my house site there with the front basicaly open to the elements. I guess my husband and I are going to have to go ahead and purchase them ourselves and HOPE for a refund from Amerlink. It has been very disappointing, dealing withthese people. I would love to know weho your attorney is.
Lesa
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Permalink Reply by Eddie Carr on
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Lesa, it appears we are in the same boat. We are building our home in Pearisburg, VA and this is where we first consulted an attorney. He told us we would need to get a lawyer in Nash County, NC where Amerlink is located because the fine print of the contract states that all mediations will take place there. We have not pursued it that far yet.
From what I'm hearing, Amerlink is in worse condition than we are led to believe. And people are lining up to try to get money back from them right now. One of their own sales people told me that he could not look a potential buyer in the eye and make a sale right now because of the way the home office is treating customers.
As far as your doors go, we also had to buy some windows and door parts that Amerlink never sent to get our home "dried in" which is just another expense we will never be reimbursed for. I would suggest you go ahead and buy your doors and get them installed. There comes a point in all this you have to protect the investment you do have something to show for. Plus, it will give you some peace of mind knowing it is done.
Eddie
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Permalink Reply by Lesa on
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Thanks for the info on the Attorney...I guess we are going to have to buy our doors (3 sets of French and 1 Entrance). We are building in the Ellet Valley of Blacksburg, so we aren't that far apart. Good Luck, I think we both are going to be needing it.
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Permalink Reply by Galoggirl on -
I have heard, that Amerilink might be having financial problems, you might want to check into that...
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Permalink Reply by Shad on -
Man, that's rough Eddie - hope things work out for the best, but it sounds as if the company might be heading for bankruptcy.
Just goes to show you how important research is. I'm in no way implying that Eddie (or Danielle or Lesa) didn't do any sort of research; just stating that when building, you should use all the resources available, including this forum. Thanks for sharing your experiences with us Eddie, and sorry it turned out as such.
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Permalink Reply by John on -
I bought my log home package from Amerlink, The Cimarron. My wife and I are so disappointed with Amerlink loghomes. I paid for my package in advance, trusting Amerlink/Inthe woods loghomes to keep their end of the contract. Boy, I could not have been more wrong! I was to have a June delivery,with dreams of spending the holidays in our new customized log home. After a few delivery date changes we finally took delivery of half a truckload on Sept. 17, 2008.
Just like Eddie I too was told of local suppliers who were having delivery issues, and that soon I would have my building materials. I now have most of my materials, but had to purchase my windows and doors from another company even though I have already paid Amerilink for them. I plan to go back to the Amerlink facility. I went there to tour the business in March of 2007. and was impressed. I was treated well. I inspected a home built by an Amerlink contractor. I do home remodeling and am familiar with the building of homes and feel I am qualified to determine that the home was well built. And I felt comfortable paying for my package in advance to expedite my delivery date.
I have spent hours on the phone with John Barth, Tom Slocum, Dave Wilbur and Jason Thorton of Amerlink. I have been told the same lies every week. I have been nice to them and I have been extremely unpleasant to them. Ok, so I cursed at them a little. Nothing gets me a straight answer. So, tomorrow I am going to drive to North Carolina from Illinois and try to find an attorney in Nash county AND have a face to face talk with John Barth, whose father is supposedly trying to take over Amerlink from Richard Swor. The senior Mr. Barth is said to be a multi millionaire, I guess he wants junior to have a job.
Also, they sent a 4 man crew to dry in the house. They worked 7 days and left without even getting close to being finished. There are so many mistakes it would take too long to list them. I know the structural integrity of my home is compromised.
I can't imagine this company staying in business, but hope they do long enough for all the people like me get their homes.
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Permalink Reply by Eddie Carr on
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John, my heart goes out to you! Thank you for sharing your story with us.
Since posting my story here and on other sites, I have been receiving correspondence every day from more and more victims of Amerlink, speaking of the same horrible experience.
I have learned today that a law firm in Nash County is forming a class-action suit against Amerlink. I will pass along more information as I receive it and learn more about it.
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