An online (log home) community for log home enthusiasts.

Amerlink

I am one of the many who was taken in by Amerlink. I am out approximately $150,000 with only a few logs left on site . My mistake was giving the first truck my cashier's check, not realizing that it was the only one scheduled. My wife and I are sick over this, I have a foundation but no materials! I have contacted the BBB for North Carolina and New York but I do not think it will help. I have also contacted the North Carolina Attorney General's Office and spoke with a Linda Matthews from Consumer Affairs. She seemed interested, but unaware of any Amerlink problems. We all need to contact the NC AG's office so that this cannot happen again. In addition, contacting other federal agencies might help if we all do it.

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Permalink Reply by Kristi Thompson on December 12, 2008 at 5:36pm: That's odd that Linda was unaware of Amerlinks problems - my husband spoke with her last week. We've even received a letter from them stating they had sent a letter to Amerlink about our concerns. We've also contacted the BBB as well as two attorneys. It seems like if we try & go this alone it will cost us more money than we can afford - especially since we have to go out and purchase the rest of our needed materials for a SECOND time. I'm getting ready to contact one of the other members here about helping with the class actions lawsuit so many of us want to get started.

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Permalink Reply by Joe Fuller on December 17, 2008 at 8:09pm: Kristi,

I am also a victim of Amerlink's lies. I contracted with them in October, 2008 for delivery of the Carrington I home to arrive December 15th. I, too, found out last week of the problems. I have seen an attorney and would be interested in being part of a class action lawsuit against them. Currently, I am out of approximately $60,000 to $65,000 including down payment, land, land preparation and foundation.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kristi Thompson on December 18, 2008 at 11:56pm: Joe,

Check out page five of this discussion thread-you'll find the name of the attorney some of us are consulting with and what he needs from us. Member offshore35 has spoken with him and is trying to get as many of us together to file. From what I understand we can't go the 'class action' direction; each of our situations is a bit different. Honestly, no matter which way we go I don't see any return of our money. Makes me sick. And if its true that Barth is going to file bankruptcy, I really don't see any of our hard earned money returned.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Fred Genchi on December 19, 2008 at 8:00am: Kristi:

I tend to agree with you - If AmerLink does in fact file Ch. 7 BK, I see no way to get any of my money back from them. It will give me no comfort to see these guys go to jail on my additional dime. I'm out $50k and am hard pressed to add to that (money I don't ... Thank you, AmerLink) to attempt punishing these scoundrels! Someone will REALLY have to convince me that there is a REAL CLEAR FINIANCIAL RETURN for me to consider getting on the "lawsuit-bandwagon").; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Karen Smith on December 15, 2008 at 3:48pm: My husband and I bought a home from AmerLink in June of 2008. Just like everyone else, we have not received all our supplies to finish our home but, they have all our money. We are waiting on doors/windows/false log corners. We too have contacted the BBB and Attorney General’s office of NC and they just send papers for us to fill out. No one seems to care or want to help. I contacted AmerLink today and was told no one would be in the office until after the new year?!?! That the only person in the office was John Barth. We looked around before purchasing our home and stopped at the Hillsville Sales Center. We were treated so nice from them and didn’t think something like this could happen?? Now we are stuck in the middle of winter with ½ our supplies still not here and ½ of a house standing!!! We are ready to turn to an attorney!! To anyone reading this and considering AMERLINK, DO NOT USE this company!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Lesa on December 15, 2008 at 9:43pm: Karen and all others.. I too purchased a home from Amerlink. I received most of my "shell" package including my roof trusses but had to finish buying the rest of the materials to finish it, only now to receive a letter today from the manufacturer who supplied the trusses for Amerlink, stating that they are going to put a lien on my property if I don't pay them. I never made any aggreement with this company, nor did I know that they had not been paid by Amerlink, (even though I am sure they weren't). Now I don't know what to do...I don't even know if they can truly do this. If any one has any information about this let me know. lesa12361@yahoo.com

Thanks
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Permalink Reply by TXCowboy on December 17, 2008 at 6:46pm: Lesa,
I am not sure who you are and I do not recall your particular house. I am not sure tha the truss company can put a lien on your house. Amerlink was the customer ...not you! You should get an attorney on this one. If they can do the lien then the window/door companies, material suppliers, and the rest can too. I do not see how this is possible. I am so sorry about this. ALL OF THIS IS SO HARD FOR ME AS A FORMER EMPLOYEE of a company that I believed in.
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Permalink Reply by John Bonsall on February 23, 2009 at 12:21pm: I bought a log home from Amerlink back in 2002-03. I had nothing go wrong with anything that Amerlink did for my wife and me. If memory in correct, we made a down payment, received the log home (when promised). Everything was there and had NO problem putting it together. WHAT HAPPEN to Amerlink? I can't beleive what I'm reading. I'm very surprize to read about these poor people having problems. I hope all works out for every one.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by EZMARY on March 31, 2009 at 2:02pm: the housing market turned to crap that is what happened, and we will be seeing a lot more of this; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Anne on December 17, 2008 at 8:04pm: In VA, the truss company has every legal right to lien the property on which they supplied goods/services and were not paid. It is an extra layer of protection that suppliers and subcontractors have against nonpayment by general contractors. It, by the way, also protects the homeowner from having the supplier show up and yank his materials from the project. The type of lien is a mechanics lien but may be called a suppliers lien or a materialman lien. As a subcontractor in VA, I saw this one coming. If we are not paid by a general contractor, the very next step is to lien the project. Lesa - you do need to seek legal counsel on this one. I beleive there are ways of bonding around a lien, but that means more money and time I'm sure you'd rather not part with. Good luck and my thoughts and prayers are with all of you all!
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Permalink Reply by Lesa on December 17, 2008 at 10:55pm: Anne, I did contact an attorney, who basically told me the same thing you are stating, however he did say that even though the truss company can put a lien on my property collecting on it would be almost impossible since I can prove that I paid Amerlink, something about "Affirmative Defense". But to get the lien off I would probably have to sue the " Truss" manufacturer for "Defamation of title". I would like to add that I spoke with the guy from the truss company and he was very nice and sympathetic to our plight, however Amerlink left him hanging out to dry also, and he is only doing what he feels he needs to do to protect his business. It is definitely a bad situation, because I can totally understand his point, yet I do not want to pay for something twice. And I am so sorry for the ones of you have nothing to show at all for your money. These guys at Amerlink definitely need to be prosecuted. I feel sorry for their children if they have any. These guys families will probably have to suffer their deeds. And to TXCowboy...You were not my salesman nor my CSR...I bought in Hillsville from Rick Mosier back in Sept 2007, and ended up with Allen Rhodes as CSR. My home is a custom design, a larger version of the Ventura.
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Permalink Reply by EZMARY on March 31, 2009 at 2:03pm: I would just pay for the trusses, why pay more to a attorney, and have to pay for the trusses to boot; ▶ Reply to This