Our Monday Evening Activity Tonight...

Tonight my 4 year old and I walked around the front yard pulling weeds and rocks out of the yard.  I've heard in this neighborhood Ryan Homes supposedly has a machine that sifts out all the rocks but I have watched first hand that they grade the yards with the rocks (natural and the ones they brought in for construction) still there.  They add the stinky smelling decomposing leaf "top soil" then lay sod on top.  Anyway, tonight the rocks sticking out of the grass and the mulch finally got to me and we pulled out as many as we could.  My 4 year old thought it was so much fun and didn't want to stop-- luckily for her the rocks aren't going anywhere and there will for sure be more working their way up to the surface.  

That big dirt covered rock at the bottom is the size of my daughter's head, literally)

Propane Issues...

When we first came to check out this neighborhood and these Ryan Homes we ended up walking away for a couple of reasons actually, one being the timing of not wanting it to be completed before we were down with our rental contract but mostly what had us running for the hills was the propane contract Ryan Homes makes you sign in this particular neighborhood.  We had been up to show the kids our lot we were thinking of getting and met our would be next door neighbor who told us about the propane contract and how he had bought his from the company so he could use any company he wanted to fill his tank.  Scared us.  We decided we didn't want to deal with the propane issue.  We even asked our SR about getting electric heat... which he said its energy efficient, I am now starting to feel like they just don't offer it because they are in business with this one propane company (Matheson, by the way... so if anyone out there is reading this and is thinking of building with Ryan Homes or with anyone where you will be forced to sign a contract with Matheson, I am telling you right now... RUN!  Don't do it!!)
Anyway, as the story goes we ended up signing about a month later, despite our worries about propane.  Our SR assured us of a few things to help ease our worries...  1.  We could buy the tank for $3400 now but as time goes by the price of the tank goes down significantly so if we wanted a couple years it would be much more affordable.  2.  Matheson was competitively priced and if we ever felt like that wasn't true we should inform Ryan Homes and they would take care of it.  3. Ryan homes fills the tank to use during construction and whatever was let in the tank when we closed was ours to keep and then we would be responsible to fill the rest.

Now, when we closed our tank had 50% propane in the tank.  We called Matheson to have them put our name on the account. No one explained anything to us just asked us to fill out some forms, and send a photo of our propane gauge so they'd know how much we needed.  Over a month went by and we finally received a bill.  A bill for nearlt $800, charging us for an entire tank of propane instead of just the 30% we needed (they only fill to 80%).  My husband called and got the explanation from Matheson.  Something about how Ryan Homes was suppose to fill our tank to full before we moved in, but that it was still all our responsibility to pay for the entire tank.  See how these two statements, one from Ryan Homes before we signed our contract, and one from Matheson after we have already closed are 100% opposite of each other?!?!?! (We have also learned the price of the tank remains $3450 no matter when you buy it... also I have researched how much a tank costs and this is 3-6 times more than market)
So I emailed our SR and he talked to his boss. They both agreed that we were right and something sounded off. That was a month ago, at least.  And that is still as much as I personally have been told.

About a week and a half ago I went around my SR and contacted his boss directly.  Not only asking about the status of our personal situation but letting him know how disappointed we are in the service we are receiving from the propane company they FORCE us into business with.  And asking for help in getting Matheson's prices lowered to match other competitors prices, which are more than 100% cheaper.  (.89 a gal vs 1.99).

He wrote me back the next day and said he was working on it and asked for my phone number to give me a call.  That is the last I heard from him.

Come to find out from our neighborhood FB page and from our family walk around the neighborhood, many people happened to also contact our SRs boss and so it wasn't just my email that prompted him to "look into it".  Our neighbors had more info bcuz they actually spoke on the phone with the man and some of the options being thrown around were leasing the tank at $120 a year and being able to use whoever we wanted for gas, a lower price to buy the tank outright from, and a more competitive price.  All of these sounded great.

Next day some neighbors say the gas company isn't budging and they think their prices are competitive.

I have still not heard back from my SRs boss, so I am unsure if anything is even being done anymore.  And I am not sure what the status of our personal bill situation is.

I am completely disappointed in this entire scenario.  Other homes in our neighborhood were built by other companies and their homes CAME WITH their propane tank.  Which oh my goodness MAKES PERFECT SENSE!!!!  Why doesn't Ryan Homes include the propane tank in the sale of the home?!?!? Why did they not even offer buying it out right from them as an option when pricing out the house? I am so curious about just what back room deal they have going with Matheson?  It must be pretty sweet for them, they must be making so much money from it to FORCE all their home owners into business with this shady, dishonest company.

Our personal experience with them double charging for gas isn't unique, they have done it to all the home owners of recent.  Since we all let Ryan Homes know about it they have since scolded Matheson and told them to fill the tanks no higher than the 25% they charging Ryan Homes for, then they will charge the home owner for the propane they put in on top of what is "leftover" from construction.
Our personal experience is also just the tip of the iceberg people.  Some neighbors have reported damaged fences from Matheson trespassing and putting locks on their propane tanks so one one else can fill them.  Some neighbors report being told their tank belongs to Matheson and they will sue the home owner even though they built with one of the other builders whose tanks came with their house! Its crazy in here right now with everyone fighting Matheson and no helpful solution being offered.
What I want to do is warn any potential home buyers of Ryan Homes and more specifically in this neighborhood.  Educate yourself before you buy, and if its propane gas neighborhood maybe don't buy at all... and really don't buy if Ryan Homes has a contract they force you to sign putting you in business with any one company but absolutely never do business with Matheson!

I am not sure what the outcome of this will be, or what my next step is to get help from someone at Ryan Homes.  Its really putting a damper on our house excitement, making me wish that we never built with Ryan Homes in the first place.  I hate being lied to and I hate being taken advantage of.

2 months...

Finally found an acceptable tv stand for the family room.  We wanted something longer and shorter than the sofa table we were using for the tv because we had nothing else.  It looked all wrong so when I finally found this table on target.com I was so excited, also glad they were having a great sale... put it in my cart, go to check out and it wouldn't let me sign in on my phone so I get on the computer sign in... out of stock.  Are you kidding me? It was in my cart 5 minutes before.  I was sad but noticed they had an email address to ask for color swatches so I thought I'd ask about another place to buy it.  I got a response the next morning telling me to keep checking target.com because it should be back in stock in a few days.  Sure enough Saturday morning it came back in stock and the amazing sale was still going on.  (Ten minutes after I bought it, it was back out of stock again so I got super lucky). I saved over a hundred dollars and with my target card got the shipping and extra handling fee taken off.  It mailed right out and arrived here Wednesday afternoon. My amazing husband put it together as soon as he got home from work. Took about an hour.  

I love the look of it, the size and height.  I also love that it freed up the sofa table that I wanted to put in the main entry/ hallway. 

Also this weekend I finally found the navy and white striped rug I was hoping to find for the entry way (Also got one for the mud room).  Before, I had this old red rug that we had in our tiny apartment living room back in 2004.  I am not doing red anywhere in my house so I was anxious to get this old rug out of here (and down to the unfinished basement for the kids to play on).

Before and After

Oh also you can see I finished painting the front door and the pantry.  So far that's all I plan on doing for now.  😊

Our couch finally arrived!! And my 1st house project!

 Yesterday our couch finally arrived! The store upgraded us to white glove delivery and credited our card $75 for all that trouble their delivery service caused.  We are so happy to have a place to sit now and hang out together as a family.

 Let's see if this photo will work, my attempt at a panoramic shot of the main gathering area of the home.  There is still a lot of work to do.  I need to figure out what to hang on the walls.  Ultimately I want to paint the walls (maybe SW agreeable grey... got a sample today, just on the top of the sample it looks tanner than I was going for.  I will see what it looks like when we try it on the wall.  The solid wall in the morning room is going to be a white faux shiplap wall.  I am excited to do that project but also nervous to get started.

Today I got an itch to do a project and this one seemed simple enough.  Lowe's has sample paints on sale for 99 cents thru 07/18.  However home depot is whats closest to us (I don't even know where Lowe's is yet).  Anyway, I thought they would price match it and give me the extra 10% off but they said they didn't know what to do bcuz their paint is so much better than Lowes.... uhhh anyone know if this is true?  Anyway, she offered me half price since I was there.  I took it.  Four kids in home depot, I was not anxious to drive across town to lowes to do it all over again, for a couple dollars difference.   Anyway, I got SW Naval and I did the hall closet door as a test since I wouldn't have to look at it much if I hated it.

 After 1st coat... getting nervous...

    

And here's 3 pics of the finished product because I love it and I am obessed.  I am super excited to buy a gallon and paint many more doors. 

 

I have decided to leave the french doors to the office and off the morning room white.  But I am definitely painting the front door, the pantry door, the laundry room door (since it says closed and is visible from downstairs), the three doors in the mudroom, and probably the linen closet upstairs... the first two I want to do right away though are the front door and the pantry door, they look so blah to me now amd they're what I can see from the couch.  Its funny I find myself back on the stairs like I used to sit when we were still waiting for our couch because I just want to stare at my pretty navy blue door.

If it isn't one thing...

...its another.  And this doesn't have anything to do with our Ryan Homes build, its just life in general these last couple of weeks.

Maybe it all has to do with moving in general as well.  I just can't seem to catch my breath with everything I have on my plate.

Last week it was my van dying.  And my tire popping from a construction screw.  This week its our couch being delivered by an incompetent driver who decided in front of our home that he thought the couch packaging numbers were wrong and he would not give it to us, or even let us see it or let us show him our order or photos of what it should look like, instead telling us "no delivery for you today" (he barely spoke english by the way, so getting that sentence out of him was pretty much all we got)  and in turn caused lots of trouble.  I've been on the phone for hours today with the delivery company, and the couch place that hired them.  The best they could do was say they will try to get it on another truck and back out to us for delivery sometime next week! Are you serious???

 Also this week I've been in contact with GE because our microwave is doing something crazy, so far the customer service rep has been kind and professional, I emailed back photos and hopefully they will be replacing our microwave.  Not sure what else can be done to fix this issue.  Photos below of the microwave problem:

Tomorrow our PM and his crew are coming to fix our 30 day issues.  I want these things fixed but I am not looking forward to having people in my house all day, and not being able to go anywhere. I wish we could have blue taped and had things fixed prior to closing bcuz I feel like had we done that my desire to not have anyone mess up my house in the process of "fixing" it would have won out and we would deal with anything extra or wait it out until the drywall thing in a year.  But since there was no blue taping and fixing issues before closing I feel the need to have them fix these things, because there are many. Anyway, tomorrow will be interesting with a house full of workers and my 4 kids running around.

We still need to get our drivers licenses changed, which we thought we had more time than we do, but found out when our van died that we need to do some extra inspection things here in PA and get all the car stuff fixed right away.  Of course our van was dead so getting that stuff done wasn't happening, so now its on the top of our list of things to do.

 The propane company hasn't contacted us back yet in about a month about our application they had us fill out.  Still confused how that all works, also found out our neighborhood is now eligible to get natural gas hooked up and I'm not sure what that means for us... are we out of luck? Are we stuck in this propane contract Ryan homes made us sign?   Maybe I could get some information if the neighborhood FB group would approve our requests to join, its been a month and we can't get them to let us in...

My daughter sprained her ankle at tennis camp today and came home and threw up because it made her queasy... wish I could say it didn't get all over the wall in the bathroom... with that paint Ryan homes uses that we all know wipes down so easily... 😕

I have been feeling more and more sad to not have my mom here to show her the house or to help me decorate. All these things I've just blogged about I probably wouldn't have even felt the need to share except that I don't have my mom, who was also my best friend, to vent to or share the fun stuff with. I find I can get through the day and not let it get to me, but its every night when I cry myself to sleep just missing her and wishing she were here to listen to me or help me figure out what to do.

I am feeling like I'm at the end of my rope, just hanging on.  I am ready for everything to calm down and feel normal.  No more issues with appliances, furniture deliveries, not knowing how to pay HOA fees, needing to get new licenses and car registrations, registering kids for school, kids getting sick or hurt, house defects needing to be addressed, cars breaking down or getting flat tires... I need a break from the mounting bills and more and more problems that need to be solved. I guess that's just life, but I am hoping for a smoother ride going forward because these last few weeks have felt heavy to carry.

Okay, that is all.  Sorry I'm such a downer tonight.

One Month In...

I am so excited that I can take photos in front of my house again now that our PM replaced our two dead trees by the front door.  They don't warranty landscaping so we knew it might be a long shot getting the trees replaced, we hoped for the really really dead one because it was dead before we closed.  Anyway the second our PM came by for our post settlement follow up on Monday morning our adorable 4 year asked him for a new tree.  Who could resist her request? Haha. It was too funny, I couldn't believe she ran right up and asked him. Wonder if we would have had the same luck as her if we were the ones who asked?   😉

 Anyway, came home this morning from being away a couple hours, to our two front trees being replaced. What a nice surprise!

 In other news we worked for an hour or so Saturday afternoon, putting all the littles to work as well 😄 and we finally got all the boxes and furniture out of the garage and can park both of our cars in the garage.  We love it.


Tonight, my sweet husband, after working a full day, going with me to pick up my van from the mechanic (dead alternator), and then going to a tire store to attempt to have my tire plugged (dumb construction site screws!!! Makes me mad I go around picking them up out of the roads in an effort to save everyone's tires and I end up with one in my very expensive tire... ugh.) Anyway, it couldn't be plugged, and we had to order a new tire since they didn't have the size we needed... but he came home from doing all that and still managed to muster up the energy to hang my new curtain rods and curtains in the family room.  Love that man!

As you can see we are slowly... very slowly... pulling together our family room.  Still waiting on that couch to be delivered. Think it'll be after the holiday now. Bummer.

 But we are loving it coming together. I am not a decorator but I wish I was. Its fun for me but hard to know if certain patterns and colors will work together.

Sunday night I wrote a blog post but kept it as a draft because I thought I would contact Ryan Homes first and let them try to fix our problem before venting publicly.  So glad that I did that because they fixed our problem right away.  We hadn't heard from our PM once since pre settlement and we were over 30 days.  We heard our new neighbors were about to have a 10 day post settlement follow up and that felt wrong to us that we hadn't even heard from him, and our things pre settlement never were fixed.  Anyways, I emailed our SR and was probably over dramatic but I have been extra emotional lately... he emailed back first thing in the morning, then we got a phone call from our PM and he scheduled to come over that morning to do our post settlement follow up. 

Turned out there was a mix up btw two PMs we had, an old one and a new one and each thought the other was handling our follow ups and actually that meant no one was. And since we didn't have any contact information for our PM we had no way to let him know we were being forgotten. 

Anyway, its all fixed now.  Next Thursday we are scheduled to have our issues addressed, which include scratches in hardwood floors, wall touch ups on drywall and paint, a new window, vinyl in kids bath, shutter and garage door. 

We received our survey in an email and will be filling it out as soon as our things are all fixed.  Can't believe its been a month in our house here.  :) 

Home Depot Price Matching

Okay, I may be slow, and I have heard of price matching before but haven't ever tried it out before and definitely not AFTER the purchase either but today I gave it a try.  I am a bargain shopper (sometimes even to a fault), we don't ever make big purchases or go on vacations (married 12.5 years still not even a honeymoon-lol.), and I always shop around for the best price on the things I do buy.  Yes I even shop at multiple grocery stores to make sure I get the best deal on food as well.  My bargain shopping is also why we still do not have a couch in our family room nearly a month after moving in-- because after falling in love with a really nice sectional (nicer than any piece of furniture we've ever owned) at the local furniture store I looked for it online and found it for nearly a thousand dollars cheaper through an online retailer... they are taking their sweet time delivering it and everyday we get a little more anxious to receive it but definitely worth the savings in our opinion.

 Anyway, I really shouldn't make a habit of checking prices of things I've already bought since it drives me crazy if I find a better deal after the fact but in this case it managed to work out in our favor.  I noticed Home Depot's Red, White and Blue sale had started and just out of curiosity wanted to see if they had a better deal on my washer and dryer at their Memorial day sale or their 4th of July sale-- I fully expected the Memorial day sale to be the best price and I was just going to go on my way being happy with my good deal... ummm nope! They now had my washer and dryer set for over $80 cheaper (total plus taxes).  

After being disappointed about it but really knowing there was nothing to do about it, we had needed a washer and dryer right away and it would have been super inconvenient to have not been able to do laundry this month waiting around for the 4th of july sale... so I really decided it was okay because it was something we needed.

 Then I had the thought about price matching and price adjustments.  A quick google search told me home depot did 14 days.  We were definitely out of the 14 days but I thought it couldn't hurt to ask on their convenient little chat feature on their website.  The rep there told me they do price matching and will refund money within 30 days of the purchase. The rep was super helpful and got our refund all worked out, sent me a confirmation email with the receipt for the over $80 going back on our card! I can't tell you how much this made my day!!! (I was so excited I joked we should go to Olive Garden to celebrate the extra money coming back to us... instead I boiled a box of pasta and a package of hot dogs and we had hot dogs and pasta salad as planned ;) )

We have been frequenting Home Depot since we moved in, bought the washer and dryer, a lawn mower (3 times actually, there is a story for another day), and all our ceiling fans , plus little things like hose, sprinkler, grout sealer, hardwood floor cleaner, drywall anchors, etc... they are the closest home improvement store to our house but they also have the best prices (or you can believe me I would drive further if the deals were better somewhere else). Anyway, we have been shopping there quite a bit and we keep having very positive experiences with pricing, selection, and customer service-- so I just wanted to share our experience and also give others a heads up about the awesome price matching policy they have! Also, if you are still in the market for appliances their Red, White and Blue sale seems to be one of their bigger sales of the year for sure so definitely check it out! :)