Dr Horton - Homeowner dealing with Warranty Claims denied

I purchased a new home built for my mom this past December of 2023 with D.R. Horton.

We had previously purchased a different home from D.R. Horton in November of 2022 and had a good experience with them. I wish I could say the same about this newer, bigger and more expensive home. Within the first 3-months we had an emergency water leak in the attic from the A/C that ran through the walls of the home, this was our first warranty claim that we did on March 5, 2024 and counted towards our 1 of 3 warranty claims for the year.

Upon finishing up this warranty claim, on March 21st my mom text me and sent a video letting me know that she saw her backyard fence was bowing in one of the corners, and some of the concrete holes that held some of the fence poles on the retaining wall were cracked and, in her video, she showed how she can move the pole with her hand. She also showed how parts of the retaining wall had concrete cracks. Since we had just finished our 60-day warranty, I told my mom we would just save it for our 6-month warranty which I was told by Robert Silos would be due on 6/15/24. On March 26, 2024 my brother sent me additional pictures of the fence which continued to bend, I told him as well that since is not an emergency that we would report it on our 6-month warranty claims.

On March 28th, 2024 we had a really bad storm in the Dallas area which ended up taking down this whole fence. So now this prompted to be a more serious issue, so on March 28th I ended up doing our 6-month warranty ahead of time for the fence and leak from the back patio door which didnt seem to be sealed properly and water entered the home. I worked with Robert Silos initially, Robert has always been very helpful with the warranty claims of this home and my previous D.R. Horton home.

Robert is also very patient and listens to homeowners concerns and tries his best to help. Robert told me that regarding the fence he had to get it escalated for proper approval but that D.R. Horton has been denying all fence claims. After several follow ups I finally got a hold Mr.

Juan Rojas who initially was quick to tell me that D.R. Horton wouldnt cover this fence despite us homeowners having picture, video, text evidence and even our neighbors testimonial of the condition and poor workmanship of this fence prior to the storm. Today August 14, 2024 Mr. Juan Rojas came to physically look at the fence, spent about 3-5 minutes looking at it, saw that the retaining wall was damaged and said that because some of the poles on the retaining wall were bent that parts of the retaining wall held fine.

Although you can see that 2/3 of that fence poles came off the retaining wall. I asked Mr. Juan Rojas how deep were these poles supposed be, he made a hand gesture and said about this big I asked how deep, how many feet, he said at least 2ft so 24inches. We measured 15inches or 1.25feet of concrete depth on the poles.

He then backtracked his original statement and said well 2feet if is on the ground but since is on a retaining wall it can be less. Mr. Juan Rojas said that he could fix the retaining wall but, the fence was on us the owners to redo. So to us the home owners, youre agreeing that this retaining wall failed due to poor workmanship, which caused this fence to prematurely fall within 3-months of closing on a home, however D.R.

Horton doesnt want to take any responsibility for the fence, just partial responsibility for the retaining wall. Mr. Juan Rojas also kept telling us that is us the homeowners responsibility to have reported this issue before, that it couldve been fixed. My answer to that was, us homeowners are under the impression that we only get 3-warranty claims in a year, if we already did a 60-day claim that was prompted by an emergency leak, why would I use another warranty claim for something that is not an emergency at the time and lose a claim that could have been used later on or in case of another emergency.

So is like we are penalized for not reporting something despite it being an issue before. Is like D.R. Horton wants to hide and pretend this was never an issue, despite us having video, text messages, picture evidence and even a neighbors testimonial mentioning how this fence was bowing, the retaining wall was cracking and how the integrity of the poles was compromised by the cracks in the concrete and poor workmanship prior to this storm. Not to mention, there are still 2 home needing to be built behind my moms home, and Im sure D.R.

Horton wont be able to close on the homes of those two future homeowners without our shared fence being up. This alone, should be some motivation for D.R. Horton to do the right thing.

This is our 3rd D.R. Horton home in the past 2 years, I purchased my mom one in November of 2022, my wife and I helped her parents buy one in December of 2022, and I just recently upgraded my mom to this bigger home in December of 2023, and have made several recommendations to friends, two of which have also purchased D.R.

Horton homes in the past 2-years. Thats 5-transactions that Ive helped bring to D.R. Horton in a 2-year time frame. Please, just do what is right, you guys can see this was an issue prior to the storm.

You obviously saw that these poles were only dogged 15inches or (1.25feet) into the concrete, and theres evidence of the poor workmanship prior to this storm. Please do the right thing by a repeat customer and dont hide behind mother nature, it shouldnt be worth it.

If this issue is resolved, I will turn this into a positive review.