On 3/23/09, we made a $5000 deposit to purchase a manufactured home model 21-4523B to Chris Marburger from Quality Wholesale Homes via electronic transfer.

Prior to signing the agreement and making the deposit, we were provided with estimates for all the site work by Chris Marburger, the Quality Wholesale Homes sales person. We were told that to get actual contractor contacts and actual bids, we had to make the deposit. When we got the actual estimates, they were approximately twice as much as what Chris had estimated. As we were getting the estimates, we informed Chris Marburger that the estimates we were getting were too high. I was assured by Chris verbally that if the estimates were too high that we would get our deposit back. Chris even mentioned over the phone that he doesn't make any money from the deposit and that he only gets paid if the project is finished. When we were given the above contractor's information by Chris Marburger, he informed me that these were the contractors that were the cheapest in that area.

On 4/27/09, we requested that the deposit be refunded. During several conversations on the phone with Chris and his boss Dave Higbee requesting the deposit back, Chris and Dave also verbally threatened to sue us for 20% of the total purchase price of the home. On 5/14/09, Chris sent a written response stating that the money is not refundable and that the monies had already been spent on the bids and various other expenses, including his own commission. The breakdown he sent via email on how they claim the deposit had been spent is as follows:

Site Inspections, bids, surveys - $500.00 x2= $1, 000.00 one bid was done for free. 2 were charged.
PCD Plans, engineered prints, utility layouts - $950.00 x3= $2, 850 every PCD pulled is charged to us and each contractor requires a copy before they bid
Commission – $1, 250 paid to your rep. to work on your project.

We contacted the contractors Happy Acres and Royal T's Construction, which are the only contractors who gave us estimates, and have written proof from them that the bids were done free of charge and that they never received PCDs from Quality Wholesale Homes or us. The contractors were completely surprised that these things are being claimed by Quality Wholesale Homes and are willing to provide any proof to who ever needs verification. In the same email, Chris stated that they have no intention of pursuing us for additional funds such as the 20% of the purchase price. We were never informed and never signed any documents stating that we agreed to pay the alleged charges they said the deposit was used for. It was never communicated to us in any form that the deposit was not refundable and it was never clearly stated anywhere in the documents that we signed that the deposit is non-refundable. Chris Marburger repeatedly stated verbally that the deposit would be returned given that his estimates were way below the actual estimates. We were given inaccurate information by Chris Marburger and misled throughout the process of purchasing the home. They used deceptive and high pressure methods to induce us into making a deposit on a home and promised the refund but later backed down and refused to return the money claiming it's been spent on non-existent charges.