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On 01/23/2002 we paid Tri-Steel Homes of Denton, Texas a down payment of $500 to start plans for our custom home order number D058. On 02/14/2002 we paid $2460 for completion of our custom plans. On 04/05/2004 we paid $13,401.38 to build and ship all materials to our Colorado job site with balance COD. On 05/11/2005 we paid the final payment of $34,968.52 to expedite shipment because Tri-Steel Homes had a cash flow problem and this would assure immediate shipment. After many phone calls to President Jon-Reynolds and letters from our attorney in Denton, Texas we never received any product. On 01/25/2007 we had our attorney send them a letter canceling our order and demanding a full refund of $48,369.90. We have not received that refund, so we contacted the DFW Better Business Bureau, and they refused to respond to them. The DA of Denton refused to prosecute for fraud, which we suspect is for political reasons. We would like to caution any other prospective customers of Tri-Steel Homes to NOT send final payments in advance. We are retired and on a fixed income and this loss has caused an indefinite delay in the building of our home. We are living in our shop/garage.
Please note that my email address for above complaint is now bsjcook@gmail.com.
I work for a residential steel frame home company, American Steel Frame Services, Inc., and I have received a few phone calls from people telling me similar stories as yours posted here. One in particular lives in Austintown, Ohio. He called us and informed us that he had paid a down payment (25% of the purchase price) to Tri-Steel Homes and waited for a long time and never got anything but the plans for the home. When he questioned why he hadn't received his steel framing material they informed him they were having money issues and told him he would receive his complete steel frame home package within a month if he paid the rest of the money, i.e. the remaining 75%. He did so reluctantly but again never received anything. I could be wrong on some of the details but if I remember correctly I he paid them the entire price for the steel frame home package and only received the plans and waited for well over a year with his foundation in and still received nothing. He contacted us and asked if we could help him and we did. We were able to get his steel framing materials and fabricate them to match the plans he had from Tri-Steel. He has framed the house now and moving on with his project. He informed us that he has filed a complaint with the Lake Dallas Police department in Lake Dallas, Texas against Tri-Steel and is trying to get his money back from them through the legal system. He told us that the Lake Dallas PD told him a good number of other customers also filed complaints with the same department and that an ongoing investigation is being done on Tri-Steel so anyone else who has had similar problems with them should contact the Lake Dallas Police Department. As for getting your home built, I suggest you contact us here at American Steel Frame Services, Inc., (www.americansteelframeservices.com) as we were able to help this customer for around the same price as Tri-Steel charged him . . . . the difference being that he actually got his home and was satisfied.
I was a tri steel dealer in the mid 1990 s. I built two of their homes (Shiloh model). They were great systems. I could not sell many due to the high cost of the package. I wonder why these people (Richard D Cook) did not file a FDTP lawsuit? It would be an open and shut cash cow lawsuit and would do the world a favor by closing down tri-steel. There must be more to this story. As to Americansteelframesers, it seem self serving to add to this artical, but they do have 0 (zero) complants in the last three years. I am about to build in the Longview texas area, so ASF will get a call from me.
Have a great day
David Godair, dgodair@hotmail.com
PS, Mr. Cook, if you need a honest lawyer in the Texas area, I can give you a good name
Year ago my wife and I bought a franchise in Tri-steel. I was sold on the idea that the structures save energy by being well insolated, so air-condition them, in the tropics would save 60% on one's electricity bill. They also clamed there were hurricane proof ( we later found this required serous modifications to the standard model and price) Wanted to bring back the old architecture brought to the Bahamas by the early settlers, who built something resembling a gingerbread house. I had an agreement with them, to use the name Tri-Steel Island Homes Ltd, as a company name in the Bahamas, and it was agreed my dealership would be in that name. We paid our $25, 000 in full, and incorporated the company at a further cost, and later got a letter we did not have permission to use the name and the certificate of dealership arrive with our personal name. This meant we could not sell the company with the dealer ship, as well as a number of other complications, such as local business licenses, duty free status, etcetera. One other big surprise we discovered when we flew to Texas is, we met a fellow Bahamian who was being sold a franchise as well and we both were led to believe we were the only new dealer. Next I gave them the name of my first customer who had shaken hands on building our first house, and had planed to send him up for a seminar with our building expert. He contacted Tri-steel directly and paid $5, 000 for the option to order his house direct at dealer cost, and went to the seminar on his own, we later found out. Once we realized we could not set up our business we asked for our money back, and even offered to except a small garage kit in payment, and were rejected. We got a lawyer friend to have Texas Lawyer look into it, but in the end it looked like good money was going to be thrown after bad. We also heard the Owners of Tri-Steel had politician and authorities in there pocket. I had a mind to pay the price for justice to be served even if it did not pay . Hopefully justice will be served in Hell, if not on earth.
Hello,
I had a similar issue with Tri-Steel. I contacted them in 2005 and agreed to purchase a 1200 sq. ft. steel frame home. There was a lot of communication back and forth. I sent them $9000 as a down payment and then rarely heard from them after that. Until they stopped responding to me entirely. Pretty soon it was clear that they were going out of business and weren't going to give me a refund of my money, which to us, constituted a huge chunk of our savings! I did contact a few lawyers that all said that it would be very difficult to prosecute this issue across state lines (I'm in California). They wanted huge retainers, said they MIGHT be able to get a money judgement, but then to actually get the money back from Tri-Steel would be an entirely different feat. I was then contacted by the Denton Police Department investigating fraud. Nothing came of it. When I checked on it, they said it had been handed over to the FBI. When I checked on it again a couple years later, it was still pending with no progress. I know other people have dealt with Tri-Steel problems. Is anyone going to get their money back? If so, please help me!
Thanks,
Briana.