FOX23 Investigates: Following up on complaints against Tulsa manufactured home company

TULSA, Okla. — In a FOX23 Investigation, we are following up on complaints against a Tulsa company that sells manufactured and modular homes .

FOX23 first brought you this story last year as we heard about more than a dozen people's home-buying headaches.

In this follow-up, customers told Tulsa's Investigative Reporter Janna Clark they didn't get what they were promised or what they paid for.

More than a dozen people complained to me after doing business with Lifeway Homes. Then after I started doing stories, more than a dozen more people complained. I wanted to give the owner plenty of time to fix the problems.

Dave Keener bought a modular home from a company out of Tulsa called Lifeway Homes.

Mike Harrison owns Lifeway Homes and sold Keener the house, but he said that many things went wrong when they started putting it together, like the fireplace. Turns out, Keener couldn't use it. It's only for looks.

“Had I not said anything, just gone my happy way and one day built a fire in there, it could have killed me,” Keener said.

Keener said weeks would go by and nobody did any work.

Keener said they were asking for more money and he was paying it, but no work was getting done on his home.

“At that point, I think I had paid $455,000 to them in cash. I said ‘Well, what's happened to the money I've given you?’ and he said, ‘Oh, that's long gone’,” Keener said.

While that was happening in Bartlesville, over in Locust Grove, Jim Hurt showed FOX23 the problems he was having with this house he bought from Lifeway Homes.

He was experiencing electrical problems. When he cooked, the stove and oven suddenly shut off.

Hurt thinks the electrical problems could be dangerous.

“When I leave the house I turn the power off to that right there because I don't trust it when I'm not here,” Hurt said.

I talked to more than 20 homeowners who all complained about Lifeway Homes. They told me about all kinds of problems they had with their homes. Problems they said they couldn't get the company to fix.

Many of the homeowners filed complaints with the Attorney General's Office. Since last year, the AG's Office said they received 15 complaints about Lifeway Homes.

Several cases are still under investigation.

Some homeowners said they were frustrated when they received a letter that said their case was closed.

The letter said, "The available evidence is insufficient to pursue further action."

“We opened Lifeway Homes in 2005,” said Mike Harrison, owner of Lifeway Homes.

I talked to Harrison last year about his customers' complaints and read him a long list of what they told me.

• House not ordered properly
• Siding wasn't right we had to fix it ourselves
• Dodged our phone calls
• The water tank put in was not for a mobile home
• The AC was too small so it freezes up
• The home was never level. I had to pay someone else to do that.
• They never came to finish the home.
• I asked for all gas and I got all electric
• They sent us the wrong home
• The foundation has been sinking
• Walls built in the wrong place
• They form vague contracts, overpromise and poorly perform.

“Well, I mean, it would make me extremely sad. If it was true,” Harrison said.

Harrison told me at the time that Lifeway Homes has delivered hundreds of homes and works hard to fulfill whatever the contract says.

He told me he does his best to run a company with good customer service.

“Luckily, there's lots of people that are appreciative of what we do,” said Harrison. “I'm not saying that perhaps even 12 times here. We've dropped the ball. I don't know if we have, I'd like to think we haven't, but I can tell you that there are dozens and dozens and dozens of happy customers. Our job and goal is that we would have all of them satisfied.”

Harrison said if customers aren't happy, he would like the chance to make things right.

“I would be very grateful for the opportunity to take care of whatever people, if they truly got some things that haven't been done, I want to take care of them,” Harrison said.

I sent Harrison the names and numbers of customers who complained and some preferred to reach out to him on their own. I wanted to give Harrison plenty of time to deal with the problems.

Now, it's been almost a year since my first story and I followed up with everyone who had complained to me.

They all said Harrison and Lifeway Homes did not do what he promised to make things right.

They told me things like Harrison won’t return their calls and they never heard from him.

One person said they did get something from Harrison.

"$400 for the shower and that won't even cover the job. Got tired of his junk,” said the person.

I tried to follow up with Harrison and remind him of what had told me.

“I'm not saying we haven't screwed something up. But I am saying that if we have, I'd be willing to get right in the middle of it and take care of it,” said Harrison previously.

I sent him an email telling him his customers said since that story aired, he had not taken care of any of their problems. I asked for a response or to do an interview.

That was more than a week ago, but so far I haven't heard anything.

Hurt and Keener both said they don't trust Lifeway Homes to fix anything right anyway.

“I didn't feel like he was going to do it right. I didn't think he was capable of doing it correctly,” Keener said.

Last fall, I got an email from the Manufactured Housing Association of Oklahoma . It said that Lifeway Homes is a member and in good standing with the organization.

When I pulled up the website, turns out that Harrison is a director on the board.

The email said, "Mr. Harrison has been in the industry for over 30 years and has provided homes to thousands of Oklahomans, many are repeat customers and referrals."

The Attorney General's Office told us when the complaints were about manufactured homes, they forwarded some of the complaints to the Used Motor Vehicle, Dismantler and Manufactured Housing Commission .

We contacted them and found out they've had seven complaints about Lifeway Homes since 2022. They've since closed all of those cases.

If you have a problem with your modular home, you can make a complaint to the Attorney General's Office .

You can also complain about local businesses to Tulsa's Better Business Bureau .