N.C. family sues HGTV show for "disastrous" home makeover

popular home renovation show is accused of failing to deliver on its promises a North Carolina couple turned to HGTV's love it or list it when they decided to fix up their home for future foster children but now they're taking the production company to court now well Bojorquez is in Raleigh where the homeowners gave him a first-hand look at the work they say fall short man well good morning good morning after the big reveal of the home renovation here the cameras stopped rolling it was then Dina Murphy and Timothy Sullivan claimed that despite it appearing TV ready a closer look revealed a very different reality the HGTV reality show builds itself a hit TV series that appeals to homeowners in search of a new home to quote better suit their needs to what they now need from a home in each episode a home is renovated and the owners gets to decide if they love it and want to stay or list it for sale it all builds up to a big reveal at the end of the show like Dina Murphy and Timothy Sullivan decisions made and are you going to love it or are you going to list it well we've decided to list it but nearly seven months later Murphy and Sullivan have yet to list it or move in they filed a lawsuit against the contractor and the Canadian company big coat TV that produces the show the couple claims the renovations were disastrous alleging their $140,000 was essentially used to create a stage set for this television series this is not like a free makeover no not at all we took out a substantial loan for this and you put in some of our own money on top of the loan that we took out Sullivan and Murphy declined to comment on the specific damage citing the pending lawsuit their allegations include damaged and stained floorboards open holes low-grade carpeting over chipped concrete and unpainted surfaces the couple's attorney claims the poor workmanship occurred because big co TV the production company was acting as a general contractor during the renovation after taking his clients money for the homeowners here this is a renovation project and four big coats of TV show what we allege is that big coat hired contractors who did substandard work this is the living room the couple's lawsuit also claims the contractor only received about $85,000 of their money and that the production company pocketed the rest approximately fifty five thousand dollars in a statement to CBS this morning toronto-based big coat production said it has completed more than 250 renovations without any issues and that the claim is in no way supported by any of the facts in the case we feel stressed out we feel sad really disappointed you came into this with almost a sense of excitement it seems right we're excited we're excited for the home the couple also claims they paid an additional eleven thousand dollars of so-called change fees when they asked for alterations to the original renovation plans the lawsuit also says it claims that the reality show is heavily scripted with people on camera Inc looting the homeowners being told what to say and how to act Gale okay thank you very much thank you very much Manuel

Channel: CBS Mornings

Views: 7,872,564

Keywords: hgtv, love it or list it, lawsuit, couple, renovation, video, cbs, news

Id: BcxoGzOwjEA

Length: 3min 34sec (214 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 20 2016