PulteGroup

When you buy a Pulte home, your purchase contract forces all disputes into private binding arbitration — you give up your right to a court or jury trial before you even get the keys. Only small-claims matters are excepted.

"This Agreement provides that all Disputes (defined below) between [Pulte Home] and [Buyer] will be resolved by BINDING ARBITRATION. This means both [Pulte Home] and [Buyer] GIVE UP THE RIGHT TO GO TO COURT OR TO A JURY to assert or defend rights under this Agreement (EXCEPT for matters that may be taken to SMALL CLAIMS COURT as provided below). [Pulte Home]'s and [Buyer's] rights will be determined by a NEUTRAL ARBITRATOR and NOT by a judge or jury."

Pulte Home Purchasing Agreement, quoted verbatim in federal court opinion

Pulte's purchase agreements print a mandatory-arbitration warning in all caps on page one, cover essentially every claim a homeowner could bring (defects, warranty, fraud, negligence), and add a class-action waiver — so buyers cannot band together over systemic construction defects.

"THIS AGREEMENT CONTAINS A MANDATORY BINDING ARBITRATION PROVISION IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE FEDERAL ARBITRATION ACT. BY EXECUTING THIS AGREEMENT YOU AGREE THAT ANY DISPUTE BETWEEN US WILL BE RESOLVED BY BINDING ARBITRATION AND YOU THEREFORE WAIVE YOUR RIGHT TO A JURY TRIAL." and the clause contains a class action waiver — any controversy "arising out of or in any way related to this Agreement, Your property, Home, community ... including, without limitation, claims for breach of contract, express or implied warranty, strict liability, negligence, nuisance, statutory violation, misrepresentation, and/or fraud, shall be resolved by binding arbitration pursuant to the Federal Arbitration Act"

Pulte Purchase Agreement arbitration clause, quoted in court judgment

Even the limited warranty on the house itself — the document you rely on when something breaks — funnels warranty disputes into binding arbitration, not court.

"This warranty contains binding arbitration provisions in Section 8 controlled by the Federal Arbitration Act ("FAA"). You should read those provisions carefully. They require that disputes be submitted to a neutral third party arbitrator instead of court or jury trial."

Pulte CA Limited Warranty Web Book (Dec 2018), §3.6

Pulte admits its ad-tech tools may legally count as 'selling or sharing' your data — including identifiers, personal info like financial details, geolocation, and even protected-class characteristics (race, religion, veteran status) — to marketing and analytics vendors.

"In the preceding 12 months, we used marketing or analytical tools that may constitute a sale or sharing of the following categories of information: A (identifiers), B (personal), C (protected class), D (commercial), G (geolocation), and K (Inferences). The recipients of this information are providers of marketing and analytics services."

PulteGroup California Privacy Policy, 'Third Parties with Whom Personal Information Is Disclosed, Shared, or Sold'

Pulte's website is loaded with third-party ad trackers — Meta, Google, The Trade Desk, Quantcast and others — which get access to your device and browsing data to serve you targeted ads.

"These cookies and pixels are used to deliver relevant ads, track ad campaign performance, or track email marketing. These tools are provided by third parties, who may also have access to the information they collect, such as device information and browsing information." (Providers listed: AppNexus, Google, Meta, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Quantcast, TradeDesk, Yahoo.)

Pulte Privacy Policy (General), 'Advertising' cookies section

Pulte tracks your precise location to serve ads based on where you are ('geofencing') — and it only promises to get your consent 'where required by applicable law', implying it may do so without consent where no law forces it.

"For the purposes of serving you relevant advertisements based on your location, we collect geolocation information to perform geofencing. Where required by applicable law, we will not collect precise geolocation information without first obtaining consent."

Pulte Privacy Policy (General), 'Sensitive Information' section

Pulte can rewrite both its Terms of Use and its Privacy Policy unilaterally, just by posting them — no email or signature required — and simply visiting the site afterward counts as your agreement.

"These Terms may change from time to time. If we make changes, we will let you know by posting the changes on our website. Your continued use of the website after any change constitutes your agreement to the revised Terms." and "If we make a significant or material change to this Statement we will notify you via email... Your continued use of the Site constitutes acceptance of the most current version of this Statement."

Pulte Website Terms of Use ('Last update: December 2021') — https://www.pulte.com/terms-of-use and Pulte Privacy Policy (General), §12 'Policy Changes'

Website visitors waive class actions, get forced into Michigan/Oakland County courts for any website claim, and Pulte can delete your account and content at any time without notice — for any reason.

"Each party irrevocably submits to the personal jurisdiction of the federal and state courts located in Oakland County, Michigan... You agree that you shall pursue any claim against us or our affiliates in your individual capacity only, and you will not participate in any collective or so-called 'class' action against us." and "PulteGroup may cancel your account and delete all User Content associated with your account at any time, and without notice, if PulteGroup deems that you have violated these Terms, the law, or for any other reason."

Pulte Website Terms of Use, 'Applicable Law, Jurisdiction and Venue' and 'User Content' sections