Callum Jones
After a wonderful vacation, the first thing you want to do when you get back home is put your feet up before life of normality resumes again.
But Susan Hodgson was left in utter shock after a company mistakenly demolished the home she owned in southwest Atlanta.
The thought of anything happening to your home while you are away is a daunting one, but for you whole house to be teared down, well that is certainly a terrifying one.
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Speaking to the Associated Press on Saturday, Hodgson said she found a pile of rubble in place of what used to be her longtime family home, causing obvious devastation.
"I am furious,” Hodgson said. "I keep waking up thinking, ‘Is this all a joke or something?’ I’m just in shock."
While she was on vacation, a neighbor called her to ask whether the family had hired someone to tear down the vacant house.
"I said ‘no’ and she said, ‘Well, there’s someone over here who just demolished the whole house and tore it all down,’” the homeowner recalled.
When the concerned neighbor confronted the company taking down the house, Hodgson claims the workers got nasty.
"He told her to shut up and mind her own business," she said.
A family member was subsequently sent over to the house to see what was going on, also asking the workers for their permit.
But in a particular bad blunder, the person in charge at the site realized he was at the wrong address after checking the permit details.
Hodgson added: "It’s been boarded up about 15 years, and we keep it boarded, covered, grass cut, and the yard is clean.
"The taxes are paid and everything is up on it."
The angered homeowner is taking action, subsequently filling a report with the police and has talked to lawyers about what can be done.
However, all of that remains in limbo right now, leading to many unanswered questions.
"We’re still in this process of figuring out what to do," she said. "We keep pressing in different directions to see if something is going to happen."
Hodgson went on to claim in the interview with the Associated Press that the company behind the mishap, You Call It We Haul It, has yet to contact her.
"How do people just go up and tear somebody’s property down and then just drive off?" Hodgson said.
"How can they think that’s OK? I just wish he would come fix the problem that he caused.
"It’s just hard to believe someone thinks they have the right to just come and tear something up and walk away from it and didn’t come back and say ‘I’m sorry. What do I need to do to fix this? It was an accident.’ They didn’t give me nothing."
In a statement provided to WAGA-T, the company said it was investigating and working to resolve the issues.
UNILAD has reached out to You Call It We Haul It for further comment.