Thread: Inspection Complaints

Hi Gentleman hope your inspection schedules are full! I am curious for all of you vets out there if/when you have had a complaint about something that was missed in an inspection or not inspected properly how you handle it and how it affected your business if any as a direct result. If it was in a small real estate office did it affect your referrals from that office? Did it hurt your business for a month, week, year etc.? How did you handle the situation did you reimburse them, or tell them you wouldn't pay? All input is appreciated.

Similar Threads:

• Visual Inspection of Concrete. InterNACHI's latest inspection-related article.
• Number Of Complaints
• 1995 Construction - Builder complaints ignored
• BC Agents File Multiple Complaints Against Home Inspector
• Listing Agent Complaints

Originally Posted by Randy King

Hi Gentleman hope your inspection schedules are full! I am curious for all of you vets out there if/when you have had a complaint about something that was missed in an inspection or not inspected properly how you handle it and how it affected your business if any as a direct result.

It all depends on what it is. If I missed the fact that a garage door opener was not working or that a food disposer was leaking and broken or the attic power vent was not working, then I would most likely go ahead and pay to have it repaired. In 13 years I have replaced those items and even a French door to avoid it going any further. If you screw-up you need to admit it, take care of the problem and move on with life.

If it was in a small real estate office did it affect your referrals from that office? Did it hurt your business for a month, week, year etc.? How did you handle the situation did you reimburse them, or tell them you wouldn't pay? All input is appreciated.

As for a loss of business from one office, well it is what it is. If you act like a jerk and get all defensive about being called out for missing something then you deserve to be blackballed in that office. On the other hand if you take care of the problem and it is not a major issue and it does not happen several times in a given period of time, then you will most likely not loose any business from that office. But, you just never know.

This is one of the best examples of why we as home inspectors need to strive at reducing the number of referrals from a given office or agent. Your company website should be driving most of the business your way, and once this happens you don't worry about upsetting the apple cart at the real estate office. But, once you obtain this it does not mean that you don't take care of problems that are your fault either.

No two complaints are alike. I find the people with the least problems complain the most.

I went back to a job once where the inspector didn't move the drop ceiling tiles and the entire bathroom floor above was totally rotted. The guy had a several thousand dollar repair but was happy to just take his fee back (I've never written a check so fast). In reality, we're not toally required to lift tiles but there were some stains and signs of fresh paint. So, it would have been nice if he would have investigated a bit further... particularly beneath a bathroom.

On the flip side of that is the guy who has a broken garbage disposal and expects you to replace it and compensate him for the meal he had to take his family out to because he couldn't use his kitchen, and he and his wife's emotional distress, etc., etc. - Point being, people can be ridiculous.

Best thing is to never ignore a problem, no matter how trivial it may seem and no matter how hard you beat it into their head on the report.

Get on-site quickly with your checkbook in hand. It's an inexpensive cost of business to shut something down quickly, even if you really didn't do anything wrong.

As for losing a referal base, it can happen but there's really nothing you can do about it. If you deal with things head-on and take care of the problem you will likely minimize the fallout after a problem. It can actually be an oppourtunity to increase people's impression of you if you deal with something quickly and take care of it. That's all a realtor really wants is for the problem to go away and their/your client to be satisfied.

I had a false claim against me once. It was for an old panel that the folks should have had replaced but just had a friend come in and double tap some breakers and breakers kept popping. A year after this inspection the lady called me and wanted 1200 dollars for a new Panel.

Number one, she did not follow up with anything in my report. Number two, her friend took a bad situation and made it worse. Number 3, she was adding a room on and she was told by an electrician that the panel was not big enough and to begin with I should have caught the double tapped breakers and overloaded system along with the FPE panel that should have been replaced. (hello, all in the report)

To make a long story short I sent her as copy of my report and pictures of the panel. She got so pissed from getting bagged she retaliated about how I screwed up and I wasn't paying for anything to the realtor. My name went around that office like a hot potato. I found out about this by calling na few of the realtors doing my nice guy and I am still around thing and one of the realtors told me what happened. I should have sued there ass off of everyone involved with this slander but did not. I did not recieve a referral from that office for about nine months. The sad part is that the office was my first contact when moving to Texas and recieved a steady flow of referrals from them. It took a while to regain the business I lost from there.

Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Like I said I should have sued but I am not and have never been one to pick up a phone and call a lawyer.

Damn, I said that bad word.

Randy,

Be concerned & listen to what the Client is saying.

Be proactive. ( Go & see for yourself. ) Even if you think you know the solution.

Be attentive & try to see the issue as the Client does.

If you don't know the solution sate You don't know but will find out ( No BS )

If it's your problem, State it's my problem & I will take care of it.

Don't Tell the Client what to do, give options.

Treat people as you would like them to treat your Mom.

If they are out to try & take advantage of you ( The Gloves Come OFF! )

Originally Posted by Randy King

...if/when you have had a complaint about something that was missed in an inspection or not inspected properly how you handle it...

I pretend I don't speak English.

Originally Posted by John Arnold

I pretend I don't speak English.

Now that made me laugh out loud!

Scott, I could not agree more about making sure you receive most of your business from other areas than referring realtors and that is why I am in the process of building a site, (should be finished in a couple of weeks). My question to you about the internet is do you really receive alot of inspections as a direct result from your site? (If so it would be great to know a range no need to tell us how many you get unless your comfortable) how long did it take you before you were receiving alot of hits (booked inspections) from the internet, and who is the prospect that normally is drawed to the internet. What I mean by this is are most of the people that you get internet business from buying a home still in a normal real estate transaction and just went against what their agent said and looked around for themself? Moreover, I live in a city with about 40,000 people and not too much around for surrounding communities maybe another 80-100,000 total within a 60 mile radius, do you think a good website will draw inspections even in a small area such as this? I know alot of questions but anyone feel free to chime in as well...I think I hijacked my own thread..oh well

Originally Posted by Randy King

...I live in a city with about 40,000 people and not too much around for surrounding communities maybe another 80-100,000 total within a 60 mile radius, do you think a good website will draw inspections even in a small area such as this? ...

Absolutely. A good website, and that doesn't just mean one that looks good, but one that performs well with search engines (Google, AOL, etc.) is essential.
One of the main themes from the book Search Engine Optimization for Dummies, is: don't assume that your great web designer knows how to make your site attractive to search engines. Most of them don't, and many of them don't know that they don't.
I don't know how many jobs I get from my website. But I only need one per year to cover the annual fee.

Originally Posted by Randy King

Scott, I could not agree more about making sure you receive most of your business from other areas than referring realtors and that is why I am in the process of building a site, (should be finished in a couple of weeks). My question to you about the internet is do you really receive alot of inspections as a direct result from your site? (If so it would be great to know a range no need to tell us how many you get unless your comfortable) how long did it take you before you were receiving alot of hits (booked inspections) from the internet, and who is the prospect that normally is drawed to the internet. What I mean by this is are most of the people that you get internet business from buying a home still in a normal real estate transaction and just went against what their agent said and looked around for themself? Moreover, I live in a city with about 40,000 people and not too much around for surrounding communities maybe another 80-100,000 total within a 60 mile radius, do you think a good website will draw inspections even in a small area such as this? I know alot of questions but anyone feel free to chime in as well...I think I hijacked my own thread..oh well

Just this year I have done 97 inspections just from my website! The first question I ask a caller is how they found me. Yes, it is a major part of my business. Keep in mind I move to an area two years ago with out knowing anyone. I depended on my site to drive business my way. My town is around 25,000, but I live 20 miles south of Nashville. But, the majority of my business is from outside of Nashville. Tomorrow I will travel 45 miles one way to inspect a home in Shelbyville, TN with a population of around 10,000.

My website is not pretty and it does not have fancy code, etc. But it pulls up organically in the top 3 spots in the areas that I want to work in. I can't ask for more than that.

That is awesome! I can only hope my website will generate that type of buzz as well. Scott do you have your website placed organically in the top three on just one search engine such as google or do you pull up from multiple search engines and if so, what search engine do you feel has been the most successful for you? Thank you again your information is very helpful. Any input from others is welcome as well.

Originally Posted by Randy King

That is awesome! I can only hope my website will generate that type of buzz as well. Scott do you have your website placed organically in the top three on just one search engine such as google or do you pull up from multiple search engines and if so, what search engine do you feel has been the most successful for you? Thank you again your information is very helpful. Any input from others is welcome as well.

I only worry about Google. I think that something like 80%+ of the folks who do a search use Google.