Thread: Butt+hole client

I had an inspection a few days ago where there was a thermostat that was non operational. Anyhow, I referred him to "a professional" and after the HVAC guy spent 45 minutes repairing the thermostat, or whatever. Anyway, afterwards the client called me because he wanted me to repay him for the service call, $85. He said I should have known what was wrong and I should have fixed it myself. The guy went off for 10 minutes. He also called me incompetent and some other words that I cant repeat here. WOW...What a butthole.

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If you did not break it why would your client expect you to pay for the repair? All you did was report the problem. The client (and the Realtor and the seller) should not shoot the messenger.

That is why you should email the Standards of Practice to the client before every inspection. Then your only question to him would be. Did you read the SOP? DICKHEAD!

Oh yes, we do. We also have'em sign it with no less than 3 initials also. I'm all for helping my customers out and going that extra mile troubleshooting, but I cant repair or replace parts, there's only so much time in an inspection.
FYI, the realtor was an idiot. She sided with the client. A newbie agent, go figure.

Mark Your first state is correct. Do not give the guy any money back.

If you talk to him ask him to please send you an email as you are just going out the door and you will be able to get back to him later.

This will get him to put this carp down in and email. save this information you may need it later. Sorry.

But you have a wack job on the line and you are going to need to get as much down in email as you can.

Best

Ron

Originally Posted by Ron Bibler

Mark Your first state is correct. Do not give the guy any money back.

If you talk to him ask him to please send you an email as you are just going out the door and you will be able to get back to him later.

This will get him to put this carp down in and email. save this information you may need it later. Sorry.

But you have a wack job on the line and you are going to need to get as much down in email as you can.

Best

Ron

Roger that...Thanks

I would have explained to him how cheap he actually came out on the deal.

Tell him if you'd fixed it you'd probably charged him like 395.00

One of the first things I inform clients is that I don't do repairs and don't ask. I don't fix things as I go through the inspection process either. I don't tighten door knobs, electrical plate covers, adjust water fill mechanisms on toilets, calibrate oven control knobs, replace dirty air filters with the clean on sitting right next to it, replace screens or clean windows.

I write it as I see it.

rick

I have been known to, on a rare occasion, tell a client to pound sand up his ars. To begin with he would have laster maybe 15 to 20 seconds, not 10 minutes.

That would have been one of those times.

I had a man state that after he moved in he had water coming up out of the ground directly behind the kitchen window in the back yard. He said I should have caught this but I did not run any water. The ass forgot that "AS" I was running water (for about 10 minutes) we were outside standing in that very spot looking at the concerns with the AC condenser.

This man got so Irate because he could not remember past his ars that he started mouthing off and threatening me (it might have had something to do with the chuckle in my voice as I explained the exact chain of events to him). That lasted about 5 seconds before I did the unprofessional thing and threw some back myself.

I will not tolerate anyone for any reason going off on me. If they are doing it to me they better fully expect it back ten fold.

Ted,

Your such a bad ass.

LOL

rick

Was this inspection for the buyer or seller? If it was for the buyer, what should they care what it cost. If it was for the seller, well pretty much the same!

Oh man,.. I just found out today that he actually STOPPED payment on my check!! Like I said, What an A$$hole!
S.P> He was a buyer.

Originally Posted by Marc M

Oh man,.. I just found out today that he actually STOPPED payment on my check!! Like I said, What an A$$hole!
S.P> He was a buyer.

Go down the city hall and spend 16.00 on a lean on the property. It might be 16 more out of your pockert but the buhole will get his just deserve.

He is a control freak and needs to be put in control

Originally Posted by Marc M

Oh man,.. I just found out today that he actually STOPPED payment on my check!! Like I said, What an A$$hole!
S.P> He was a buyer.

If he used your inspection report IN ANY WAY (and you know he did, he said so) ... then he committed theft of services, which has a monetary value.

First thing I would do would be to your local State Attorneys office and see what they say. Should be comparable to collecting on a bad check, I would think.

Don't get cold feet with this guy... If any thing happens we are all behind all the way... And you known how to find us.

So go get him kid..

BAGDAD BOB Has been looking for some action...
Broken Arm Collection...

Best

Ron

Just when you think it could not get any worse, it does. Comical actually. So I called him and get this...he wants me to pay for "his" $30 fee to stop payment, + deduct the $85 for the A/C guy, and not include my $30 bank fees. Wow...I thought the law states that he is liable for 3X's the check sum when you stop payment on a check for unnecessary reasons?? Never in all my years of doing this...

Just when you think it could not get any worse, it does. Comical actually. So I called him and get this...he wants me to pay for "his" $30 fee to stop payment, + deduct the $85 for the A/C guy, and not include my $30 bank fees. Wow...I thought the law states that he is liable for 3X's the check sum when you stop payment on a check for unnecessary reasons?? Never in all my years of doing this...

That's the type of phone call I would tape. Check with your state laws, but in OR, it's a single party state. Meaning that only one party needs to know the conversation is being taped. The voice recordings may come in handy.

A bag of Quik-crete down his exterior sewer cleanout after settlement may do wonders for adjusting his attitude.

Originally Posted by Nick Ostrowski

A bag of Quik-crete down his exterior sewer cleanout after settlement may do wonders for adjusting his attitude.

LMAO At this moment I am not ruling out anything. ..

Originally Posted by Jerry Peck

... then he committed theft of services, .

.
Theft of Services where I live is a Criminal Offense.
* go down and swear a Warrant out for his Arrest.
.

Originally Posted by Billy Stephens

.
Theft of Services where I live is a Criminal Offense.
* go down and swear a Warrant out for his Arrest.
.

That's why I said to talk to the state attorney office, let THEM issue that warrant.

He lives in Chicago. I guess he's loaded and this is a place to stay while on business. I am working on the DA angel.

Originally Posted by Marc M

He lives in Chicago. I guess he's loaded and this is a place to stay while on business. I am working on the DA angel.

DA nothing

He robbed you of your services.

He canceled a check after handing it to you for the services you provided.

I am sure even where you are a lean on the property will cost next to nothing. If it is a purchase he will not be able to close until he pays in full and demand a cashiers check or cash for payment.

10 minutes? I would have explained the meaning of life to that moron after the first 30 seconds of his ridiculous rant.

Originally Posted by Ted Menelly

DA nothing

He robbed you of your services.

He canceled a check after handing it to you for the services you provided.

I am sure even where you are a lean on the property will cost next to nothing. If it is a purchase he will not be able to close until he pays in full and demand a cashiers check or cash for payment.

Ted,
Should you have done business with the owner of the property to lean? I understand the CA rules as a contractor but unsure as a HI. I'll have to check.

Originally Posted by Marc M

Ted,
Should you have done business with the owner of the property to lean? I understand the CA rules as a contractor but unsure as a HI. I'll have to check.

Go down to the clerks office. Tell them you provided a service as a home inspectore to a client. The client then immediately cancelled the check and you want to put a lien on the property. It should take all of 20 minutes or so.

You are a contractor. If a contractor goes to a home and provides no materials and spends 4 hours of his time at a home and then gets handed a check which the person hiring him goes directly to the bank and puts a stop payment on the check it is exactly what happened to you. Depending where you are you can charge him for time spent in recooping the money.

A little edit here.

(really another whole post)

You are not a repair man. If it took the HVAC man 45 minutes to fix the problem and not just walk in and turn the thermostat on and it worked then it needed repair. I don't care if there was a wire hanging out from behind it and needed obvious hooking up, you would not even dom that I hope as it may be unhooked for a reason and you are not there to test the systems components other than it is functioning. Unlike what some think like doing a wet and dry bulb test and referring to charts and checking relative humidity and such. All that crap does not take place in the home inspectors world. You are not in the home to fix anything. You turn a thermostat on and nothing happens, you may go and check popped breker and any obvious wires hanging loose but you are not going to change out breakers and reconnect wires or replace thermostats and such. The man is a dick and needs to be treated as one. I can garanty you he is a boss of someone somehwere and he more than likely has a little one and is probably 5 feet tall. Either that or he thinks he is Gods gift to humanity and believes he"is all that". No matter what the case he needs to be slapped in place. This man may have been paying you for an inspection report but you did not inspect the home for him. While you were doing the inspection you were not working for him as in he gets to dictate anything at the inspection. You are the boss at the inspection. There is no one over you at the inspection. You do your job and you are in charge.

I tell everyone all the time that they have no boss when doing an inspection. If you believe other wise then you "are" working for someone else and they "are" in chrage of you and can dictate to you and sway "your" inspection and report.

I ask every client what the property address is that they want an inspection report for....in those words. That is what they are purchasing from me, the home inspection report, not the home inspection. If I wanted to work for someone else I probably would have worked for the post office all these years or I would be working for a multi inspector company or I would have stayed in the army and retired 15 years ago and then would have went on to my second retirement job like...well, the post office.

Originally Posted by Marc M

Just when you think it could not get any worse, it does. Comical actually. So I called him and get this...he wants me to pay for "his" $30 fee to stop payment, + deduct the $85 for the A/C guy, and not include my $30 bank fees. Wow...I thought the law states that he is liable for 3X's the check sum when you stop payment on a check for unnecessary reasons?? Never in all my years of doing this...

Sorry to hear about that. Thats an awful situation. Now youre out the inspection fee plus you got dinged for 30 dollars in bank fees. Thats crap.

Didnt this guy give you any indication on the phone call when he hired you that he might be trouble? The ones that ask way too many questions unrelated to the actual inspection can tip you off. Like questions about insurance(how much you have) Some people just give off a vibe that they are gonna be a pain to work with and those are the ones where you say you are booked solid for a month

Marc M.

I favor putting a lean agaisnt the propery, if you have the legal right in
your location.

If not take to small claim court. Yea that sucks. but if you want your
money you'll have to fight for it. Or suck wind and right the hole think
off as a learning experence. As for the guy, someone screaming at him,
so the big fish think he can eat the litte fish. HUMOR

Next if you get a lean agaisnt the property, and he try's to sell it, it will
should up, when they check any claim against the propery, Meaning the
buyer.

Then I expect you get a call from some hot shot lawyer saying you get
paid right after the closing if you remove the lean. Don't fall for this.
Tell the lawyer you want to be present at the closing. Or no deal.

At the closing you get to see the check, and then you remove the lean.

Good Luck.

Nothing can stop you from putting a lean. you may not win in a court but that comes later.

Best

Ron

If it were me I would file a lien against the property. A lien will cloud the title when the time comes for him to sell the property. You may have to renew the lien every few years to keep it active.

Marc M.

Quetion: who made the call the call to call the HAVC prossional to repair
the thermostat. As a H.I. I only report, I don't take sides, or
even recommond who to call.






In the army when I ask if they were serving **** on a shingle, they
said. "no Sir, were serving chip beef on toast." So I paid. OH ****!

Quik-crete.