Thread: You gotta love these calls.....

The phone rings today and, thinking it's a job, I answer.... only to find myself on the receiving end of a lady with no hot water in a house my partner inspected 2 months ago. "What kind of recourse do I have against you?" she asks. I just love it when people beat around the bush.

The 'Rescue Rooter' guy is there and wants $500 to try and repair this water heater and..... are you ready for this? $1650 to replace it.... Holy Crap! It must be made from unleaded gasoline, I'm thinking.

So, I talk her down off the ledge and give her a different company to call. She seems pretty much okay and thanks me. I tell her I'll have her inspector get in touch on Monday.

Minutes later my phone rings and I don't answer this time... of course, it's the realtor. Of course, her message is sent as 'urgent' (how do you even do that, anyway?) - This is an emergency she claims.... She says she told the buyer not to touch anything since it's evidence (like this is CSI or something). She starts telling me something about the gas line to the water heater being too short, the service guy is on his way for more parts and we better pay for the whole thing.

So, I talk her down off the ledge and tell her I'm hearing totally different info from hera and the buyer and I'll call the buyer back to clarify things. By this point I'm wondering why I even answered the phone on a Saturday... We're actually booked up thru Wednesday... I think it's just instinct to grab the phone at any hour since it's been so slow lately.

So, I call the buyer back and, to my great pleasure, she informs me that everything is okay... it turns out they had too short of a match to light the pilot light!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You just can't make this stuff up

Similar Threads:

• IHI calls for compensation for home inspectors - Mortgage Strategy
• Gotta love this #2
• Gotta love this
• Where's the Love
• Recent drowning calls remind us of child pool safety - AZFamily (subscription)

Well, something was too short anyway. I'm sure the agent called you back to apologize.

My question is this. What did you comment on your report about this "ledge"?

Does it have a handrail? How high is it? Openings more than 4"?

This could be more of a problem than the water heater.

rick

When the call starts out like "What kind of recourse do I have against you?", I would tell her to revisit the inspection agreement she signed.

I dont care if the water heater breaks the day after the inspection, as long as it was functioning correctly on the day I did my inspection, or if something was wrong with it I wrote it up in my report, its no longer my problem.

Too many people think an inspection implies some type of warranty. It only implies a warranty that you did what you were supposed to do, and if you didnt then yes you should pay for it.

Water heaters break, foundations settle, air conditioners/heaters break. Sometimes they break after an inspection. Its like a termite inspection. Just because you had one, doesnt mean they wont infest your property the next day.

"A short match?" that's not all she is short!