A-STAT Inspection Services

September 18,
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Dear [redacted],
This letter is in response to the customer complaint that was received about my company, A-SAT Inspection Services.As is part of running a home inspection business that provides a service that is difficult to manage at times, we receive customer complaints from home owners that experience defects with their homes/appliances that are prompted by contractors that state the deficiency should have been picked up by the home inspector at the time of the inspectionThese individuals know nothing about the scope of the services we provide and the insurance we have to carry that outlines what we can and cannot comment on.[redacted] phoned our office with a complaint from a home inspection that was performed on April 17, Her concerns had to do with a plumber/HVAC contractor who stated that it was a current code requirement that a thermal expansion tank had to be installed on the hot water heater that is located in their homeWhen I informed [redacted] that there are limitations to the home inspection process and that we don't perform code inspections her tone towards me became a degrading one and limited my ability to explain the situation further.I asked her to do two things; one was to contact the company that made the repair and provide the code quote in writing and the other was to read the home inspection contract that her husband signed along with the section of the National Association of Home Inspectors Standards of Practice that highlights the fact that we don't provide code inspections, both of these documents are enclosed and highlighted for your review.I'm sorry that [redacted] had issues with an appliance that we inspected almost one and a half years ago but we simply cannot provide a multipurpose service and pay for issues that arise when we were not compensated for those to begin with[redacted] stated that she paid $to us for a home inspection which is not an accurate statementPart of that fee was the $for the termite inspection and $for the radon testThe home inspection portion of that fee was $312.00.I find it unfair that [redacted] would not spend the time to collect the stated code quote, read the contract that was signed before the home inspection report was released and read the home inspection report itself in its entirety to gain the full understanding of the limitation of the serviced we provided.Again we are sorry for any issue that [redacted] is having with her hot water heater but if I felt we were negligent with the service that we provided in the scope and limitation that we provide it, I would have resolved this issue with the first phone call
Respectfully
Bill S
President

Review: My husband and I hired A-Stat Inspection Services to inspect the home we purchased last year (2013). This past week, we discovered that our hot water heater was leaking and, when a certified plumber came out to fix the leak, were told that the hot water heater was not up to code. The plumber informed us that the hot water heater required an expansion tank and that the code that now required the expansion tank had changed 8 years ago. We paid over $600 to have the tank installed to bring the hot water heater up to code. After having the work completed, I called A-Stat Inspection Services to discuss the issue as the code violation was not brought to our attention during the home inspection. When I had not heard back from the message I left, I called a second time. I spoke to the inspector, Bill S[redacted], who immediately told me to read my paperwork and that the inspection only covered areas of "significant" monetary value. I questioned why a $600 repair was not considered "significant" when the items he did note in the inspection cost less than $200 to repair. Mr. S[redacted] rose his voice several times, informed me that he did have training to do his job although I had never suggested that he was not trained, and told me that I was being accusatory when I asked why the missing expansion tank was not indicated in the inspection report. Mr. S[redacted]'s "solution" to the issue was for me to obtain the code report from the plumber so he could see the code, but then informed me that he would not be doing anything with the code. When I asked what the point of obtaining the code was if he had no plans to do anything with it would be, he began shouting at me to the point where I needed to hang up on him. Mr. S[redacted] would not stand behind his work and, when questioned, was extremely rude and unprofessional. I would NEVER recommend him to anyone.Desired Settlement: Given that we paid $540 to A-Stat Inspection Services for a home inspection that resulted in an oversight costing over $600, we would like to be refunded at least half of what we paid for the inspection.

Business

Response:

September 18, 2014 Dear [redacted],This letter is in response to the customer complaint that was received about my company, A-SAT Inspection Services.As is part of running a home inspection business that provides a service that is difficult to manage at times, we receive customer complaints from home owners that experience defects with their homes/appliances that are prompted by contractors that state the deficiency should have been picked up by the home inspector at the time of the inspection. These individuals know nothing about the scope of the services we provide and the insurance we have to carry that outlines what we can and cannot comment on.[redacted] phoned our office with a complaint from a home inspection that was performed on April 17, 2013. Her concerns had to do with a plumber/HVAC contractor who stated that it was a current code requirement that a thermal expansion tank had to be installed on the hot water heater that is located in their home. When I informed [redacted] that there are limitations to the home inspection process and that we don’t perform code inspections her tone towards me became a degrading one and limited my ability to explain the situation further.I asked her to do two things; one was to contact the company that made the repair and provide the code quote in writing and the other was to read the home inspection contract that her husband signed along with the section of the National Association of Home Inspectors Standards of Practice that highlights the fact that we don't provide code inspections, both of these documents are enclosed and highlighted for your review.I’m sorry that [redacted] had issues with an appliance that we inspected almost one and a half years ago but we simply cannot provide a multipurpose service and pay for issues that arise when we were not compensated for those to begin with. [redacted] stated that she paid $540.00 to us for a home inspection which is not an accurate statement. Part of that fee was the $99 for the termite inspection and $129.00 for the radon test. The home inspection portion of that fee was $312.00.I find it unfair that [redacted] would not spend the time to collect the stated code quote, read the contract that was signed before the home inspection report was released and read the home inspection report itself in its entirety to gain the full understanding of the limitation of the serviced we provided.Again we are sorry for any issue that [redacted] is having with her hot water heater but if I felt we were negligent with the service that we provided in the scope and limitation that we provide it, I would have resolved this issue with the first phone call. Respectfully Bill SPresident