The Virtus Group

April 29, *** ***:This letter is in response to the complaint dated April 18, received at our office via email on April 23, The complaint was filed by *** *** for two (2) inspections our company performed at the property located at ** *** *** in
***, PA ***This response is intended to provide additional information pertinent to your inquiryIt is our goal to resolve the matter in a reasonable manner and to provide clarifications to any potential misconceptions perceived by the customerHopefully, with this information, the customer gains a better understanding of background and realizes that our company performed all services as requested and in a professional manner.Our office was contacted on or about March 6, by the assistant for *** ***, a real estate agent with *** *** in *** ***, PA to perform a foundation inspection at ** *** *** in ***, PA ***We were asked to perform an inspection on a manufactured home (mobile home) to determine if the home was properly tied downAs with all inquiries, we explained that we can perform the inspection; however, the inspection would not be performed by a Professional Engineer (PE)We asked the assistant to confirm whether a PE is needed or notThe assistant or the agent called our office back and said that a PE was not neededSo we performed the inspection.The initial inspection on March 10, by *** ***, an accredited home inspector, and issued our report on March 11, The fee for our inspection was $and paid by the clientThe report provided a list of deficiencies that needed corrected so that the home would be properly anchoredRepairs were made and we were contacted on or about March 26, from the assistant or agent to perform a re-inspection of the repairs made at the propertyWe performed a re-inspection on April 1, and issued our report on April 3, stating that the corrections made were adequateThe fee for the re-inspection was $and paid by the clientOn or about April 4, 2004, the lender emailed us requesting a PE sign offWe explained to him that we were not told that the inspection required a PE and that they would need to have a PE review our report and sign off (see attached emails)The agent or lender then retained a PE to review our report and sign off on itFrom what I understand, the PE who signed off on our report told the agent that our report was one of the best reports he has seen.***’s assertion in his complaint that “The Virtus Group knew an engineer was needed to perform this inspection, and still sent somebody who was not an engineer and charged us $for the work that they should not have performed.” is not accurateUnfortunately, we were never told what type of loan *** was applying for and the agent must not have been aware that the lender required PE signoff until our report was submitted to the lenderIf we were told upfront that a PE was needed, we would not have performed the inspection.We are very consistent with explaining this to our customers and our inspection reports (see attached) state clearly that the inspections were not performed by a PE and should not be construed as suchWe rely on the information provided by the customers and their real estate agentsIn this particular case, it seems that the customer and their agent were not fully aware that type of loan they were applying for required that the inspection be signed off by a PE until the report was submitted to the lender.We always want our customers to be satisfied with our workHowever, we realize that it is nearly impossible to achieve that goal 100% of the timeAlthough we rarely receive customer complaints, we always assume responsibility if any of our staff did not perform satisfactorilyHowever, we cannot take responsibility for the actions or lack of actions taken by our customers, their real estate agents or assistants, or other parties involved in these types of transactionsIn this case, it appears that there was some type of miscommunication between the lender, the agent, and the customer which caused the customer, ***, to think that we knew that a PE was needed and simply disregarded that requirementThat is simply not the case.Enclosed is supporting documentation for the inspections performedWe hope this information will help the customer better understand the background to this matter and realize that our company provided the requested services professionally and in good faith.We are very willing to discuss this matter in more detail with you or ***If you would like to discuss the matter or need additional information, please contact me directly at ###-###-####.Sincerely,The Virtus Group

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Revdex.com:
Prior to the Revdex.com's notice to me containing the business's response, I spoke with the owner who I found very professional and helpful. The fact that the business is a member of the Revdex.com and addressed my concerns over the telephone prior to their response to my complaint, I would use them again with future real estate purchases as well as recommend them. I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Regards,
*** ***

The complaint will be resolved with the receipt of a check in the amount of $from the business cited.Thank you,*** *** ***[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Regards,
*** ***

Ms***:
Ms*** called our office on July 13, with questions regarding the inspectionUnfortunately, I was on vacation that week and could not respondUpon receiving your correspondence on July 17, 2015, I contact Ms*** last week to explain the situationWhen the outside
temperatures are cold as it was on March 3, when our inspection performed the inspection, we could not operate the air condition system since damage to the system can occurI explained to Ms*** that we clearly state that in our contract that is signed prior to performing the inspection (see attached, Section C.)We also noted in the air-conditioning section of the inspection report (see attached) that "further evaluation is required"Ms*** seemed to understand this when I explained it to her last weekIt is unfortunate that the air conditioning system does not work properly; however, we could not operate the system at the time of the inspection due to the temperatures in the 30s and 40sPlease let us know if you need any additional informationWe appreciate the opportunity to submit our response
*** ***, Manager

Review: The house that my wife and I are buying needed a Foundation Inspection performed by an Engineer for the type of loan we were using. Our real estate agent contacted the Virtus Group because she had used them in the past for similar inspections. The inspector came to the house on 3/10/2014, told us what we needed to fix and charged us $150. We fixed what was asked and we were informed he would need to come back out and make sure it was done properly. He came back out on 4/01/2014 and charged us another $150. On the day of closing on our new home 4/04/2014, we find out the man who performed our inspections was not an engineer and that the Virtus group did not even have an engineer on staff. Our inspection was not inline with the requirements of our loan company and we had to scramble to find a real engineer to sign off on our work so we could complete our HUD sheet. The Virtus Group knew an engineer was needed to perform this inspection, and still sent somebody who was not an engineer and charged us $300 for work that they should not have even performed.Desired Settlement: I believe that Virtus group acted in bad faith and performed work without the proper staff in their company. I feel they have the obligation to own up to their mistake and refund us our money because they knowingly performed an inspection without an engineer, even though this inspection required one.

Business

Response:

April 29, 2014[redacted]:This letter is in response to the complaint dated April 18, 2014 received at our office via email on April 23, 2014. The complaint was filed by [redacted] for two (2) inspections our company performed at the property located at [redacted] in [redacted], PA [redacted]. This response is intended to provide additional information pertinent to your inquiry. It is our goal to resolve the matter in a reasonable manner and to provide clarifications to any potential misconceptions perceived by the customer. Hopefully, with this information, the customer gains a better understanding of background and realizes that our company performed all services as requested and in a professional manner.Our office was contacted on or about March 6, 2014 by the assistant for [redacted], a real estate agent with [redacted] in [redacted], PA to perform a foundation inspection at [redacted] in [redacted], PA [redacted]. We were asked to perform an inspection on a manufactured home (mobile home) to determine if the home was properly tied down. As with all inquiries, we explained that we can perform the inspection; however, the inspection would not be performed by a Professional Engineer (PE). We asked the assistant to confirm whether a PE is needed or not. The assistant or the agent called our office back and said that a PE was not needed. So we performed the inspection.The initial inspection on March 10, 2014 by [redacted], an accredited home inspector, and issued our report on March 11, 2014. The fee for our inspection was $150 and paid by the client. The report provided a list of deficiencies that needed corrected so that the home would be properly anchored. Repairs were made and we were contacted on or about March 26, 2014 from the assistant or agent to perform a re-inspection of the repairs made at the property. We performed a re-inspection on April 1, 2014 and issued our report on April 3, 2014 stating that the corrections made were adequate. The fee for the re-inspection was $150 and paid by the client. On or about April 4, 2004, the lender emailed us requesting a PE sign off. We explained to him that we were not told that the inspection required a PE and that they would need to have a PE review our report and sign off (see attached emails). The agent or lender then retained a PE to review our report and sign off on it. From what I understand, the PE who signed off on our report told the agent that our report was one of the best reports he has seen.**. [redacted]’s assertion in his complaint that “The Virtus Group knew an engineer was needed to perform this inspection, and still sent somebody who was not an engineer and charged us $300 for the work that they should not have performed.” is not accurate. Unfortunately, we were never told what type of loan **. [redacted] was applying for and the agent must not have been aware that the lender required PE signoff until our report was submitted to the lender. If we were told upfront that a PE was needed, we would not have performed the inspection.We are very consistent with explaining this to our customers and our inspection reports (see attached) state clearly that the inspections were not performed by a PE and should not be construed as such. We rely on the information provided by the customers and their real estate agents. In this particular case, it seems that the customer and their agent were not fully aware that type of loan they were applying for required that the inspection be signed off by a PE until the report was submitted to the lender.We always want our customers to be satisfied with our work. However, we realize that it is nearly impossible to achieve that goal 100% of the time. Although we rarely receive customer complaints, we always assume responsibility if any of our staff did not perform satisfactorily. However, we cannot take responsibility for the actions or lack of actions taken by our customers, their real estate agents or assistants, or other parties involved in these types of transactions. In this case, it appears that there was some type of miscommunication between the lender, the agent, and the customer which caused the customer, **. [redacted], to think that we knew that a PE was needed and simply disregarded that requirement. That is simply not the case.Enclosed is supporting documentation for the inspections performed. We hope this information will help the customer better understand the background to this matter and realize that our company provided the requested services professionally and in good faith.We are very willing to discuss this matter in more detail with you or **. [redacted]. If you would like to discuss the matter or need additional information, please contact me directly at ###-###-####.Sincerely,The Virtus Group