Top To Bottom Services

Review: I had Top to Bottom Services do an inspection on my new home where they did not find that my home had a water leak coming through the roof. There was even a stain on the drywall ceiling where the leak had run down the rafters and onto the wall. The company has a 90 day warranty which covers "leaks" if they are missed by the inspector. The inspector noted a broken shingle but did not note that there was a hole in my roof. They claimed that since they noted the broken shingle that this means the 90 day warranty is null. The broken shingle was not the issue, the hole in the roof was the issue which was causing water to leak into my house. The drywall had a stain and the inspector did not even note it even though it was directly below the hole in the roof.Desired Settlement: I would like Top to Bottom Services to stand by their warranty and pay for the repairs necessary to fix the water leak in my roof. Their warranty should cover this type of mistake as the inspector did not note that my roof was leaking. This could have been noted by the water stain on my drywall ceiling. The representative on the phone gave a terrible excuse to void the warranty, which was that the inspector noted a broken shingle. Although the inspector is not supposed to get on the roof to inspect further he could have noted the large water stain directly below the broken shingle in my spare bedroom. The warranty covers Structural Coverage Summary: Poured Concrete & Block Wall Foundations. Floor joists, bottom & top

plates, and wall members. Roof leak repair (does not include replacement of bad shingles), load bearing

walls, attached garage doors. The repair is for a hole in the roof not a broken shingle. The roof is not in good working order and should be covered

Business

Response:

From: Matthew K[redacted]<[redacted]@ttbservices.com>Date: Wed, Dec 3, 2014 at 3:52 PMSubject: RE: [redacted] Complaint ([redacted])To: [redacted] <[redacted]@myRevdex.com.org>Hello [redacted]. Here is our response to the client’s accusation of improper inspection and failure to respond to his concern. Thank you for your time and effort in this matter.Regards,Matthew K[redacted]Home Inspection ManagerTop To Bottom Services###-###-####www.ttbservices.com | Online Scheduling! | Real Estate Sign PlacementTop To Bottom Services has been performing professional home inspections in the MD, DC, and VA for over 15 years with a very high level of customer satisfaction. It is our policy to immediately respond to any customer questions regarding their home inspection reports, and we provide lifetime free phone consultation to our clients. We were therefore surprised and greatly disappointed to hear of our client’s dissatisfaction with the inspection process, as we have no record of contact in any form from this client with regard to any issue or dissatisfaction. Our Office Manager, Home Inspection Department Manager, Company President and the home inspector of record have not heard from or spoken with the client regarding this matter. Our policy is to schedule a free re-inspection as soon as possible to address any such concerns that arise. We would have been happy to extend this service to the client in this case had we been given the opportunity. As a free service to our clients, we contract with a completely independent company to provide a 90 day warrantee for major home systems along with each home inspection. We have no influence over the warrantee company and do not benefit from a claim denial. The warrantee covers items not identified in the report as being defective or needing repair. At the end of the inspection report, a single page of details from the warrantee insurance provider was included. Under the heading “Coverage Terms,” the warrantee states thatThis contract only covers those items that were confirmed to be in good working order at time ofinspection and excludes all others, regardless of their condition at the time of inspection or if they were repaired.Pursuant to this issue, we contacted the warrantee company and learned that a claim was filed on 11/10/12 via email. We additionally learned that after independent review of the inspection report, the claim was denied due to the report containing several repair recommendations for the roof system that apparently have not been addressed. The warrantee company also has no record of phone contact with the client.The inspection was performed by a licensed home inspector who has 30 years of experience as a builder. In the body of the home inspection report the roof condition is noted as “in need of repair.” The home inspection report delivered to the client contains three separate comments regarding roof issues and recommends repair for each of them. Following are quotes from the report:The chimney flashing has exposed nails. Recommend sealing of the nail heads to prevent water intrusion.The roof material is a standard 3-tab asphalt shingle with a average life span of approximately 15-20 years, thus is near the end of its published life expectancy. There was one broken shingle on the left side of the home and two shingles had small holes in them (underline added). Recommend further evaluation and repair by a qualified person.The plumbing vent pipe flashing on the roof is old and brittle and has exposed nails. Recommend replacement by a qualified person.Regarding our client’s understandable distress over the roof leak, we would have been happy to explain to our client that freshly painted interior surfaces can mask previous signs of water entry, preventing us from observing or reporting on that evidence if the leak had occurred previously. In addition, three separate repair recommendations were made for the roof system. If these repairs had not been performed, the client thereby demonstrated a lack of concern for the water tightness of the roof system. Lastly, every roof we inspect will eventually develop a leak at some point in the future if not properly maintained and replaced in a timely fashion. Given that the inspector noted the roof was near the end of its expected life span and that existing problems with the roof and flashing required repair at the time of inspection, we believe a person who read the inspection report would anticipate that a roof leak could develop if the roof was not repaired. Given that the inspection was performed on September 3rd by a thorough, highly experienced inspector and the leak was reported in November, we believe that it is reasonable to consider the likelihood that either the homeowner had painted over the stain and neglected to inform the client, that the leak occurred subsequent to the inspection from the existing reported defects, or that the leak was a new problem that developed after the inspection. In all cases the leak could reasonably have been corrected/avoided if the recommended evaluation and repairs to the roof systems had been undertaken in a timely manner. We do not know if the client obtained financial consideration from the prior owners for repairs identified within the inspection report, nor what reported defects would have been included in that request.

Review: Home inspection on new property under contract was done by **. [redacted]. Cell phone contact number was provided to company in order that inspector could connect with purchaser, if necessary, prior to arrival at property. Home inspection was completed 5/13. Purchaser DID NOT AUTHORIZE COMPANY TO SELL PHONE NUMBER TO OTHER BUSINESSES. Purchaser was contacted on 7/19/13 by **. [redacted]. [redacted], (###-###-####) of [redacted] (home security systems) for solicitation purposes. Purchaser was told that her cell phone number was provided by Top To Bottom Services, LLC. Purchaser telephoned and emailed **. [redacted], of Top to Bottom Services, LLC, asking for clarification of his company's actions but purchaser has not received reply.Desired Settlement: Explanation my contact information was provided to another business for the purpose of solicitation without my permission. Possible compensation for aggravation and poor customer service since all fees were paid by check once inspection was completed.

Business

Response:

Hello,My name is [redacted] and I’m the owner of Top To Bottom Services, LLC and would like to respond to the aforementioned complaint. First and foremost I would like to recognize **. [redacted] and thank her for using our firm and apologize for any misunderstanding or discomfort she may have experienced. **. [redacted] makes the assertion that we sold her cellular telephone number to other businesses. This is not accurate. We have never “sold” any contact information. As a value added service to our customers we have solicited the services of a home security company to service our clients as the client deems necessary – in terms of security system(s). The state doesn’t require us to inspect or comment on low voltage systems such as home intercoms and security systems and we have found over the years that clients appreciated and requested quality referrals for these systems. We are not compensated for the client’s information and ONLY provide their contact information to the security firm. We took precautions with our service partner not to sell our clients information as well. The client is notified of this value added service through our service agreement titled: ‘Home Inspection Agreement’ The agreement is automatically sent to the client via email upon scheduling the appointment (email address on file has been purposely withheld from this email). The agreement reads, “Top To Bottom Services, LLC has affiliations with third-party service providers (“[redacted]”) in order to offer value-added services to our Clients. The company may also arrange for these [redacted]’s to send literature or make post-inspection contact with our clients”. In her statement she wrote she was contacted by one firm that acknowledged our service agreement with them to service our client (**. [redacted]). We regret **. [redacted] is upset and we have recognized her complaint and I will use it to teach our staff how to better communicate with future clients and inform them of the free services we provide to them. In these times of identity theft and an seemingly endless attack on our personal time I completely understand **. [redacted] position and sincerely apologize. Sincerely,[redacted]

D** D[redacted] did an impeccable job at our home inspection. If we could give him 10 stars we would. He was VERY detailed, explained everything in detail, and made us feel comfortable through every step of the process. I would definitely recommend D** to any of my friends, family members, or neighbors. We would like to thank J** W[redacted], our realtor, for giving such a great recommendation.