Get a Load of This!

[DonTx]

Yesterday, Mark one of my inspectors, shows up at a Townhouse complex to do an inspection.

As he pulls up to the gate, he notices another inspector pulling in. He thinks that this inspector is probably going to another unit.

But no, he pulls up in front of the one Mark is suppose to be doing.

Mark calls the Buyer who is on his way. The Buyer knows nothing about another inspector.

The Buyer gets there and the other Inspector proceeds to tell him that he'll be doing the Inspection.

The Buyer then tells this Inspector that he never spoke with him before!

The other Inspector told the Buyer that he'd already called the Listing Agent and his Agent and had set the appointment up with them.

The Buyer said "I don't care, I hired VIP to do my inspection."

Apparently this set the other Inspector off and he told the Client that he was "Obligated" to have him do the inspection since he set it up with the Agents.

The Buyer said "Look, all I did was fill out a quote request on your website and you guys never called me back or responded. I hired VIP to do my inspection. I don't know you and I never spoke with you."

Mark said then the other Inspector got in the Buyers face and said "The least you should do is pay me $100 for my time to come out here" To which the Buyer responded "I've told you, I never spoke to you and certainly didn't schedule an inspection with you!"

At that point, Mark said the other Inspector jumped in his pickup and took off.

Mark said the other Inspector never spoke to him or even looked at him the entire time.

This is what we figured happened.

The Buyer sent in a quote request on the other Inspectors website. Now having the address and both Agents names and numbers, the Inspector called them and set up the appointments.

Marked called both Agents who said that, Yes, someone did call and try to move the inspection up to 10 a.m. (our inspection was scheduled for 3 p.m.) but that they thought it was us and that 10 would not work. I guess he figured that he would show up and wrestle the inspection away from us.

I encourage Mark to either have the Buyer file a complaint with TREC against this other inspector or do it his self.

By the way, this inspector has been in the business less than a year. What kind of marketing tactics are they teaching now!

[hausdok]

Hmmm,

Strictly speaking, he was trying to rustle your inspection. Aren't there laws against rustling in Texas that will earn him a Texas necktie?

OT - OF!!!

M.

[mgbinspect]

Hmmm... that's happened to me twice in my career, although the "other inspector" was one of my fellow ASHI members and I was so slammed that I quickly and happily yielded to him and enjoyed the time off.

Also, once I had a home buyer actually schedule two inspections. Again, it was one of my fellow ASHI brothers and we both inspected the house and came up with essentially the same stuff.

I couldn't imagine haggling over a "missed opportunity" fee. Ya gotta be pretty hungry to go there!

[Jim Katen]

I've posted this story before:

About two years ago, I pulled up to a house and saw, in my rear-view mirror, my oldest competitor and good buddy, Larry Hay pulling up behind me. Getting out of our cars, at precisely the same moment, we each said, "What the hell are YOU doing here?" Turns out that the buyer had scheduled me and the realtor had scheduled him for the same inspection at the same time. We talked about it and decided to do the inspection together.

I took the exterior, roof, electrical, HVAC and crawlspace. He did the interior, plumbing, attic and wrote the report. The realtor was *very* nervous. The buyer was thrilled and didn't mind paying a slightly inflated fee.

We had a ball and had time for lunch together afterward. It was fun to work with a partner. I'd do it again.

- Jim Katen, Oregon