Earlier this year I did an inspection on a home in Marietta that was 24 years old. In my report and on site I told the client, that one of the two A/C units was original and at end of life at 24 years old. As I finished up the inspection and was ready to leave the Agent and clients needed to stay longer and finish paper work. No problem I handed the key and lock box over to the agent.
About 3 weeks later I got a call from the agent telling me things had gone bad with the closing, of course I asked what? She said that one of the A/C compressors had frozen up and failed. She then stated that I was being blamed for the failure as I must have left the A/C on and the unit had frozen up according to the HVAC person. I was pretty sure I had turned it off as I always do. I reminded her that she and the clients were left in the home when I left. She said that no one touched it so it was me.
She stated the seller was not going to fix it and neither was the buyer and I should call my insurance company to settle the $3,200.00 dollars it would cost. After a moment of collecting my thoughts I asked her had she call the 800 number on the 90 day warranty I had placed on the home, she asked what number.
Long story short, the warranty company replaced the unit with no questions, no one was required to pay any out of pocket expenses and the house closed on time. There are many programs that allow inspectors this opportunity to back your inspection. I recommend that you consider doing it. My deductible is 2,500 for my E&O; I don't make that call unless we are talking really big bucks. It does not cost me anything but 5 extra minutes of paper work per inspection.
Don't be left standing when the music stops, in this world, everyone else will have a chair but the inspector.
Richard Sims
Great City Inspections Inc.
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