Defective chimney

This exterior chimney was missing the exterior chimney cap and I usually do find some rust and water staining as a result but never expected to see this type of damage. The flue pipe between the boiler and the chimney was actually separated due to corrosion. This home had an oil fired boiler that was last serviced/cleaned in February of 2011; I wonder what the service guy saw 18 months ago…is it really possible for this amount of additional damage to occur since then or were the signs of corrosion ignored? Boiler was located in a small utility room and was out of direct sight of daily activity.

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The connection to the chimney, hard to think it went from servicable to that in 18 months but not impossible.

As far as in the chimney, no boiler or HVAC tech even looks in there, around here, thats a separate service and license too.

They do here as part of the service they must make sure the flue to the chimney is cleaned and acceptable for proper removal of exhaust fumes. They will not be concerned about above the point of attic space. I think that it should be the responsibility of the service contractor to make sure exhaust is going outside the home by a visual.
We go by the B139 Fuel Oil Code.