Joe, my friend, you can call me for just about anything, at anytime. You know this.
Back to Joe’s story, though…
Actually, I was getting ready to shoot a NACHI.TV segment, when Lisa asked me to field a call from an irate client of a NACHI inspector.
When I got on the phone, and was hit with a barrage of bitching, I realized who I was speaking with. It was actually the wife of a former client who fired me for complaining that he had cancelled the 3rd scheduled inspection in a row, with little notification.
Without getting into too much detail, this client was one of these people who are willing to sue their way to the top. Although the matter did not involve ADRS, I went through the process of explaining what I felt was needed to be proven to assign liability. Mind you, the liability I am speaking of was relatively minor in comparison to what she PERCEIVZED they were entitled to.
Glancing ( and I believe slightly grinning) from the desk across the aisle, was Mr. Ferry, who watched my fuse burning. The more I tried to reason with this lunatic, the madder she became. There comes a time in most adversarial conversations (this didnt START out as adversarial at all) where one party realizes that there is no winning the argument. That is when the decision needs to be quickly made as to end the conversation, or EXPLODE.
I chose to end the conversation. I was representing NACHI at that moment.
Joe and I had a nice chat immediately afterward. I offered to be his expert witness on this case, if he needed one, for FREE…
I was definitely no longer neutral at that point. These a-holes needed to be put down, and HARD. It was a prime example of what is wrong with our profession, in that we become convenient targets, and BUYER BEWARE no longer exists. This inspector was lucky to have Joe Ferry on his side.
Bizarre set of circumstances and a definite coincidence.
After hanging up, I thanked my lucky stars that this fool had fired me prior to ME being the inspector on the receiving end of this ridiculous lawsuit.
I suspect it mattered not who the inspector was in this case… a decision was made to sue no matter the report content or the outcome.
But, there is still hope. Sooner or later, what goes around comes around. His time will come.