Originally Posted By: gromicko
This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
voted home inspector Jack Milne Jr, President of Tri-County Inspections of Yardley, Pennsylvania as 2004 WORST Inspector of the Year.
A 4 page article featuring Jack Milne's winning of the 2004 WORST Inspector of the Year Award will run on the front page of the next issue of Real Property Times which is sent to every REALTOR in Pennsylvania.
This award was based upon:
1. Information provided by the Better Business Bureau.
2. Jack Milne's setting up of a deceptive website designed to fool visitors into thinking it is a PA State site: PHIC.
3. Jack Milne's lying to a sitting Judge about proof of service.
4. Jack Milne's attempt to bilk new inspectors out of their money through a mentoring/indentured servitude scheme where inspectors had to pay him money.
5. Jack Milne's libelous publicizing of an Attorney General complaint that he himself filed.
6. Jack Milne's lies to legislators about the number of states NACHI has members in.
7. Jack Milne's providing false and/or misleading information to reporters.
8. Jack Milne's failing to handle numerous client complaints such as the one that follows:
Below please find an email sent to Jack Milne Jr (the president of TCI) about our situation back on August 2nd.
Attached you will find my documentation of events that occurred from the time we first encountered water in the garage (I have gone through the document and bolded the situations that involve the roof and inspection). Also attached is the original copy of the inspection report (I had to call them about this because they had indicated our address incorrect as well as "property disclosure statement: not received" when they did receive the statement). I must have the corrected one in my home email, I can get it to you along with the pictures and any other original signed documentation on Monday.
As for what we are looking for, well, the roof end up costing us just over $4800, and since we did not expect to incur that kind of cost after purchasing the house we had to take a loan out to cover that cost. Due to the headache, how the situation has been handled by TCI and the fact that I now have to pay interest on that loan, I would like to see the entire cost of the roof returned back to us. However, I would be grateful for at least $3500.
Please let me know what else I can do to assist.
Thanks,
Christy Damms
From: Christy Damms
Sent: Monday, August 02, 2004 9:45 AM
To: 'info@tcinspect.com'
Subject:
Hello,
Could you please assist me in determining liability and coverage for a home recently inspected by Tri-County Inspections?
We recently had Tri-County inspector Gregory Thomas come out and inspected a property we were to purchase (XXX XXXXXXXX, Lansdale, PA) . Greg did give us good information on several points with in the property however after we made settlement we found that we had a problem with water leaking into the garage (through 4 separate entry points in the roof). We also found that we get water in the basement on a regular basis, caused by water filling up in the window well and leaking in through the window.
Greg did come out on Tuesday July 27th to see the garage leaks (at that time we were not aware of the basement issue, Greg did not get to review that problem), he did determine that due to the color of the wood and staining that had occurred that this was an on going problem. Greg was able to help us temporarily plug one of the leaks however the other three leaks are still active. While the seller did not disclose this to us, I still would like to know Tri-County's liability in this matter.
I feel that if Greg was able to determine that this was an on going issue during his second inspection of the property that it probably should have been caught during the first inspection.
Please inform me of how Tri-County handles these situations and what steeps need to be followed in order to move forward with getting this taken care of.
Your response would be appreciated.
Thank you.
Christy Damms
I.T. Support
E-Mail uselessemail@verizon.net
a call from Linda, she would be available to stop by our house around 7:00 ? 7:30 on Thursday to discuss situation.
Thursday July 29th
12:15 PM ? discovered the entry point of the water in the basement. Water is not draining properly out of the basement window well in the unfinished portion of the basement (the window next to the deck). We had to use the wet vac several times to remove water from the well to avoid more flooding of the basement.
6:30 PM - Linda Dale came out to see the water damage and the leaks in the garage. She recommended writing a letter to the sellers to determine what they will cover due to the information not on the original sellers disclosure. We told her that we do have a roofing company scheduled to come out but we did not want to wait too long before telling the sellers, we wanted them to know right a way that we are having problems. She said she would comply and get the letter to the sellers.
Sunday August 1st
6:30 AM ? had to get up with a thunderstorm to pump water out of the window well to avoid flooding the basement.
4:30 PM ? Removed all stone from around window well, re-graded the earth around the window well, sloping the water toward the deck rather than toward the window. Laid down a water barrier in an effort to keep water out of the window well. Tests with the water have proven unsuccessful in our attempt to keep water out of the well however a good rain will be the true test.
Monday August 2nd
9:45 AM ? Sent email to Tri-County Inspectors requesting information on their liability in this situation since their inspector Greg Thomas had said that the leaks appeared to be an on going issue.
11:38 AM ? Sent Linda Dale a copy of the letter to forward on to the sellers stating misrepresentation of property. She will be sending it on to Diane (the sellers realtor).
Tuesday August 3rd
7:07 AM ? Received phone call from Jack Milne in regards to my email requesting information on Tri-County?s liability. He read over the inspection report and noted a few points made by Greg (seal vent caps as well as caulking around the flashing near the chimney). I agreed with the information that Jack was giving me however I informed him that all of those mentioned points are on the main house roof and our problem is in the garage. He read the portion of the garage that stated that stains in the attic of the garage were tested and found to be inactive. I informed him that the leaks were for sure active and becoming a problem. The report states that the weather on the day of the inspection was ?rainy? however it was actually light rain to a drizzle (evident because while at the house Greg said he had wanted to get on the roof before it really started raining, it never really rained more than a drizzle)). Jack said Tri-County has no liability due to the fact that they believe a through inspection was done and that the stains were not active at the time of inspection. He also mentioned that water leaks can not be predicted if they are not leaking at the time of inspection, I again asked about the staining of the wood. He continued to tell me about an addition on his house that he incurs water leakage above the header for the outside door only when the rain is hard and the wind is blowing a certain way. Unfortunately we have not been that lucky, our leaks leak each time we get a steady rain, weather there is wind or not.
12:33 PM ? Received an email from Linda stating that she had forwarded on my letter to the sellers realtor and included the sellers? realtor?s response to that letter.
I forwarded this information on to Aaron.
12:46 PM ? received email from Aaron sent to Linda and Diane in reference to us contacting a lawyer as well as official notice of a need for mediation or small claims court to resolve this issue.
1:10 PM ? Aaron called John Filice to inform him of the situation as well as set up an appointment to discuss our situation. We will be meeting with him on 8/6/04 at 6:00.
2:50 PM ? Left a message for Greg Thomas of Tri-County inspectors to inform him that I had heard from Jack earlier in the day and wanted to see if Greg would document in a written email to me the severity of the roof damage. Requested that in his own words, he send us an email outlining everything he had told us on his second visit to our house (on Tues 27th), old wood rot, leaks have been occurring for several months, etc.
5:45 PM ? Aaron received a call from Linda; she informed us that the sellers had responded in a letter and that it was on my email for our review in the morning. Aaron and Linda talked about our disappointment in that the sellers believe that there was never any water in the garage (as they had stated in the letter). Aaron requested that mediation proceedings be started as soon as possible, Linda should be sending or emailing the appropriate forms over to us today.
Wednesday August 4th
6:10 PM - John from Eiseman Brothers Roofing came out to view the damage and quote us an estimate on the cost of repair to the roof including the damaged wood. John said we should have the formal estimate with in 3 business days however based on what he saw and the amount of damaged wood visible he gave a preliminary estimate of $14,000 to $10,000, however he did say that it could be less once he works up the numbers. John was surprised that the inspector did not mention any of the obvious wood rot in the crawlspace above the garage, most of which was apparent to John with out even crawling into the crawlspace.
Thursday August 5th
12:50 PM ? Left a follow up voice mail for Greg Thomas, as I have not heard from him about getting his findings of the second visit to 205 Walden Lane in writing. Requested that he return my call to discuss my needs.
12:55 PM ? Left a follow up message for Linda Dale in regards to starting the mediation process and whom could I call or where do I start to get the paperwork. Knowing that Linda is going on vacation as of 8/7/04, I wanted to be sure to keep the ball rolling in her absents.
2:30 PM ? Received a message from Linda on my work phone outlining what was happening with the mediation proceedings. Per Linda, Lisa Frey from Bucks County Realtor Board of Directors has sent out an informational packet including all of the needed forms. This packed was put in the mail today and should be received no later than Monday. If I have any questions about the mediation while Linda is gone I could call Lisa at 215-956-9176.
7:30 PM ? Aaron received a call from Greg Thomas. He told Aaron the he would not provide us with written documentation on his second visit due to the mediation proceedings. The only way Tri-County would give their written opinion of the property will be through the request of our lawyer to their lawyer.
Friday August 6th
3:50 PM ? Noticed a message on my cell phone left by Linda (left on Thursday at 7:50 PM) regarding our mediation packet. A mediation packet was sent to her address in error rather than our address, she informed the committee to send a packet to our address then told me that we could stop by and pick up the packet from her mailbox on Thursday evening. Since we missed her call Thursday evening and she was on vacation on Friday we decided to wait for the second packet to be delivered to us.
Saturday August 7th
Received mediation packet in the mail. Decided to hold packet for our meeting with John Filice.
Received the proposal from Eiseman Brothers for the repair of the damaged wood and to replace the roof.
Monday August 9th
Second roofer scheduled to come out tonight for another estimate on damages and repair.
4:40 PM - Roofing company arrived and reviewed property. Informed us that some of the leaking in the garage was caused from ?bar jacks? used with scaffolding on the side of the house at one time, however the hole from securing these jacks were never filled in with caulk. He said this was obvious and should have been seen by the inspector. We should receive his estimate this week.
4:45 PM ? Left message for Doug Coleman?s lawyer, Laura. I gave her a little information about our situation and gave her our home number and my work number.
Tuesday August 10th
AM Aaron received a message from John Filice?s office saying that they needed to cancel our meeting for tonight.
10:45 AM ? Received a call from the lawyer, Laura, referred to us by Doug Coleman. Gave her more information about our situation, she said she could meet with us from 11:30 to 12:00 on Friday August 13th. She informed me that the office charges different amounts but the hourly charge would be $165.00 and that would require a $2500 retainer for services. Aaron and I will meet her at her office in Hatboro on Friday.
Friday August 13th
11:30 AM ? Aaron and I met with Laura, after reading our inspection contract she mentioned that we can not get more than $750 (two times the amount paid for the inspection, at $375). She recommended that we write a letter to Tri-County informing them that we need their insurance information so we can put them on notice of a claim that we intend on putting through. She said at least that action can be canceled once started, unlike a law suite, where once started we would have to complete the suit and incur the costs involved. She also mentioned that to successfully recoup money from the seller we would have to have proof that the sellers knew about the leak and deliberately did not put it on the disclosure. Laura did recommend that have a structural engineer (one licensed and noted by the state as a structural engineer, if they had litigation and court experience it would be beneficial). If the structural engineer can determine that the leek has been present for quite some time we might have a course of action.
Congratulations Jack! 
--
Nick Gromicko
Founder
dues=79cents/day.
I much prefer email to private messages.
