Throwing out this concept for discussion

Nate, in response to your comment to me in the other thread, NO I do not believe this new pledge is directed at you specifically. It is simply a good marketing tool for professional home inspectors that believe in keeping their clients personal and private data and information sacred and not sell it to others for profit. Not only that but in my opinion it is a good moral choice not to sell off my clients private information.

What is interesting here is (for those that remember) is that Nick himself started all this line of keeping client information private a few months back when HON launched. :shock: Ponder that for awhile.:cool:

If one agree with this then cool, if not it is there choice the same as it is the clients choice not to use them in fear of their information possibly getting into the wrong hands.

Jim

I am far from a fool, and if you want to start name calling with me, that is a road not to travel. You don’t see me stooping to that low level with you, so keep it cool or Piss off.

You may be included as you sell products that fall into this realm, but the concept is much greater than just you, it is about the concept itself, not directed at any one person or company but to all those involved in buying or selling private/personal client data.

At least to me that is the essence.

Jim

When have Cam and Roy ever been right when it comes to anything Nathan?

They both remain on ignore.

When has Mike ever did anything about this subject but stir crap?
You always want to attack don’t you ?
It shows how small you really are.

As the public continues to be educated as to the fact that simply by scheduling an appointment with an inspector who is contracted with lead brokers, their personal information can become a commodity that is bought and sold by an indefinite number of unnamed entities, they will want to seek an inspector that is safe.

This designation provides assistance in that endeavor.

It is not hard to see why those who buy and sell private information about home buyers are threatened by this and take it “personal”.

Sprry nate I must disagree as I truly feel there are many others involved now as well as can and will be in the future. Data collecting is nothing new and selling data is the result. This Idea Joe has thrown out there is just 1 way for some of us to help stop or at least help to not promote the sale and distribution of our clients private data.

As far as Jim B goes, I don’t have negative things to say about him as I
hold him as a very smart, well spoken, highly respected member, inspector of this profession and on top of that a good friend. he has donme nothing wrong to anyone that i know of and is always willing to help anyone. what he does to you is only done to help the good of the profession. if he is ever wrong oh well so be it, thus far i have never seen him proven to be wrong.

[FONT=Verdana]anyway, with all my current new health issues and now getting my biz back on top of MY area, i don’t really have the time nor inclination to argue on the board. I believe in this new pledge and will do what I can to promote the Idea of NOT selling client private information to anyone.

Jim
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I think it is much more than a ‘marketing tool’… I believe there are many one-man shops who are perfectly content with their business and their life. For these people our business is more than just the way we earn our money, it’s an extension of our lives. It is the method we use to keep score with ourselves in a world driven mad over competition for money.

In my mind selling my clients personal information to a third-party is equivalent to posting it on the public side of this message board, once I’ve done it there is no getting it back. My business is my life and my life is my business, when I’m gone hopefully my better decisions will outweigh the mistakes I’ve made. From this perspective I see no upside to betraying that small voice inside which questions the integrity of selling my clients personal information to the highest bidder, and will never take part in any such bargain.

What are you talking about? Waqar’s thread from the private section of the forum?

This is really simple math. You stated this idea is based on all the “hoopla” and discussion about Nate’s services and inspectors using those services. Unless there is another vendor who deals in alarm leads who has been discussed ad nauseam in the last 10 months, you were referring to Nate.

So if you are starting a program where inspectors can pledge they have “honesty, integrity, respect”, and that program is in response to inspectors using Nate’s services, is it unethical, is it dishonest, does it lack integrity or respect of clients, for an inspector to provide Recallcheks using Nate’s services?

You wanted this public, lets hear a public yes or no. Man up and answer.

Sorry, coat this baby with all the sugar you want but your head is deeply planted in the sand if you truly believe this thread and this idea is not about Nate and the inspectors who use his services. Joe admitted in the OP this thread was about Nate and his services.

The problem is that in gunning for Nate, all the other NACHI members who are simply providing free recalls and getting permission from their clients to do it are targeted to.

I’ll even go a step further. You all are also targeting those people with recalled appliances, because if you succeed in stopping an inspector and his client from choosing to utilize a free and easy service, their recalls will potentially go undiscovered. That equals money out of pocket and, God forbid, injury for the client.

The phrase “selling client information” continues to come up. I can only assume then, that Jim B, Jim K, Joe B, Mike, Linas, Joe F and any others are perfectly okay with the Recallchek product since it does not include selling client information.

In my opinion, it is unethical, it is dishonest and it does lack integrity or respect of clients for any home inspector to enter into an agreement with a third party to sell (in exchange for any type of compensation) the personal information about his client - particularly when the contract and compensation is concealed from the client - and when the inspector includes in his inspection agreement certain language that will allow the telemarketers to whom he is selling the information to bypass any “no call” list that his client may have entered his name.

I think that home buyers should be made aware of this practice and should be able to identify home inspectors who have taken a pledge NOT to participate in such activities so as to protect their private information.

Inspectors are free to operate their businesses in the manner they choose and informed home buyers can select the home inspector that they feel is best for them.

So when an inspector uses Recallchek and gets their client’s willing and informed permission for one email offer, you are okay with it. Good.

Very good points and I agree with you completely on all points.

Jim

BTW, someone mentioned something about if you take away client info, you will dry up the source and the alarm sales calls will cease.

And then they woke up…

Since the sale of a house is public information which could be farmed and acted on by scammers and alarm salesmen throughout the US, an inspector getting permission from their client is a far more respectful way of alarm salesmen getting leads. Right James?

Hey James, do inspectors using Recallchek unethically sell their client’s private information to scammers and telemarketers?

To be clear, under the guise of “helping an inspector to grow his business”, alarm systems salesmen have involved themselves with the home inspection industry in such a way that home buyers who hire a home inspector in certain instances have, at the same time, opened their doors to every provider of home alarm systems and a variety of sales tactics — some legitimate, some not — to sell them a home alarm system.

Inspectors who enter into certain contracts with certain vendors for products and services that - on their surfaces - appear to be inspection related are required to add language to their inspection agreements that, when signing the inspection agreement to hire the inspector to inspect a home, home buyers are also waiving their rights of protection from any “no call list” they may have enrolled in to protect themselves from unwanted solicitations. Their home inspection agreements are also, under this language, blanket permission for their personal information to be provided to unnamed third parties of infinite number for unnamed purposes, indefinitely.

In exchange for this, home inspectors are being offered compensation in various forms. In all cases, inspectors are allowed to access products and services that appear to be inspection related at deep discounts in exchange for meeting or exceeding quotas for minimum numbers of clients and private data that the inspector provides to alarm systems lead brokers. In some cases, inspectors are paid cash kickbacks (referred to as “commissions”) when the home buyer purchases an alarm system from one of the providers.

Some vendors of various home inspection products and services are now linking together and linking themselves directly to alarm systems salesmen so that private information from participating inspectors can be immediately gleaned from home inspection reports, inspector scheduling systems and various other products and sold directly to alarm systems lead brokers.

Attorney generals offices and BBBs from around the country are being buried in complaints from home owners who are on “no call lists” but still being hounded by telemarketers from alarm systems sales companies and door-to-door salesmen using a variety of deceptive means to install these systems. When it becomes public knowledge that home inspectors are their main sources for contact information and for the means of providing the “no call list” override — the home inspection industry is destined to bear the same stigma and bad will being generated.

There is a need at the state level to require licensed home inspectors to be prohibited from providing private information about their clients to any third party for any type of compensation, directly or indirectly.

There should be no contract language in an inspection agreement that allows anyone outside of the real estate transaction to have access to any information that the inspector gathers in the course of serving his client.

There should be no contract language in an inspection agreement that allows any unnamed third party the ability to telemarket or otherwise solicit the home inspector’s client or that can be construed to override any “no call list” that the client has used to protect himself from solicitors.

Home inspectors should be prohibited from contracting with any company or vendor that purchases or otherwise uses or transfers his clients’ personal information to someone else for the purpose of selling home alarm systems.

This needs to be done immediately to protect the consumer as well as the home inspection industry.

In the interim, this idea of Joe’s will help home buyers be able to identify home inspectors who have taken a pledge not to contract with such entities and sell home buyer information. They, instead, will protect the privacy of home buyers who are seeking such assurances.

Yes James, you’ve posted that same diatribe several times, but do inspectors using Recallchek unethically sell their client’s private information to scammers and telemarketers?

So this would mean subcontracting services for your client would also be outlawed?

And you are okay with taking away a client’s right to choose to use their information to gain discounts or free services, at least through a home inspector.

Hey Cameron,
Did you take your IR education to a higher note or are you still stuck on this superfluous stuff?? I thought you weren’t wasting your time here???
What is more important to you??