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My open letter to the CEO.

How long are you going to ignore this? I sent you a certified letter, which has gone ignored. My family can't afford to lose $8000 due to your inspectors negligence and breach of contract. Admit you guys screwed up! This situation has caused my family stress in numerous ones, one of them FINANCIAL!!!

You issued the termite certificate so we could close on our house. Do you think the bank would have let us close on the house if they knew the house had a termite infestation? We surely wouldn't have purchased the house!

Own up to your mistake and fix the situation if you really care about your customers!!!

My letter to you is below in case you lost it!!

Below is my letter to you, in case you lost the certified letter!

October 7th, 2013

Dan Steward (CEO)

Pillar To Post Inc.

14502 North Dale Mabry Hwy, Suite 200

Tampa, FL 33618

Dear Mr Steward,

I am writing to you directly since I have been effectively ignored by one of your franchisee inspectors,

namely Brian Finn of Morris Plains NJ. As Iโ€™m sure that you are a busy man, let me explain my recent

interaction with your inspector in New Jersey. I have attached some important information:

โ€ข On the recommendation of my realtor, I contracted with Mr. Brian Finn of โ€œPillar to Post

Inspectionsโ€ just prior to purchasing my home in NJ. Iโ€™ve attached the first few pages of his detailed report. While in retrospect this may sound somewhat naรฏve, I trusted that a trained professional operating under the auspices of Pillar to Post would provide me with adequate protection for this

very significant house purchase. Even though the report clearly states that the inspector is performing a โ€œvisual inspectionโ€ of the premises, I assumed that Mr. Finn would be โ€œrigorously

trainedโ€ and โ€œrequired to continually upgrade his or her skills to keep current with new technologies and professional servicesโ€ and finally โ€œmust carry Errors and Omissions insurance, which protects referring agents from liabilityโ€. Iโ€™m sure that you recognize those quotes from your website.

โ€ข In addition to submitting a detailed inspection report, Mr. Finn of Pillar to Post specifically signed a document titled โ€œWood Destroying Insect Inspection Reportโ€ wherein he confirmed that โ€œNo visible evidence of wood destroying insects was observedโ€. Obviously, this particular report was critical before I agreed to purchase my new home.

โ€ข Unfortunately, a few months later, I discovered termites swarming inside my house. When I immediately contacted Mr. Finn, his response was to quickly point out that โ€œas you recall, the

inspection is VISUAL inspectionโ€ โ€“ the capital letters were his emphasis. After receiving his inadequate response, I obtained four separate termite inspections. All four professional inspectors

showed me the โ€œvisible shelter tubes on the rear wall behind the furnace at sheetrock seamโ€- a quote from one of their reports. They also showed me the mud tunnels which were in the right

corner of that same wall along the sheet rock seem going up the wall. Neither of these tunnels were obstructed by any objects. All you had to do was look. Apparently, Mr. Finn has confused the

meaning of the word โ€œvisibleโ€ with the phrase โ€œobvious to the untrained eyeโ€. If you need it, I do have pictures of the mud trail between the sheetrock and the concrete wall.

โ€ข At that point, I contracted to exterminate the termites and repair the collateral damage. Subsequently, I summarized my damages in a letter to Mr. Finn (copy attached) and received

another inadequate response (copy attached). Apparently, Mr. Finn has decided that the use of the word โ€œvisualโ€ somehow exonerates him from any responsibility for missing the termite mud tunnels that were described as โ€œobviousโ€ by two other trained professionals.

โ€ข Also, I have discussed this with my attorney. He also contacted Mr. Finn and after making it very clear we will take this matter to court, he finally decided to respond to his letter. Unfortunately,

offering our inspection fee back is not a resolution to this issue. It doesnโ€™t comes close to covering the financial stress/expenses we have endured because of Mr. Finns negligence.

Since I am not a litigious person, I decided to first inform you of this series of events before having my lawyer pursue this further. While Iโ€™m sure Mr Finn was well intentioned to perform a very professional inspection of my property, he just messed up and missed seeing the termite mud tunnels. In my view,

this is exactly why inspectors usually carry insurance against such mistakes. However, Mr Finn has apparently decided to hide behind the word visual and thereby take a path which could damage the good name of โ€œPillar to Postโ€. He also claims his insurance denied his claim. I find this hard to believe as they never spoke with me, nor visited my home to find out the facts behind the claim. I am reaching out to you Mr. Steward and asking for your help prior to getting involved in expensive

litigation.

Please respond as soon as possible.

Sincerely yours,

RB

cc: Brian Finn

Monetary Loss: $8000.

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Guest

They like to hide behind that VISUAL word

Had the same thing happen to me

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-926401

sorry to hear that. yes, they sure do..

I still haven't gotten this resolved. If I only had money for a lawyer. Everyone wants to charge 8k.

If I had 8k for a lawyer, I wouldn't be stressed out about being screwed over. I would surely be pissed, but it's a tad different, when your credit card is maxed out because of someone else's mistake.

Guest

Get three quotes on the cost to fix the problem then contact his insurance company. You might want to contact yours as well as they may have good advise for you.

Failing that file a statement of claim against the company. You may also be protected by the original owners insuranse. Your insurance should be able to advise you.

I'm sure you have lots of recourse I'm just not sure of your state laws. The only time you would have a problem is if the responsible person is broke.

Jack Goebel

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