On September 6, 2016, I closed escrow on my very first home, a duplex in Los Angeles. During escrow and on August 2, 2016, Bret Peifer from Detailed Property Inspections was sent out to conduct the initial property inspection to list items for seller repairs.
The water heaters for both units of the property were said to have been in operating condition with the rear water heater registering higher water heat than that of the unit in the front.
Escrow closed on a Tuesday (day after Labor Day) and the gas service for the property was restarted on Wednesday thereby requiring that the pilots for both water heaters be re-ignited. When the gas company's technician came out to re-light the water heaters, he noticed that the glass vapor cover of the rear unit's water heater was broken and had long since been compromised.
My realtor reported this oversight to DPI along with another issue (the fact that Bret had also not noted permanent plastic caps covering the laundry drainage systems) and their end analysis of this situation was that the water heaters were operating when initially inspected.
I then contacted the home warranty company to report a water heater claim. They sent out a plumber and I was charged $65 for my claim to be denied as a pre-existing condition and to be informed that the rear water heater should NEVER have passed the initial inspection. Not only was the water heater out of warranty because of the broken glass cover, it was not earthquake-secured properly and was also missing a Smitty pan.
In addition to being bounced around from the DPI to the warranty company, I now have to incur the cost of replacing and installing a new water heater by October 1st to accommodate new tenants. I purchased the property without any appliances, how hard was it for DPI to do a 'detailed' inspection (as their company name implies) of the water heaters? $417.00 down the poorly inspected drain!!
When my realtor was finally able to track the owner (Mike) down, he became indignant and made us out to be scamming consumers, trying to get a free water heater out of the deal. No Mike, we just want you to honor your work and display a decent work ethic!
I have worked in the real estate industry over the past 11 years and while I have forged several strong relationships with other inspection companies, Detail Property Inspection Inc. came very highly recommended to me by my realtor team, and so I elected to go with this company for this inspection. Henceforth, this will not be the case. Consumers, BEWARE. Realtors, PLEASE THINK TWICE. read more