Complaint Review: Pillar to Post - Ken Young & Nick Young & Aaron Tarry

Preface: I am posting this for my mother, who is not completely computer saavy. She purchased this home, and had Pillar to Post inspect it. The property she purchased has an attached, and detached garage. The attached garage is in good condition. This report is about the detached garage and how Pillar to Post missed damage and previous (incorrect) repairs to the roof. For the sake of the story, please understand we only have Saturdays off work to do repairs

  The Story (as written by her):   Before purchasing the property, my finance guy recommended that I get a private home inspection done and recommended:   Pillar To Post (((REDACTED)))  Portage, Indiana (((REDACTED)))   I called and spoke to Ken Young in detail about the property, what needed to be inspected and asked which inspection package would cover my needs. There were 3 options available, as shown on their website:   Plus Premium Prestige   https://pillartopost.com/pdf/2/HomeInspectionPackagesBrochure.pdf (See also attached picture in case link doesnt work in the future)  

  He recommended the Premium package for $455 or the Prestige package for $800. After going over both options, I conceded that since I don't have allergens or other chronic issues, and that the Prestige package was not necessary. I called Ken back and told him I wanted to go with the Premium inspection.   

 Premium Inspection Includes: Computerized Evaluzation (covering all major items inside and outside the home) Computerized Report (printed on site) Clear, concise Executive Summary and color photos Emergency shut off tags for water, gas, electrical systems and more Cost estimate guide for easy estimation of repairs and upgrades Seasonal Maintenance Checklist Home Filing System Pillar To Post Partner Coupons (valued at more than $1,000) Customer Satisfaction Commitment Infrared Scan to detect signs of moisture and electrical overheating Lifetime Maintenance and Advisory Service Appliance Recall Safety Check Rodent Inspection (where available) Enhanced Customer Satisfaction Commitment   I paid in advance, confirmed time and date of 8am - 12pm on June 8, 2018 to complete the inspection and was advised it would take about 4 hours.

As previously discussed this was to be a complete and thorough inspection.   Once Aaron Tarry completed the inspection, he came to my sons and went over every page of the report with me including pictures. This conversation took place in front of my sons girlfriend and my ex mother in law and he was good about answering all of our questions.

He went over a few minor things that needed to be repaired or replaced in the home but made no mention of any serious concerns. I contacted my finance guy to let him know that inspection was completed and he should receive an email from Pillar To Post including a copy of the inspection report. Since no serious concerns were found by Aaron we could proceed with the loan application.

  Skip forward 1 month later, 3 days after closing (Sunday, August 12th, 2018) we went to the home to do a walk through and noticed the detached garage roof was caving in. At this time the previous owner still had their boats, motorcycles etc in the garage for storage as we were giving them extra time to move their belongings as they asked. We had to tell the PO to remove the boats, and everything out of the garage immediately before anything happens. At this point, I am completely upset but figured we needed to do something to prevent the garage roof from caving in. (See attached picture of roof)

  After the PO removed their belongings (which took them a week), we went to get support beams to jack up the peak of the roof throughout the garage until we can figure out what to do. This was (Saturday, August 18th, 2018).   Still trying to figure out what to do to repair the roof, luckily the next weekend (Saturday, August 25th, 2018) we met a framing contractor at a local hardware store and offered to help us make sure the roof was at least secured properly and make repairs if we wanted.

We asked for his help, and we are noticing more and more...that this is not just the roof seriously caving in, and that several rafter ties have separated from the garage and have fallen off the top plate, and previous repair work was done to try and hide it. This all caused the side walls to shift outwards significantly (3-4").    After speaking with many people about this, and seeing how the roof was previously incorrectly repaired, and wasn't caught in the inspection report.... I contacted Ken at Pillar To Post the last week of August.

He first stated that inspecting the detached garage was not included. I kindly disagreed and told him it was inspected in the report Aaron provided me. (See attached picture, which shows them taking note of cracks in floor on detached garage. So they did inspect it.)   Even with a difference of opinion, they eventually wanted to see the damage. Ken called on September 3rd, 2018 and said he would call me in the morning and come meet me at the property at 10am.

He called at 9:45am, stated he had a quick stop to make which would take 5 minutes and he would see me in 15 minutes. I waited from 10am until 11am, called him to see where he was at but no answer. I left a voicemail stating how upset and disappointed I was that he was not respectful or professional enough to call me to let me know he was running late.

I waited for an hour in 98 degree heat, with no call no show!   I start to pull away, Ken pulls up and does not even apologize for not calling or showing up an hour late. I reopen the garage and he said he did talk to Aaron and he did include the garage inspection but there was so much garbage in there that he could not do a complete inspection. (So they lied about inspecting the garage, then confronted with proof in the book they inspected it...changed their story around. Then he lies and said there was garbage in the garage....)   I asked, "Why didnt he tell me that?" he replied, "I dont know."

I also told him that the garage was not full of garbage, the previous owner had boats, motorcycles, etc, so it was not garbage.   He replied, "whatever, I was told it was full of garbage."   He then stated it was not like that during the inspection, it must have happened afterwards. I became even more upset and ask, "Are you serious right now? Look at the damage that is still here and we have already began the repairs." He then started to criticize the work we had already done, stating we are doing it wrong.

He the stated that everyone's roof has dips in it, its normal. (look at the dip in the picture below, does that seem normal to you?)   I explained once again, it was not just a dip, it was caving in. He then asked me if I knew it was caving in, then why was I interested in buying the home? Upset at this point, I told him I hired them to do the complete inspection because they are supposed to be qualified and came highly recommended. I am not an inspector and he should be more concerned as to why/how it was overlooked.

He just kept stating it wasn't like that when we were here. I stated, it would not cave in in 2 months from June to August. You could see that previous repair work was done to the roof, and it was not recent, even if the roof wasn't saged, why were the poor repairs to the spine of the roof not noted in the report. Wonder why?   I asked how he was going to rectify the problem and he stated he could tell me an easy way to fix it because we are doing it all wrong but what else do I want?

I stated that they could help by completing the repair. He stated that they "DO NOT GUARANTEE THEIR INSPECTIONS!"   I asked him, "Then what is the point of paying your company to come out to inspect the property for?" he stated that they look for important things like electrical, gas, water... I asked if he felt the garage roof caving was important? He said, "Not really!"   I had enough! I asked him again how he planned to help resolve this? He said he could offer to tell me how to fix it.

I told him I felt he should pay to finish the repair or at the very least, refund my $455 (which I felt was extremely reasonable considering in materials alone so far we are near or above $1,000 already). 2x6x28' rafter ties, delivered, 4x4 posts and floor jacks, hardware, labor, etc.   He stated that was not going to happen and that he already told me their inspections are not guaranteed! He stated that I should sue the previous owner and I stated that if they would have completed the inspection properly like I paid them to do, it would have had to been repaired before closing on the house so it is the fault of Pillar To Post, not the previous owner.  

He said, his guy told him, it was not like that when they were there in June and I told him that he has disrespected me enough and I will no longer let him insult my intelligence and to please leave my property. He said he wants to help me but not willing to return any money or complete the repair, I said that is not helping so I will contact my attorney and to please leave the property. He said, your choice and left. 

    To the reader: As of now, we are unsure if the head company (corporate) is truthworthy. We are reasonable people, and would hate to blame an entire corporation for the actions of a few. However, the people who work for this portage branch (or own it) seem to try and be nice on the phone and in person, but in the end we feel they failed to properly do their job, and are failing to take any responsibility for it.

That is the reason this is up here. If you feel differently about the story, take what you want from this experience. There are 2 sides to every story, but in reality we are now stuck working on our limited days off, and spending alot of $$ fixing a problem that should've been noted in the inspection report.   My questions: 1) If they didn't catch previous and poor repairs to the peak of the roof, what good is an inspection? 2) Why lie about inspecting the garage in the first place? 3) Why show up to the property just to insult the work being done, offering no real solutions?