BPG Home Inspection admit their 90 Day Guarantee to be meaningless

The Following is an actual conversation between a client of "Buyers Protection Group" and a representative of the company wherein the client had unexpected expenses shortly after the inspection and BPG refused to cover the issue and utilizes the minimum standards (in this case from ASHI)

Complaint Type: Guarantee/Warranty Issues
Status: Answered

05/27/2020
Mold was discovered in the garage during the inspection. The mold is caused by a water leak. Cause of the mold should have been reported to buyer. Bought this house a few months ago. We discovered a leak In the between the old foundation of the house and newer garage. This was overlooked during inspection. There is rotten wood in plain sight. The water is coming through the rotten wood. The inspection mentions some mold in the garage but nothing about what is causing it. I believe that this company should be responsible for the repair. I trusted them to find problems with the house and they missed this problem even when evidence for for this type of problem is mentioned in the inspection report. They even have a guarantee but it doesn't cover this situation.

Desired Outcome
I believe they should be liable for the repairs. There service is to inspect homes for problems and they missed this one. Nothing was blocking the leak. It was easy to see and they missed it.
Buyer's Protection Group Response

05/27/2020
We are certainly sorry to hear of this customer's concerns. As they indicate, we did perform a home inspection for them back on February 7th. In that report, the home inspector identified that, "there was possible mold growth throughout back garage ceiling drywall. Recommend a mold professional evaluate, test and mitigate if needed." On May 26th (3 1/2 months later) the clients have reported that they now have water pooling on the floor of their garage and that they believe it is coming from the gap between the old foundation and the new foundation. We replied to the buyers later that day to explain to them that under the standards of practice of the American Society of Home Inspectors that a home inspector does not determine the causes of conditions and deficiencies. It remains the clients responsibility to have investigated the mold in the ceiling and for the mold professional to have determined the scope of the needed work. That said, this appears to be two entirely different issues as there was no water pooling in the garage 3 1/2 months ago. If the client believes this is an ongoing problem that caused the mold in the ceiling then they need to review the seller's disclosure to determine how frequently this happened. If this is a new issue then they need to contact their homeowners insurance regarding the water penetrating into their home. In either case, no part of this matter has anything to do with a home inspection from 3 1/2 months ago. We are certainly sorry to hear of any homeowner who has experienced an unexpected cost, but the home inspection is not an insurance policy or a warranty of future conditions.
Customer Response

05/27/2020
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) They clearly don't want to take any responsibility. What is the guarantee for if you don't stand by your work. Am I supposed to think that 3 and half months is a long time. I'm a senior citizen. This was an obvious problem and nothing was said to me. I was trusting you to find problems so I could make a smart decision. The suggestion from the inspector was to have the mold cleaned and painted. That was done. Now I have to pay thousands of dollars to fix a problem that I was never told about. This inspector did more harm then good and that's not acceptable. This is not a quality service.
Buyer's Protection Group Response

05/28/2020
Again, we hate to hear of any client with unexpected costs, but it is not for a home inspector to act as an insurance policy against future conditions. This is not a question of responsibility but it is a question of national standards of practice. The homeowner's allegation that "this was an obvious problem" is wrong as there was no water pooling in the garage on the day of our inspection or presumably until the time their complaint was filed this week. A home inspector cannot predict future conditions and cannot determine the causes of conditions that they find at the inspection. The homeowner is welcome to contact the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) and register their complaint regarding the limitations of the scope of a home inspection and their opinion regarding what they think the scope should be in the future. Since there continues to be no evidence that BPG failed in any way to meet the standards of practice as outlined in the signed inspection agreement there continues to be no opportunity for BPG to participate in any of the customers current repair costs.
Customer Response

05/28/2020
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) Again they don't want to take responsibility for overlooking the problem. They had evidence of a problem that is mentioned in the inspection report. When I followed up with the inspector he said that the mold needed to be cleaned and painted. He never mentioned anything further. It was not leaking at the time of inspection but we have lots of evidence that it was leaking. All of this evidence was overlooked. I've had several contractors out to the house that all say this was a pre-existing problem. Your company doesn't even want to investigate. Just automatic dismissals. I believe that you should be responsible for the repairs. A very least you could give me my money for the inspection that misled me into thinking that everything was ok.
Buyer's Protection Group Response

05/29/2020
We are going to have to agree to disagree with this client. Our position remains that: 1) Home inspections are reports on visible conditions at the time of the inspection 2) Client has confirmed there was no water leaking in the garage at the inspection and the inspector identified the mold-like substances on the ceiling three months ago. 3) National inspection standards exclude tracing a deficiency to the source. The homeowner needs to review the actions taken to address this key finding prior to closing and they need to review the seller's disclosure to determine what was known about leaks in this area.

Citation (May not be forever available):

https://www.bbb.org/us/ga/alpharetta/profile/home-inspection/buyers-protection-group-0443-3000559/complaints

Thankfully we offer the RWS warranties that actually cover issues instead of looking for an excuse not to cover them.

https://vhillc.com/warranties/