Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/24/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I am reporting Above and Beyond Home Inspections (ABHI) for signature forgery, coercion, and harassment.
  
  On 4/10/24, Dutch Duchnowski of ABHI viewed the property at 221 Favorite Ct, West Columbia, SC, which I was buying from out of state. I terminated the Contract of Sale (COS) on this home after I drove around that day and found the surroundings rough and unnavigable.
  
  That same day, Dutch emailed me a link to purchase his inspection report for $319 and then be able to view and download it. Since I had terminated the COS and never signed an ABHI payment contract, I did not buy the inspection report and left the email and secured link unopened.
  
  On 4/22, I received two missed calls from Dutch, but no texts or voicemail. That night, my real estate agent emailed me that Dutch had called him demanding payment of $319. I was dismayed that Dutch was harassing my agent, who had never worked with or contacted ABHI before.
  
  On 4/23, I emailed Dutch that the COS on the property had been terminated and I was no longer buying his inspection report. I reminded him that I never signed an agreement to buy his report. He then claimed that I had in fact signed a contract, and attached the purported doc with forged, handwritten initials. He threatened to levy late payment fees and use the forged contract to sue me for refusing to buy his report.
  
  I replied that the initials were forged and inconsistent with my driver license, US passport, and SSN card signature. With all ABHI’s doc in electronic format, my signature could only have been authentic typed electronically with a timestamp and IP address. In the forged contract, the sections “Client’s Signature” and “Date” bear no timestamp or IP address.
  
  I feel harassed, intimidated and victimized by this business that resorts to criminal acts of forgery to extort money for a product I never bought or accessed. ABHI is intensely coercing me to buy the useless inspection report to avoid further aggressive and threatening communication.

  Business Response

  Date: 04/28/2024

  Above and Beyond Home Inspections appreciates the
  opportunity to respond to this complaint. It has become evident that a
  breakdown in communication with the client occurred. Home inspections are not “site
  visits” and the service this client requested through the Above and Beyond Home
  Inspections website was a home inspection with final report. Above and Beyond
  Home Inspections provided the service and when payment was due the client
  refused to pay, stating she was no longer going to purchase the inspected
  property. Home inspections are not contingent upon the sale of the property,
  rather a tool to guide a potential home buyer during the due diligence process.
  In many situations, the home inspection uncovers major defects in a property
  that deter a potential buyer from closing. If clients could back out of their
  obligations to pay for services provided by a home inspector the industry would
  cease to exist.
  In this case, Above and Beyond Home Inspections made
  multiple scheduling changes to accommodate this client and best serve her
  needs. The property was thoroughly inspected and a report generated pending
  payment. The client now believes that she is not bound to render payment for
  the services provided. Above and Beyond Home Inspections is appalled that this
  client is claiming that Above and Beyond Home Inspections forged her signature
  after her agent explained that he was in in fact the one who signed the
  contract. Above and Beyond Home Inspections will be updating its systems to try
  and prevent situations like this from reoccurring. In ten years of business, we
  have never experienced an agent signing a client’s contract or a client
  refusing to pay for services. We value the thousands of satisfied customers Above
  and Beyond Home Inspections has served over the years and will continue to
  provide services that go above and beyond our client’s expectations for years
  to come.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/29/2024

  I am rejecting this response because:

  Shortly after submitting this report to the Better Business
  Bureau, I did receive a copy of the aforementioned email from my real estate
  agent stating that he had mistakenly signed in the “Client’s Signature” field
  of the contract, being under the impression that it was only a limitation of
  liability statement for realtors to sign. However, as the attached screenshot
  demonstrates, the contract is made exclusively between Above & Beyond Home
  Inspections, LLC, and me, Katrina B*********, with no other parties authorized
  to sign on my behalf. Therefore both ABHI and I are in agreement that I did not
  sign the payment contract, whether personally or by proxy. However, I wish to note
  that it is deeply concerning that ABHI as a normal business practice would even
  send a signable copy of a payment contract to real estate agents, who have not
  and will never have anything to do with matters of purchasing inspection
  reports for their clients or themselves.
  
  The Federal Trade Commission Act states that business
  practices are “unfair where consumers are subject to undue influence or are
  coerced into purchasing unwanted products or services.” In light of this law
  and the fact that I never signed or agreed to the ABHI contract, it is not
  enforceable. I therefore reiterate that I need Above & Beyond Home
  Inspections to confirm that henceforth they will cease to bill me the $319 for
  the inspection report on 221 Favorite Ct, which I never agreed to purchase and was
  therefore never able to access or download. I would also need ABHI to confirm
  that they will cancel out my alleged balance to $0, and that they will no
  longer contact or harass me or my real estate agent in any way.
  
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  Katrina B*********

  Business Response

  Date: 05/03/2024

  Again, Above and Beyond Home Inspections is grateful for the
  opportunity to further explain this unfortunate situation. This is a clearcut
  case of an individual who is weaponizing the Better Business Bureau complaint
  system in an effort to not only avoid making payment for a service. As
  evidenced in the attached, his individual sought out Above and Beyond Home
  Inspections and engaged in placing an order for an inspection of a property. The
  individual contacted Above and Beyond Home Inspections to request special scheduling
  and ask for a discount. Above and Beyond Home Inspections graciously changed
  the schedule and applied an educator discount to the normal fee. This
  individual again contacted Above and Beyond Home Inspections to confirm the fee
  and that she and her agent were to receive the report. That same day, the
  individual then refused to pay.
  Above and Beyond Home Inspections is shocked that this
  individual’s agent would sign any document without reading it and cause such a
  significant problem for all parties. However, this individual is and always has
  been informed of her obligation to pay for the services rendered.
  Above and Beyond Home Inspections is actively researching
  new IT system updates to prevent this once in a decade event from occurring again.
  We value the thousands of satisfied customers Above and Beyond Home Inspections
  has served over the years and will continue to provide services that go above
  and beyond our client’s expectations for years to come.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 05/03/2024

  I am rejecting this response because:

  Above and Beyond Home Inspections’ narrative of my
  communication with the company prior to their 4/10/24 visit to the site is inaccurate
  and irrelevant to the issue at hand. The claim about having provided “special
  scheduling” is a lie; rather, as indicated in the text thread, I was directed to
  pick a later date in the online portal, which was not displaying the correct time
  slots available, and the office would correct the site visit to the 10th on the back end. Furthermore, my inquiry about an educator discount in no way,
  shape, or form implies that I agreed to pay ABHI merely for a site visit, as they
  are now arguing. As indicated in my first report to BBB, following the termination
  of the Contract of Sale on 221 Favorite Ct, neither I nor my real estate agent needed
  to purchase, access, and download the inspection report anymore, and so I opted
  not to purchase the report—regardless of whether it was being sold to me at a
  slight discount or not.
  
  It is evident that because both ABHI and I agree the
  signature on the contract is invalid, ABHI is now reframing and misrepresenting
  the $319 charge as a bill for a site visit rather than for its actual product, the
  inspection report. The fact remains that in the first place, I did not sign the
  contract, and therefore I cannot legally be held liable for whatever terms are
  contained therein. In the second place, I did not and will not purchase the
  inspection report and should not be coerced into purchasing said unwanted product.
  And lastly, ABHI’s attempts to extort money from me through threatening and harassing
  tactics are a violation of my rights as a consumer under the Federal Trade
  Commission Act. To reiterate the gist of my previous reply, FTCA was instituted
  by the government to protect consumers like me from being harassed, bullied,
  intimidated, gaslit, or otherwise coerced into purchasing unwanted products.
  
  ABHI’s admission that they made the private contract available
  to my agent is just as disturbing and indicative of dishonest business
  practices as the initial logical explanation that they had forged my signature.
  ABHI’s exaggerated response of shock that my agent would have mistakenly signed
  the contract, which should never have been sent to him in the first place, clearly
  illustrates their malicious ignorance. There is no legitimate reason for a home
  inspection company to make client contracts available to real estate agents,
  except in the shrewd and deliberate hope that any individual accessing the
  email link would unwittingly sign the document, and it could then be used to
  victimize clients into sending money for unwanted inspection reports.
  
  I would like to point out that ABHI’s practice is an
  aberration from industry standards, by which home inspectors across states only
  make contracts available to potential clients, and only charge for the end
  product—the inspection report—without adding or misrepresenting fees as
  standing for any site visits. In fact, as the attached screenshot demonstrates,
  the online portal that opens up from ABHI’s inspection report notification
  email link reads, “Before you can download your report you will need to provide
  payment.” ABHI’s very wording on their portal supports the fact that their fee
  is for the inspection report, which I have the right to purchase or not to
  purchase according to my needs. Insisting now on charging me $319 solely for a cursory,
  half-hour site visit is anomalous and unconscionable.
  
  As the watchdog of ethical business practices and
  marketplace trust, I exhort BBB to recognize the multilayered duplicity,
  manipulation, and extortion behind ABHI’s actions and responses. At this
  juncture, I ask BBB to intercede with a recommended resolution to this
  complaint that will uphold my rights under the Federal Trade Commission Act and
  set a precedent for ABHI to cease extorting consumers like me in future
  dealings.
  
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  Katrina B*********