Paid $150 for a "professional" chimney inspection and the guy just refunded me after 5 minutes

So I called this highly rated company out of Portland to do a level 2 inspection before selling my house. Dude shows up, sets up his camera, and literally five minutes later he comes down and says "I can't do this, there's a nest in there the size of a basketball." He refunded my $150 on the spot and told me to call a wildlife removal service first. That was a Tuesday, I ended up spending another $400 to get a raccoon family evicted and the whole flue rebuilt. The funny part is he could have just charged me and sent a report, but he was honest enough to say the camera couldn't even get past the nest. Has anyone else had a wildlife surprise kill a routine inspection like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

ninaowens22d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah honestly I used to think they were just being lazy but that makes total sense now.

miles_hall22d ago

Actually a level 2 inspection requires visual access, so he couldn't fudge it.

knight.felix22d ago

Miles is 100% right on this one. You literally can't fake visual access on a level 2 unless the guy was standing right there looking at the stuff. Some people think you can just snap a pic and call it good but nope, the regs are pretty clear on that part. Guess people just don't read the fine print until it bites them.