Bad roofs and bad faith made of same faulty stuff
Bill Brooks Cda Consumer Guy | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 7 years, 5 months AGO
A consumer called me with a major problem with a house he and his wife recently purchased — turns out the roof leaked. Boats should float and homes should be habitable. Under various laws it’s called Implied Merchantability — in other words, the item in question works for a particular purpose. Enough legal mumbo jumbo. The bottom line is that the roof didn’t keep out the water.
In the process of purchasing the home, the buyer (our consumer) was presented with a form, signed by the seller listing all the known problems with the property. The form is called an RE-25 Property Condition Disclosure Form. It is NOT permitted to be filled out by the seller’s real estate agent. It MUST be filled out by all sellers, signed and dated.
The plot thickens! After determining that the water leakage was the result of a bad roof, the buyer did some high-tech sleuthing and found a recent Google Earth photo of the property clearly showing a large tarp over the exact offending area of the roof!
What to do now? My recommendation would be, as with any purchase of this magnitude, contact an attorney who specializes in real estate law, and go in for a consultation. It will probably cost the consumer around $150, but it will be money well spent. A lawsuit may be necessary but in a case like this, a letter from an attorney may be enough to resolve the problem in favor of the buyer.
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THE CREEPY ‘SOCIETY’ LETTER: A couple of readers have contacted me after receiving a multi-page letter from a group calling itself “The Society.” The letter states The Society “has taken a closer look” at the recipients’ “profile” and wants to make a special offer about joining this exclusive, clandestine, powerful organization.
The letter goes on for 12 single-spaced pages of suggestions as to how members of the group have found wealth, fame and happiness as a result of this membership. Throughout those pages of malarkey, the writer sprinkles in the first name of the recipient, just so you know this is a personal letter, just to you. Unfortunately, the computer that generates this garbage also picks up any misspellings of the recipient’s name. Bill was printed as “bBill.” They either need a new proofreader or a smarter computer!
It’s a SCAM and ultimately you will be asked for money, a bank account number or a credit card number. Don’t do it. Don’t return it. Don’t encourage this kind of solicitation.
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DOGS FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT: Is this outfit a scam? It depends on your definition of a scam. I’ve had a few calls from consumers who received calls from this organization. I love dogs. I support law enforcement. What could go wrong? Well, first off, they refuse to send you any information through the mail. They claim it would be too expensive and their goal is to see the doggies get as much money as possible. OK, given that is their stated goal, when asked what percent of the money collected goes to the pups? Turns out that less than 10 percent goes to the “foundation” for the dogs, and of course the foundation takes its cut — about 90 percent before actually passing the money through to the dogs. In other words, they could only guarantee about 1 percent would actually “go to the dogs.”
My firm recommendation is this “charity” is for the dogs, and not in a good way! To check out a suspicious charity, call me and remember, if it sounds heartbreaking, it’s probably a scam.
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DISH: The consumer involved in this matter had Dish. Unfortunately, the numerous “Hoppers” and “Joeys” strategically placed around his home kept blinking on and off like bad marquee lights on Broadway. The signal carrying the TV channels would be lost several times a day. The recommended “fix” was for the consumer to go down to the main Dish hook-up, the “Hopper,” and unplug it and the wifi router. As the theory goes, upon re-initializing, the “Hopper” and the wifi connection would find each other and then the multiple “Joeys” would reconnect to the “Hopper.”
Problem was, it was necessary to go through the above procedure two or three times a day. Secondarily, the “Hopper” was located downstairs in the family room and the customer was largely confined to a wheelchair on the ground floor.
Bottom line: The consumer would NEVER have signed up for Dish if he had been told he would be required to reset the connection several times per day. The system he was leasing from Dish was unreliable.
Whether it’s Dish, DirecTV, Verizon or Spectrum, the consumer has a contract, expressed or implied, written or verbal, that the company will provide service and in return the consumer will pay their bill as agreed.
In this case, the provider, Dish, breached the contract. The consumer should insist on being released from the broken contract. A contract is a two-way street.
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ATTABOY: Parker Subaru’s service department went above and beyond in assisting a consumer with a problem. It seems the battery in her car gave up the ghost after a few years of normal use. The price for a new battery was almost 170 smackers and without a replacement battery, she had a one-ton paperweight instead of the reliable mode of transportation she was accustomed to. It’s not uncommon for a car battery to turn “toes up” after three or four years. It’s a normal occurrence with the modern “no maintenance” battery. (Whatever happened to the good old reliable batteries we used to, once in a while, fill up with distilled water? Oh well, showing my age again.) I digress, back to the story. The consumer is a retiree, and a cost of a couple hundred dollars never comes at a good time. She worked with the professionals at Parker Subaru’s service department and they ultimately didn’t charge her for the battery.
Just to be clear, Parker Subaru is NOT giving away free batteries, but they work with their good customers.
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REMEMBER: I’m in your corner!
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I have many more interesting cases that I’m working on as The CDA Press Consumer Guy. Call me at (208) 699-0506, email me at CDAPressConsumerGuy @gmail.com or fax me at (866) 362-9266. Also include your full name and a phone number. I am available to speak about consumerism to schools, and local and civic groups.
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Bill Brooks is the CDA Press Consumer Guy and an active Associate Real Estate Associate Broker for Tomlinson-Sotheby’s International Realty in Coeur d’Alene.
ARTICLES BY BILL BROOKS CDA CONSUMER GUY
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