If you’ve been in business long enough, you’ve absolutely dealt with home inspection customer complaints. Whether their grievance was warranted or highly exaggerated, it can be tough to know how to respond to an unsatisfied customer during a surprise call, or how to answer angry customer emails and home inspection complaint letters. If you’ve dealt with complaints against your home inspector business often enough, you’ve also wondered what your client complaint management system should look like. While it is normal to feel a bit overwhelmed initially, learning how to answer a customer complaint against your home inspection business should be a top priority.
According to the White House Office of Consumer Affairs as reported by Help Scout, news of bad customer service reaches twice as many people as praise for a good service experience. Therefore, one complaint may not end with one unhappy customer; it could damage your reputation with potential customers, as we discuss further in this article about negative reviews.
In addition, unsettled complaints could lead to insurance claims, which can impact future premiums. But rest assured. We are here with industry leaders’ suggestions for resolving complaints against your home inspection business.
For many home inspectors, resolving customer complaints begins with avoiding them in the first place. The inspectors we interviewed emphasized the importance of setting expectations so that clients understand what inspections truly call for.
“I think the biggest thing is that the inspector has to frame [the client’s] expectations of what an inspection really is,” said Jan Banks, owner of Inside Out Home Inspection in Oklahoma City and mentorship program 6 Figure Home Inspector. “It’s an inspection—not a warranty—and, in people’s minds, there’s not always a difference.”
Adam McGary, owner of Capital Claims Management, LLC, which handles all InspectorPro claims and pre-claims assistance, agrees. In our recent article on avoiding mold claims, McGary emphasized the importance of setting expectations in your inspection agreement.
“The single greatest thing an inspector can do to reduce the potential of receiving a complaint or a claim for issues like mold, code, insurability, pest—any number of different things—is to have [an advisement] very prominent[ly written],” McGary stated.
According to McGary, an advisement, often included with a limitation of liability clause, states what is and isn’t covered in your inspection. It’s important to make it stand out so that your client is less likely to miss it. (To read all of McGary’s recommendations on advisements, read our article “How to Avoid a Mold Claim.”)
James Carr, owner of Inspect & Detect Home Inspections, LLC in Rhode Island, sets expectations by explaining what happens during the inspection before it occurs. By going through where he’ll look and why, Carr increases the client’s awareness of what the inspection covers and what it can and cannot reveal.
“I take whatever time is necessary to tell them exactly what I’m going to do,” Carr said. “I don’t want to be an alarmist.”
To Carr, an alarmist is someone who scares the client with their words or demeanor. For Carr, it’s important to deliver the facts rather than weigh in on the home purchase.
Banks, too, underscores the inspection’s limitations by talking to her clients.
“Inspections are a snapshot in time. The snapshot in time is today. You could have drainage issues that I will not be aware of if it’s not raining,” Banks said as an example of what she says to clients after an inspection.
But the fact is, even if you set thorough expectations and perform your inspection exceptionally well, all inspectors face claims. This is true whether you are new or experienced, part-time or full-time inspecting, with ASHI or with InterNACHI, complaints come for all inspectors. Some inspectors have even experienced a home inspection complaint a year later, after the inspection is long over, like the claim we covered in a past article.
Since receiving complaints can be stressful, many home inspectors fail to respond to them immediately. However, according to Shmuel Steinberg, Claims Counsel for Capital Claims Management, such a delay rarely helps.
“Ignoring [the complaint] is not going to make it go away. Trying to get out ahead of it may actually make it go away,” Steinberg said.
How do you professionally respond to a complaint? More importantly, you might be thinking, how should you respond when you feel that your home inspection clients are “dead wrong?” Well, if you are wondering how to respond to a customer when they are wrong, it’s exactly the same as how you would respond to a customer who is correct in their accusations! Steinberg encourages inspectors to respond quickly and respectfully, no matter the situation or plausibility of their complaint. By acknowledging what the complainant is saying in a timely manner, you may be able to calm the situation.
Part of being respectful means responding professionally and unemotionally. In his book The Customer Rules: The 39 Essential Rules for Delivering Sensational Service, former Executive Vice President of Operations for the Walt Disney World Resort Lee Cockerell underscored not taking complaints personally.
“The anger is not about you—the customer doesn’t even know you or care about you—it is about a situation,” Cockerell wrote. “He‘s been disappointed or frustrated. Maybe she feels ripped off. The complaint may be totally unreasonable, and the reaction may be way over the top. Or not. Either way, it‘s not about you. It‘s about the circumstances.”
Your initial phone call when resolving customer complaints is also a great opportunity to gather enough information to answer their home inspection complaints. While you can’t (and shouldn’t) give them a definitive response right at that moment, you’ll be promising them a quick response once you have reviewed all the information. Only part of that information, however, is in your hands before that phone call. The best way for you and your claims team to create a confident response is if you ask the client for the following during that initial client conversation:
Have them email the above information to you, and tell them you will respond as soon as you’ve reviewed the provided information and checked your own records of the inspection report. Then, after forwarding all relevant information to your claims team, you’ll work with them on how to answer that customer complaint in the best way possible by referencing all available info.
While we’ve mentioned this already, always keep in mind that your first response does not have to include a resolution. It’s often wise to acknowledge the complaint, gather information, and then buy additional time for a properly prepared response. As Steinberg recommends, “A strong response, with all the facts, has a better chance of making a complaint go away than a quick response.”
Letting the complaining client know that you’re aware of their issue, that you intend to review the inspection report, and that you’ll get back to them soon gives them a timeline. It also gives you time to investigate further.
Pre-claims assistance is exactly what it sounds like: It’s free help responding to unhappy clients in a way that may prevent said clients from making any demands. It should also be the first step in your customer feedback management whenever you are dealing with unhappy customers.
Even if you don’t have the proper endorsement or signed pre-inspection agreement to get coverage for a claim, you’re eligible to receive pre-claims assistance. Anyone with a current InspectoPro policy offering pre-claims assistance is eligible for help at no extra cost and no impact to their insurance rate. Learn how it works by watching the video below.
If you are thinking and stressing about how to answer a customer complaint, contacting your insurer for pre-claims assistance to resolve these types of home inspector complaints might be the last thing on your mind–but don’t delay! When asked when to involve a pre-claims assistant, Steinberg said “as soon as possible.”
“There is no downside to [seeking pre-claims assistance] as a home inspector,” Steinberg said. “Pre-claims are not going to affect your premium. They’re not going to be reported to the insurance company as a claim. It’s not going to be on your loss run.”
Pre-claims assistance offers inspectors many benefits, including customized letters to complainants. For Steinberg, the greatest benefit is the one-on-one consultations.
“[Seeking pre-claims assistance] is an opportunity to talk about the situation, to get a second opinion,” Steinberg said. “It’s a helping hand, a sounding board.”
Pre-claims assistance gives Jon Bolton of The Inspectagator in Central Florida more confidence in addressing complaints. Once wary of purchasing errors and omissions insurance because his mentors believed it would put a target on his back, Bolton now regards his insurance and subsequent pre-claims assistance as a benefit.
“[InspectorPro’s] pre-claims program is absolutely phenomenal,” Bolton said. “I know I have an attorney there when I need one—one that listens to me….That’s what we need more than anything.”
Some wonder if it makes sense to report client complaints that they think they can resolve themselves. Steinberg suggests that a benefit of InspectorPro’s pre-claims assistance is that it allows the inspector to seek assistance and advice before the complaint turns into a claim and satisfies the InspectorPro policy’s early reporting requirements. In many insurance policies, claims coverage is contingent upon giving notice of complaints that could turn into claims later on.
If the incident you tried to resolve with pre-claims assistance escalates to a claim, you may qualify for a Waiver of Deductible Endorsement. In most InspectorPro policies, that endorsement waives 50 percent of your deductible, as we discussed in a past article. Check your insurance policy to see if you have the Waiver of Deductible Endorsement and how it works.
There are many factors to consider when thinking about how to answer a complaint email or when resolving customer complaint calls. Studies show that attitude is especially important.
Research by The University of Nottingham revealed that it’s not money but empathy that soothes most upset customers. In their study, which looked at customers who gave neutral or negative eBay reviews, 45% customers removed their unfavorable reviews after receiving an apology. On the other hand, only 25% of customers removed their unfavorable reviews after receiving compensation.
However, insurance companies do not recommend that inspectors admit fault or take blame for any defect, as that may result in a claim. Rather, inspectors may express empathy for the difficulty of the complainant’s situation and be ready to offer solutions.
It’s common for an inspector to go through the inspection report and explain the findings to the client. In addition, inspectors may explain what repairs are necessary to fix the defect and can recommend outside providers.
When a client called about water damage already noted in the report, Michael Patton of AA Home Inspection, LLC in Northern Kentucky explained how to solve the problem.
“I was able to walk her through the process of getting a plumber to come in and resolve the issue and gave her some confidence,” Patton said. “She was very happy with that at the end of the day. I was able to provide her with references and resources to go after.”
Sometimes, inspectors compromise to maintain relationships and reputations.
“I tend to not argue with people over the little stuff,” Banks said. “Do I really want to lose business and have [my client] write a bad Google review over a $100 repair? No.”
Carr agrees that refunds and payouts should be the last resort, but still be an option.
“The last thing you want to say is that you’ll refund their money,” Carr said. “But if it has to be done, it has to be done.”
Resolving customer complaints against your home inspection business is not an easy or enjoyable task, but hopefully we’ve helped you understand a bit more about how to answer a customer complaint. Finding solutions to client’s problems can greatly benefit your business, after all.
“You have an opportunity to elevate their opinion of you if you have a problem. The most loyal customers aren’t always the ones who didn’t have a problem—especially as far as realtors go—but the ones that had a problem. And you stepped up and you fixed it,” Banks said.
If you would like to learn more about how InspectorPro’s pre-claims assistance program can improve your client complaint response protocol, thereby building trust through comprehensive complaint handling, read here.
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