Outlets not working

[Michael R. Dogoda]

The other day I did an inspection and found (3) outlets in the kitchen that had no power. I checked them with testers and then my dig meter and got nothing. I wrote it up and recommended eval by lic electrician. Electrician goes out and finds nothing wrong with outlets. Now my client is asking me to pay for the electricians fee because the outlets seem to work now. I tried explaining to her that electricity is a funny thing and that a connection could have been loose or there could be some other explanation beyond my comprehension that could account for it. At the time of inspection, I showed my client that they did not work. Any suggestions out there on how I should handle this?

Thanks

[Joseph Hagarty, CMI]

May have been a tripped / defective GFCI or a loose wire connection.
What was the Electrician's finding?
(Maybe a difference between what he found and actually reported).

[Bob Elliott]

Originally Posted by mdogoda

The other day I did an inspection and found (3) outlets in the kitchen that had no power. I checked them with testers and then my dig meter and got nothing. I wrote it up and recommended eval by lic electrician. Electrician goes out and finds nothing wrong with outlets. Now my client is asking me to pay for the electricians fee because the outlets seem to work now. I tried explaining to her that electricity is a funny thing and that a connection could have been loose or there could be some other explanation beyond my comprehension that could account for it. At the time of inspection, I showed my client that they did not work. Any suggestions out there on how I should handle this?

Thanks

Crazy talk.
Might have been a breaker needed to be reset but we do not reset them (well not supposed to anyway).

So to get this straight if the water is off and I report water not functioning then they call a plumber I should pay his bill?
Am I supposed to turn the shutoff to get it working or make repairs?

[Michael Roberson]

Electrician goes out and finds nothing wrong with outlets.

If it happened as you say, you did your job well.


He didnt repair anything, he still got paid????

[Michael R. Dogoda]

yeah, I feel like Idid my job, it seems that inour busineess, we cannot win. If I would not have called out the outlets and something ended up being wrong with them, my client would have blamed me for missing them. Should I give her any money towards the electricians bill or am I being a sucker?

[Sean Fogarty]

Did the sparky reset the gfci perhaps??

[Bruce A. King]

Repair people are famous for failing to communicate exactly what they did.

A good electrician would have checked the connections in the panel and on the outlets.
The problem may be at one of the outlets that had power, bad connection on one of the outgoing wires.

[Jim Port]

Originally Posted by mroberson

He didnt repair anything, he still got paid????

Are you saying the electrician should not be paid for their time to make a service call?

[Joseph Hagarty, CMI]

Electrician should be paid for their time.

Deficiency found by Inspector is commonplace with new construction.

Inspector should not be paying additional for deficiencies found and repaired by Electrician....
Just as Home Buyer should not be paying for Deficiencies found and repaired due to Home Owners / Builders / Builders Electrician, etc.......
But,,,,,
that is a separate negotiated issue......

[Mark A. Timpani, CMI]

see what electrician has to say

[Jeffrey R. Wicklander]

Ask for the info of the eletrician. Talk to him/her directly and let them know what you had found. It's possible that the owner may have reset a GFI or a breaker not knowing that it was tied into the kitchen outage. If it isn't going to break your bank, offer to pay for half.


Jeff

[Wayne B. Wilson]

I had one where half the home didn't work. when the buyer showed up lights started to work. Hmmm went to the panel everything seemed fine. no overheated wires. Guess what service connection loose . you called it out, was not working when you tested, not our job to figure it out . Hi is what is happening at the time of the inspection.

[James E. Braun, CMI]

Did you call for an electrician to evaluate?

If you just wrote the outlets where not working, then why should you have to pay?

[mstankiewicz]

Pay nothing. You did your job. You made an observation at the date and time of your inspection. Period! Does not matter what happened after that point.

[Jeffrey R. Jonas]

Originally Posted by mstankiewicz

Pay nothing. You did your job. You made an observation at the date and time of your inspection. Period! Does not matter what happened after that point.

The electrician may have actually found and repaired the issue, and the seller is attempting to get you to pay for it. Talk to the electrician directly.