LESLIE: Joe in Virginia finds The Money Pit on WJFK and you’re having a plumbing situation. Tell us what’s going on.
JOE: Yes, hi. I just recently bought a house that was built in 1992. And the water supply pipes are known as polybutyl or quest piping. It’s plastic. It’s a gray color.
TOM: OK.
JOE: And I was told that those pipes had been recalled and there’s a class action lawsuit. And I have a bit of concern as to how I go about remedying the problem, as far as do I get those pipes removed or as I look to file for the class action suit …
TOM: Yeah, the class action suit was called Cox vs. Shell and it was a nationwide class action settlement. It’s administered by a group called the Consumer Plumbing Recovery Center. Their website is PBPipe.com; as in polybutylene. PBPipe.com.
JOE: OK.
TOM: And all the information about the suit, about the claims process, the claim forms are there. But you’re correct. You know, there has been a long history of problems with this type of piping and unfortunately, a lot of people have been trapped by this. But I’m curious. You say you just bought the house. Did this not come up in your home inspection?
JOE: No, sir. My home inspector was not up to par, according to what me and my wife have found out. He didn’t check half the things he should have checked.
TOM: Well, you know, I think that you may have an action against the home inspector if that’s the case. What I would recommend you do is to hire an experienced home inspector to re-inspect the home and find out what else may have been missed.
JOE: OK.
TOM: Because perhaps the home inspector may have a professional liability policy that could be a shorter road to a claim for these issues than going through this class action process.
JOE: OK. That sounds pretty good.
TOM: Alright, thank you so much for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
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