ComplaintsforSERVPRO of Old Saybrook

• Initial Complaint

  01/22/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On Saturday, January 13 I awoke to find a large puddle of water on my family room carpet. There is a sunken patio next to the sliding glass door and it apparently didn’t drain fast enough and water came in through the door. There are 4 rooms downstairs and it was only by the door of one of those rooms. I called Serv-Pro and she asked me to send pics which I did. She talked about moving furniture, lifting the carpet, etc. and gave me an estimate of $2500. Because it was rain water, it was not covered by insurance. She downloaded a print of my home and asked me which section it was. I told her the finished family room which had the whole area listed at 600 sq. yds. I explained to her that it was not the whole area. The whole area is 4 rooms. The puddle was only by the door of one room. Before she sent someone to do the work the estimate was up to $3500. I asked if that would change once they got there and saw it. She said she was pretty good at guessing a price. I did give them the OK to come and signed a contract. What she didn’t say was that she farmed it out to another company, Luciano Enterprises of Old Saybrook. She told me that they were going to do a “quick” job in Guilford and would be there right after that. This was at 7AM. I waited and waited. They finally arrived at 2:30PM. They did not speak English and could not understand when I asked them to keep the door shut so that my cat wouldn’t get out. I was no sooner upstairs than I felt the cold air where they had opened the door again. They used the toilet that was broken without asking and sent water spilling down into the basement which I didn’t discover til later. So the “quick” job in Guilford took at least 5 hours or more. They took pictures and started to vacuum the water. They moved 2 chairs and a TV.. They did not move the couch, the sewing table,, the shelves, etc. They did NOT pick up the rugs Before 4PM they were going out the door. That’s less than 1 1/2 hours of work. They did not vacuum the whole rug and there are watermarks where they stopped vacuuming. They left 3 fans going and said they’d be back on Tuesday to pick them up. I called on Tuesday (Monday was a holiday) to find out what the final cost was. I was told that they had already given me the final cost and they NEVER told me it was only an estimate. I argued that that was a LOT of money for 1 1/2 hours of work. They had already charged my credit card (which they wouldn’t even come unless I gave it to them). I got a return call later from a second company that I had called and they would have charged $800 for the first hour and $400 for every half hour after that so that company would have charged $1200 for the same job. I feel that was a large amount of money for the time they spent! I felt they charged me as if I was an insurance company when I clearly told them I had to pay out of pocket. SERVPRO **** ***** ***** ******, Old Saybrook, Ct.

  

  Business response

  02/07/2024

  Hi *****,

  Firstly, I would like to apologize that the crew took longer than expected to arrive to your home. Unfortunately, during extreme flooding events, there are hundreds of customers that need service that we try to service as soon as possible.

  Regarding the actual scope of work and pricing for the services that were provided to you, the contract that was sent to you explicitly stated what work was going to be completed, what the cost was, and that we collect payment before starting the service. It states on your contract that we would charge $3,500 to "Extraction of a portion of the carpet in 750sq ft "finished basement" area, sanitizing, content manipulation as necessary to complete scope of work, setting, drying equipment for 3 days. **Customer does NOT want the carpet pad or carpet removed, due to this, it is very unlikely that the affected area will dry out; customer understands and agrees." This estimate would change if you wanted additional services in the future, such as removal of the carpet. I see you noted here multiple times that we did not take away the rugs, and this was because it was your request to leave them onsite and not have it removed.

  Additionally, this job was not contracted out to another company. SERVPRO of Old Saybrook is part of our SERVPRO Franchise group, and our LLC is ******* ***********, as we own multiple franchises.

  Lastly, when the crew did come to pick up the equipment in your home, you signed a Certificate of Satisfaction where you rated our team all 10s out of 10s for the service provided. On 1/18/24, our office also made a follow up call and left you a voicemail to see if you had any questions or concerns about the work completed and we have not yet received a call back. We would be happy to have a Project Manager come back out to inspect your property for any further services, or reach out to our office at ###-###-#### to discuss any issues further.

  Customer response

  02/11/2024

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:You missed the whole point of my letter.  I was complaining about HOW you chose the price.  You clearly said the word "guess" and "estimate many times over the phone, the girl actually saying she was a good "guesser". Then the "guess" became the price without anyone entering my home to see the damage.  I thought they would come up with the actual price once they arrived and saw it.   But I was unable to communicate with the men as they didn't speak English.  And I NEVER filled out a rating scale and NEVER would have given all 10s if I did.  The men used a broken toilet without permission and the water poured into my basement.  They also stopped up my sink with a rag and left wet footprints on my oak steps.  They merely pointed to a line on their **** and handed me a pen, I signed to get them out.  I was never shown a rating scale.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***** *********

  

  Business response

  02/12/2024

  *****,

  Again, I apologize for any miscommunication with our office when scheduling this service about the final cost which I understand is one of your major concerns, but it was stated on the contract signed by email that the "Contract Amount" was $3500. It is our standard procedure during extreme flooding events to take photos from customers, use information from public databases online to get the square footage, and then provide a cost for service based on the square footage of the area affected using our estimating software. It is very likely that if we came to quote this service in person, we would not have been able to have any representatives out from our company until Monday to inspect the area or provide the cleanup. This is the reason that this was quoted to you over the phone, to provide the fastest service possible. Again, I am sorry that you are unhappy with how this process went and that our office could've been more clear with you that day on the phone.

  Regarding the work that was completed by the crew onsite and them using a non-working toilet, I would be happy to send over a Project Manager to inspect any issues or resulting damages from the crew that you have detailed here and fix these issues per the work that should have been completed in your home as I had mentioned in my previous response. Our goal is to resolve any workmanship issues for you as soon as possible. Feel free to respond here on when you would like a Project Manager out to review any onsite issues, or call into our office at ###-###-#### to schedule this inspection.

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