ComplaintsforApex Disaster Specialists

• Initial Complaint

  01/17/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I own a condo A210 at Pier One in fort Walton Beach. On 12/20/2022 I was replacing the water heater and some water went into condo below mine A110. I told the owner of A110 to call a water mitigation specialist. he called out APEX Disaster Specialist. When they arrived they preasured me into signing some forms then started looking at the small amount of water and started talking about thousands of dollars that it would take to fix the spill. Within 30 minutes of their arrival I told them I did not want their services. I then called another service who gave me a reasonable estimate of $250 dollars and took care of the issue for that amount. Two days ago on January 11th I received an invoice for $318.31. I immediately called APEX and They rendered no services and please void the invoice. The have not responded. Of note, the wording on the invoice was rater threatening. I would like the invoice voided and for you to make a note as to their practices. Thank you for your attention.

  Business response

  01/17/2023

  December 20th 2022
  Neighbor in the above (Lon) apartment replaced his water heater and he flooded (Cavan) the apartment below. They need water extraction.
  Neighbor (responsible for flooding and wants to pay for damages/services)
  *** ********* ************
  
  Explained to owner that we needed to have a work authorization to start work, Owner signed the work authorization and crew members were initiated to respond
  Note: crew member had to leave an active job to respond to this water loss, approximate loss of labor in response equaled 4 man hours – which were billed to Mr. **********
  Per our conversation with Mr. ********* we did explain that the dry out could and would take days to complete. It is our belief that whomever responded likely did not properly dryout the structural components of the building(which typically leads to mold) and all they did was extract visible water – this would leave the structure wet.
  Had the dry out taken 3-4 days which we expected and estimated to Mr. ********* then it would have been in excess of $1000 for the dry out (an honest estimate which was provided)
  Mr ********* did not notify us of cancellation until our crew was on site. Our office is located in Freeport Fl. This was explained to Mr. ********* prior to our departure (This is while I (James ****** was personally on the phone with Mr. ********* prior to dispatching my self and crew member to extract water and deliver equipment) we left to go intercept the crew and inform them how to enter the area for delivery of drying equipment Mr. ********* called our office without notifying us (the people onsite) of the cancellation. We were called by the office and went back to meet with Mr. ********* and confirm cancellation. We then had to redirect the crew back to the office. Our bill stands as is. Had Mr. ********* not put us in a position of wasting so much of the crew members and my time we would not have to invoice for the project.
  
  We have included photos of the project conditions and a copy of the work authorization.
  

  Business response

  01/24/2023

  We stand tall on our response, we responded to his emergency. Attached is evidence and the response from our project manager.

  Customer response

  01/25/2023

  
  Complaint: 18807433
  
  I am rejecting this response because:I am not in the habit of paying for getting an estimate. In fact, you never gave me a firm estimate. As you mentioned you were talking thousands of dollars.  When you kept upping the cost is when I declined your ESTIMATE which as I said was not firm but very nebulous and grandiose. What you were in fact doing was asking me to give you permission to run up the costs anyway you saw fit.  Your invoice proves that as you are asking over 300 dollars for what you say is 30 minutes of a couple of workers time. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *** *********

• Initial Complaint

  08/18/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  APEX invoiced for work they did not perform, and for other work that our insurance company deemed unnecessary; failed to provide timely documentation to process our insurance claim; refused to consider our insurance company's settlement offer and concerns with APEX's invoice; then placed a lien on our home only thirty-two days after APEX completed filing the insurance paperwork required to process our claim. We hired APEX on May 2, 2022 to mitigate water damage to our unit on the basis of their stated experience working with insurance company coverage of water mitigation claims, ability to provide our insurance company with all documentation required to process the claim and understanding that they would only perform work that would be covered. We were invoiced for the work on May 28th, however all documentation required to process the claim was not provided by APEX to the insurance company until July 7th, despite our communication to APEX that the documentation was missing. APEX contacted us by email on August 10 with the message that a lien would be placed on our home unless full payment was received by 10 am August 12th. Our insurance company responded on August 11 with a settlement offer of $4,035, well below the APEX invoice $7,591.61. They explained that "their analysis indicated that APEX charges were excessive and some of the work unnecessary." APEX refused to negotiate and placed a lien on our home next day. Terms of this lien included interest charged monthly at 1.5% starting on May 28th, even though they did not complete said paperwork until July 7th. The invoice included charges for work that was not performed, including removal of tile, toilet and baseboard in the bathroom, and tile removal in the utility room. I'm not sure what other items the insurer flagged as problematic but those jumped out at us. For resolution, we expect APEX to accept the insurance company's settlement as payment in full, and remove the full amount of the lien on our home.

  Business response

  10/03/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/08/29) */ Thank you for the opportunity to review and respond to the complaint filed by Mr. & Mrs. ******. We have reached out and discussed this in detail with the ******'s and feel confident that these concerns have all been addressed and resolved. I do feel it important to respond here with the details of our resolution so that there is no misunderstanding of the facts of the circumstance. To better relate the details, I want to do this in bullet fashion, so that all concerns raised are responded to: 1.APEX invoiced for work they did not perform, and for other work that our insurance company deemed unnecessary. There were indeed items that were originally estimated that did not get done. While not common, it does happen where a certain item is estimated to be repaired or replaced and in the course of the job it is deemed not needed and thus does not get done. Conversely, certain items not estimated for repair or replacement are found that it is necessary once the job begins. This usually would be caught during dialogue. Unfortunately, the insurance carrier was nonresponsive for the three plus months we have waited to be paid for work performed. Further, the carrier evidently took a position that is far too often the case, attempting to pit customers against their contractors. To suggest to Mr. & Mrs. ****** that work completed was "unnecessary" without having been to the site, without having involved discussions on the why and the what of what was done with the contractor that performed the repairs was poor form and put Mr. & Mrs. ****** and APEX Disaster Specialist in a very bad position. The work which was completed was indeed appropriate and necessary. I am sure that the ******'s would agree to this point. As to the items within the estimate which were not needed, these were immediately removed the minute we became aware of the oversight. 2.failed to provide timely documentation to process our insurance claim This is patently untrue. We reminded Mrs. ****** of our call the beginning of July where we explained our attempts to provide this information to the carrier on numerous occasions. We have documented where requested information was directly uploaded to the insurance company web site. Following up these uploads, we made several calls to the insurance company to confirm receipt. At each point we were either advised it had not been received, contrary to the proof we had of uploading the information, or simply no response to messages. 3.refused to consider our insurance company's settlement offer and concerns with APEX's invoice Yes, this is true, we refused to consider an arbitrary offer made by the insurance company that was approximately 1/2 what the invoiced amount was. The insurance company's approach was not to voice concerns about our invoice but to rather cut services performed from the bill with no valid reason or rationale. APEX takes great pride in our technical expertise and professionalism. We would never entertain an arbitrary attempt to cut our bill for no other reason than to short pay a claim. Unfortunately, in these cases, the only ones to suffer are the contractor and the consumer. Unfortunately, there is never regard or concern from the insurance company, who are supposedly there to take care of people when they have a loss. Finally, yes, we did file a lien. This is the only mechanism available to contractors short of litigation, to protect their vested interest. As Mr. & Mrs. ****** indicated, our final invoice was processed May 24, 2022. To date we still have not received payment. We have advised Mr. & Mrs. ****** that the lien will be released upon payment of the corrected and agreed amount. Perhaps were insurance companies fulfilling their contractual obligations, collections of long past due balances wouldn't be such an issue. As indicated, we are pleased to have been able to communicate with Mr. & Mrs. ****** and have resolved all their concerns. The above responses are in part all that was discussed between us. I feel confident that Mr. & Mrs. ****** would agree, in retrospect, that the insurance company played a large role in the break down of communications and certainly hold a large responsibility in not paying the monies that were legitimately owed. APEX takes great pride in our hard-earned reputation and we are grateful for the opportunity to clear up this matter. Consumer Response /* (2000, 7, 2022/08/29) */ (The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.) We have had an opportunity to speak with APEX and they have explained their side of the issues we experienced. In consideration of all the facts, we believe the problems voiced in this complaint were due to a combination of miscommunication, poor handling on the part of our insurance company, and honest human error. We also have read, and do agree with, APEX's reply to the complaint and we are glad this has all been resolved. We were pleased with the quality of the APEX staff and the work APEX performed. Once aware of the issues we experienced, APEX acted quickly to address our complaint, and moved forward sincerely to remedy issues within their control. We feel APEX is a good company, and we would consider using them again in the future.

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