ComplaintsforElements Disaster Recovery, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  05/20/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Prior to Elements coming into the house on May 6th, I had been told by office staff that the demo crew would move my appliances out of the kitchen. The stove was to be moved to the dining room and the refrigerator to the living room. I had this conversation at least twice between the claim getting approved and when Elements came in, including two business days prior. When the crew arrived and I asked about the stove they did not answer me. They started putting up the Visqueen on the living room side of the house and I had to STERNLY tell them to move the refrigerator as they were instructed to have done as I needed it outside of the hot zone. Both crew members looked at me with disgust and then were unable to remove the water line from under the kitchen sink. The crew did not put down paper or plastic on the floor between the kitchen (hot zone) and the front door. They cross contaminated my floor, door handles, and never once mentioned to me how to clean up or that they would clean up the mess. I have an infant that is in the crawling stages right now and I had to clean up their mess. My stove is cross contaminated and there are vents making it unsafe to use ever again. This was a new stove and had only been used for 4 months. The containment zone was not done correctly, per multiple experts in the field of mold remediation, leaving my entire house cross contaminated. The Visqueen has been under positive pressure when it is supposed to be under negative pressure, not sealed in multiple areas, holes not patched until day 2, and a hole punched through clean sheetrock behind my living room cabinets leaving air to circulate where my cats hide. There still is visible mold in multiple places within said containment zone that the crew missed repeatedly.

  Business response

  06/03/2024

  An air quality test was performed shpwing no elevation/cross contamination in the home.  As for the any other concerns ****************** has stated; we have addressed the issues and are being resolved.

  Customer response

  06/03/2024

  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]

   Complaint: 21726932

  I am rejecting this response because: the subcontractor hired by Elements to confirm cleanliness lied on his reports. Work is being done currently but should not have needed to be escalated like this to be done correctly. I still expect more from the business to allow this complaint to be closed. Their bad business practices have led to additional time that my project has been pushed back, keeping me from having a functional home. Staff has not responded appropriately to my concerns. 

  Regards,

  ***************************

  Business response

  06/04/2024

  The assessors labs are sent to a third party company.  ************ takes the air samples and determines if they are elevated or not elevated.  Which ESML is the lab that was used per the docs.  ******** stated not elevated on them. We spoke to the assessor the insured had at her house.  She said outside the containment was not elevated therefore it was not contaminated in the other parts of the house.  We are at the property trying to finish the job however with the conditions of the extra leaks from either the window or siding its keeping the area wet which is unrelated to us and the remediation cannot be completed until that is fixed.  We are drying the area at no charge to her so it can be completed.  We are doing everything we can to finish this job.  Our office has spoken to her regarding the job either in office staff and the guys at the property.  We want this completed as much as she does.
  

  Customer response

  06/07/2024

  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]

   Complaint: 21726932

  I am rejecting this response because: I have been satisfied with the work done this second time but it does not replace the concerns that I had from the first time. This should have only needed to be done once, but the crew sent out the first time did shoddy work. I assume they thought they could get away with not doing things properly, which is poor work ethic. There was only one follow up call from the office staff when concerns were raised and it wasn't until I threatened a lawsuit with my insurance company and Elements, that work began to be done correctly. My electric bill for *** was over $100 more than it should have been due to the length of time the equipment was in my home. Now, I will have another large bill for **** (shouldn't even need the equipment in ****). If your crew would have just done things properly the first time we wouldn't be having this conversation. I am not directly paying Elements, as my insurance company is. The crews doing the work were the same both times- why couldn't they have just done it right the first time? My rebuild is now a month behind schedule because of their crappy job. I have been without a kitchen since *** 6th, and living with mold in my house since the beginning of March. My children need to have mold testing done and that is not cheap. My toddler has started to show symptoms of mold exposure. The containment was not done properly the first time and then it was taken down for 2 weeks while I waited on the insurance company to make a decision about finishing the job. I was told the containment had to come down, not just the equipment taken out. I do not feel safe reusing the stove that was inside the containment during the first cleaning. To resolve this, I would like to be compensated $1,000 to cover the replacement of the stove and the extra energy used for this second round of work. That seems fair as I will still be out of pocket for much more- including the stress that following up with the "professionals" has caused me and my health to suffer.  As far as the work- that payment should still be made by my insurance company. I hope that this experience teaches your crews to do work the right way the first time and that the supervisors check in with their crews to make sure other families don't have to deal with the added stress of "did they do this right?" 

  Regards,

  ***************************

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