Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:05/21/2025

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I contacted owner, seeking urgent assistance after a sump pump failure. The company responded quickly, the subsequent experience was plagued by unprofessionalism, miscommunication, and ultimately, financial and material damage. No pricing estimate or explanation of the remediation process was provided at this time of walk thru. Despite our proactive efforts to remove standing water and belongings, the company proceeded with the removal of baseboards and flooring. The removal process itself resulted in damage to our drywall, requiring subsequent repairs at our expense. The company installed drying equipment, promised daily monitoring and a subsequent estimate. Communication deteriorated significantly after discovering our insurance coverage was less than anticipated, we perceived a marked decline in the company's responsiveness. Despite repeated attempts to obtain an estimate, communication was delayed and the delayed estimate contained inflated SF calculations and omitted previously agreed-upon discounts. Our area rugs, which were taken for cleaning, were returned 2 weeks later in a still-wet condition, with no evidence of cleaning. These rugs were valuable Turkish rugs, and their condition is now severely compromised. Despite promises from owner to personally review/adjust the bill, and to provide complimentary rug cleaning, these commitments were never fulfilled. Follow-up attempts to resolve these issues have been ignored. The services provided by Smoke Services Restoration *** were characterized by: lack of upfront pricing and process transparency, damage to property during service execution, poor communication and unfulfilled promises inflated billing and disregard for agreed-upon discounts, negligence in the handling and purported cleaning of valuable personal property. Due to the significant financial and material damage incurred, coupled with the blatant lack of customer service and integrity, I cannot recommend this company.

  Business Response

  Date: 06/25/2025

  We performed emergency water mitigation services for this customer. The flooring and baseboards were removed, the drywall was wet as well. In these situations it is possible and common that the drywall is damaged during the removal of baseboards due to the increased humidity level in the material. In this instance the drywall was damaged during this process. The customer originally thought they had coverage for all damages. When they found out they had limited coverage they requested their rugs be returned prior to them being processed completely and demanded a final bill. (I believe the loss was limited to flood and/or sump pump coverage that often limits coverage to a predetermined amount. We also had no contact with the insurance company to know any coverages although that would not have changed the work necessary or the work performed) The original bill was created and then corrected to reflect credits to lower the total amount due. This included credit for drywall repair and other items, although these are items the insurance covers when you have enough coverage. It is unfortunate that they did not have enough coverage due to the flooding and we took that into consideration on our final bill. The final bill was beyond fair and reasonable. We also asked the customer to contact us with a date to pickup the rugs to be cleaned at no additional charge to them. We have yet to be contacted to pick up the rugs for cleaning. Please note that this loss was flooding and the rugs were taken outside the previous day to our arrival. These rugs would often be claimed as a loss to the insurance due to that alone. Some of these rugs will experience staining, color bleed and other issues that are sometimes irreversible. 

  We did receive and text response from the customer that has been attached to this response. It states "Thank you sir for taking the time to adjust the number and making it right!! Definitely appreciated. We can schedule pickup of the rugs and get them going to get them cleaned as well."

  I request them to contact Lisa at the office to coordinate the pickup and cleaning if they wish to have them cleaned as offered. 

  The Billing does not reflect any charges for cleaning the rugs.

  The customer sent payment nearly two months after our adjustment

  This matter was settled prior to this complaint. 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/30/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I hired Smoke Services (owner *********************) to repair my home after a fire on 2/15/2024. Weeks after he did finally bring in an outside company to get my wiring/electrical repaired. We attempted to touch base with him on multiple occasions in regards to roof, drywall, exterior repairs to the home to include painting, getting a dumpster placed on site so that we could clean up. We were constantly given the run around or entirely ignored. It was finally set that the drywall would be completed on a Monday, the day came and went and the work was not done, bo word about it. A few days later, rubber mulch was bagged in trash bags from our playground, without word or quote regarding the action. It had been stated Directly to ****** that we would be doing the outside clean up ourselves to save money as it was not even in the estimate given to us/him from the insurance company. The estimate that clearly stated that he was to reach out to them for consent and approval of items not listed within the initial estimate. This never happened though. I terminated our working relationship via email. ****** then proceeded to enter my home the next day via key code and place a fan in my home attempting to change me to do so. After we discovered that he had been in the home we sent a second email reconfirming that he was terminated from the job. He then proceeded to call and text from my front door wanting to know why the door code was changed while acknowledging that we terminated the relationship. He has submitted a bill to us that is astronomically inflated for work that was never approved, and even done foolishly like, scooping mulch by hand for 48 hours, (so he claims). There is also removal of product listed on invoice that is currently sitting at my residence.

  Business Response

  Date: 05/30/2024

  ************************ did sign with us to make repairs to her home. Her original intention was to restore power so they could move back into the home. I was provided the insurance company information and scope. This scope was not an accurate representation of the repairs needed to bring this home back to pre-loss condition. From the information provided to me, she did not have an insurance policy directly as her mortgage company had a forced place policy. This meant that she didn't have adequate coverage on the home and it also meant she didn't have coverage for her personal contents. The paperwork I was provided also showed a large amount of unrecoverable depreciation. Her mortgage company was in charge of distribution of funds as well. I contacted the insurance adjuster directly to discuss the differences in the scope due to the paperwork stating to do so. He directed me to use the available funds and provide supplements for any additional work. I contacted licensed subcontractors we work with for the electrical, roofing and HVAC. There was a waiting period to receive these that was out of my control. She asked if they could use a roofer they had chosen and I let them know that was their choice. The electrician was scheduled, the work was performed and the electric was restored to the property. We paid the electrician for these services. The customer requested the paneling in the bedroom be replaced with drywall, of which I said it could be. She also asked to add additional work to replace doors that were damaged previous to the fire. I inspected the doors and explained that they could be replaced or a new door slab could be hung. The customer explained that she would clear the contents from the work area prior to us starting inside. She was to let us know when this was read but she failed to do so. After reaching out to her she said she would do it right then. upon arriving at the home the contents were somewhat moved into the hallway and an adjacent bedroom. The paneling was removed where possible and the remaining area that was not removed was because we were instructed to not move her contents. Once the paneling was removed it was noted that the exterior wall was wet and must be dried prior to insulating and hanging/finishing drywall. The customer was messaged that we would setup equipment to dry the area and that we would begin removing the debris from the back yard. Note: the fire originated in the rear of the home. It damaged the house and attached structure over the rear patio area. I also caught the rubber mulch on fire, burned the hot tub and damaged a storage shed not attached to the home. The customer mentioned cleaning up the back area previous to all of this but had made zero progress to do so. She also didn't move a derelict vehicle that was somewhat blocking the driveway. This mulch was shoveled, bagged and disposed of in a professional and appropriate manner. This consisted of a crew of multiple people and multiple days as this was a large play area in the back yard. After this had all taken place the homeowner called the office stating that she had emailed us previously, stating that she was terminating our contract. At that time I sent a crew to remove our equipment from the home only to find out that the code to open the home had been changed. I called her at that moment with no answer and sent a text as well stating we were attempting to pick up our equipment. Her reply was that she would let us pick up the equipment later that week on a specific date and timeframe. I made note and scheduled to pickup the equipment as she requested. She had her boyfriend call me to discuss her concerns and I addressed everything he asked about. I stated that even though they no longer required our services that I was happy continue to work with their insurance adjuster on the estimates I had provided. He was thankful and appreciative. The day we arrived to pick up the equipment the customer was extremely unapproachable and unwilling to discuss the billing. Her boyfriend was friendly and spoke with us until she interjected stating "Am I not even here". She was intentionally acting this way and would walk over to her handyman that she had hired to talk and ignore us while we were talking. This made explaining anything impossible. She had her boyfriend email us in which I responded. She responded with another email threatening us with slander and a lawsuit. She also had St Clair County Sherriff call us to tell us to not come to the property directly after explaining that she only wanted us there on the said date and time. She was angry and harassing us in any way possible. She stated that she didn't have a problem with the work we performed, she had a problem with our work ethics. She also provided us with partial payment. This is the only time we collected payment as there was no initial amount collected prior to beginning work to expedite the electrical repairs. The remaining repairs would have required money down to begin as we do with any job. This would have only happened after the insurance company agreed to these repairs. 

  Note: We would not have been able to replace the roof, electrical, hvac and the remaining repairs with the available funds. She was indecisive on the repairs and requested the repairs in whole as they should be and then change her mind. For example the roof and soffit. She asked to replace it all and then said maybe just patch it. I followed the insurance companies directions as she requested. The work performed was per was necessary due to the loss. The work was billed using xactimate, the same software the insurance company uses to provide estimates. She stated that she didn't have a problem with the work we performed, she had a problem with our work ethics. The removal of product listed on the invoice is only the demo line. she was not charged for disposal as that would have been put in the dumpster that was provided in the original estimate. She also mentioned that we charged for removal of a curtain/curtain rod that she said wasn't there. The curtain/curtain rod was over the closet door as the closet no longer had a standard closet door. 

  Thank you, 

  *********************, President