Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/30/2024

  Type:Billing 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 am filing a complaint against Rapid Dry for unprofessionalism, intimidation, and price-gouging in handling my recent water damage claim. My experience with this company has been distressing, disruptive, and goes beyond what any customer should face.After water damage in my home, I contacted Rapid Dry for water mitigation. Initially, they quoted me $5,030. Later, however, they raised the invoice to $9,386, citing undisclosed daily fees for the equipment. For comparison, I confirmed that similar equipment could be rented for four weeks elsewhere at $864 total. When I brought this to the attention of Rapid Drys owner, ***** ******, he reacted with hostility, aggressively defending the fees and pressuring me to scream at my insurance company and file complaints to speed up their payment. ***** said I was letting myself be taken advantage of by working within the insurance budget. After expressing concern over these charges and practices, I asked that they retrieve their equipment and I didnt feel safe with them coming in my home. This request went unanswered and instead on monday 10/28 the sent two men unannounced to my home after 8:30 PM, banging on doors, ringing the doorbell repeatedly, and walking around my property, and knocking on windows. I was home alone with my young daughter, who has a diagnosed anxiety disorder, and their actions felt extremely invasive and threatening to us both. To make matters worse, Rapid Dry escalated the situation by involving the police, accusing me of felony possession of stolen property. The police threatened me with arrest in front of my daughter, further adding to her distress and deepening our trauma from this incident, which resulted in her having a panic episode.Given this extreme harassment, intimidation, and emotional distress they caused my family, I am requesting that they waive all fees for the estimate, so I can proceed with a more professional company.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 10/31/2024

  Rapid Dry and ******** ******* went into contract to perform water mitigation at her property at ************************************************************************************************** on September 27, 2024.  The attached contract shows her signature agreeing to the contract.  

  She was sent the original estimate and a welcome email further explaining to her the process the very same day.  From her confusions it is apparent that she did not read the welcome email.  

  We dispatched a team to her house to assess her water damage.  We set equipment to stabilize the humidity level and to start the initial dry out before we did any tear outs that were needed.  

  The customer was reluctant to speak with the insurance company or the company who was responsible for the damage (An incorrectly installed dish washer) My staff and myself made repeated calls, texts and emails to both the customer and the insurance company to move the process along.  On October 16th I emailed the customer explaining that it had been ******************************************************************************** to com e do the tear outs.  I explained that it was getting expensive because the equipment was still there.  Our original estimate was for 7 days of dehumidifiers and included 3 days of drying once the tear outs were completed. That is why the prices of the estimates and the final invoice are different.  

  Ultimately we billed for 32 days of our equipment because it was on site for that long.  We removed all of the items from the invoice that we did not do in the estimate.  The total due is $8,488.00 and can be seen in the attached invoice.  

  When we went to go pick up the equipment which she had placed outside and improperly shut down resulting in potential damage to the equipment, she had moved it back inside. The customer was demanding $8,000.00 per day if the equipment wasn't picked up by 7:00 pm.  She then used a racial slur towards me and told me that it would cost me $785 if she had to move them back into the house.  She told me that I could bring the Police to come get the equipment.  She then threatened to remove the equipment from her property and that I would need to pay to get it back.  I explained that I was working and that we would come get the equipment.  

  When we arrived the equipment was nowhere to be seen and she refused to answer the door despite being home and seeing her in the window.  We called the Police and St ******* Police showed up.  She refused to give up the equipment and they had to threaten her with an extortion and grand theft charge if she did not return the equipment.  She finally gave in and gave up the equipment.  

   

  She is in clear violation of her contract: 

  In her contract, she is responsible for paying the equipment charges daily.  "2. Rentals for equipment on location are charged where any part of the day constitutes one (1) day of rental."  we sent her the pricing on the first day showing the equipment daily rate.  She dd not have any issue previously.  

  She removed the equipment improperly resulting in possible damage which was a violation of her customer responsibility form she signed. (see attached) 

  Customer agreed to pay her amount, in full, despite of whatever the insurance paid her per her contract "Rapid Dry agrees to bill the undersigned ************************** directly for all services rendered upon completion. Owner(s)further hereby acknowledge that any additional sums due and not paid in total by the insurance company shall be paid to Rapid Dry upon verification of any insurance company denial of any uncovered expenses."

  Her refusal to pay her bill, in full,  will result in interest charges, collection charge and attorney fees per her contract that she agreed to and signed.  If not paid within 30 days a lien will be placed on her property as well.  

  It should be noted that her insurance company agreed to pay her for the mitigation and that she may have already been paid for our services. Keeping that money, after agreeing to a direct pay authorization, constitutes insurance fraud with her profiting from her loss and keeping the money the insurance company intended for us.  

  It should also be known that I have multiple text messages from the customer where she praises me for helping her and for speaking to the insurance company to get her paid.  That is my intention.  That the insurance company pay her in full to get her kitchen fixed properly.  Unfortunately ********** and their insurance company have made me out to be the bad guy and have delayed the process to making her whole.  

  We ask that you drop this complaint as there is no justifications for it.  

   

   

  

  Business Response

  Date: 10/31/2024

  The St. ******* Police report number is 24-05773 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/07/2024

  Complaint: 22495502
  
  I have reviewed the business' response and am rejecting it because: The company didn't advise they would attempt to charge me ongoing daily for days for two dehumidifiers. It was only needed for 5-7 days as once the area was dry the company was to comeback and do the tearout on the damaged items which they didn't do. The initial quote (5270 attached) would have been approved, but what the insurance company said was erroneous was attempting to bill them or me for daily equipment fee outside that initial 5/7 days that would have been allotted as that is the industry standard, and dehumidifiers wouldn't even have effective after this time for a small leak such as mine as the area was dry.

  At any time Rapid Dry could have came and got this equipment and I offered to return it to them multiple times due to the insurance delays. The unit placed upstairs was not even utilized after the area was dried as my indoor air became too dry after a few days of use causing us to experience nosebleeds and aggravating our allergies. 

  Again Rapid Dry did no work on my home, the equipment was not needed nor in use for the time they left it in my home, and I was not told I would be billed daily for it. I was given an estimate that was in process of being approved and only became an issue when Rapid dry intentionally added on exorbitant fees in attempts to price ***** as they knew this was an insurance claim (updated 5072 estimate ***** attached). ***** even specifically told me I wouldn't be responsible for the fees, but it was to "put the pressure on the insurance company". $7044 for rental even if 32 days was necessary which it was not, is extremely excessive since these can be rented weekly for an average of $200 (attached comparables). 

  Furthermore, I also filed a complaint with the ************************************'s internal affairs division and its being investigated due to police misconduct as it was against department policy to involve themselves in a civil matter such as this... . Rapid Dry engaged in intimidation tactics and harassment, and trespassing, and potentially even led the police to believe I had actually stolen this equipment from their property making it a criminal matter that required their involvement which it did not as I offered to return the equipment previously that evening and the men were sent to my home much later, after dark when I was bathing and again home alone with my young daughter and they banged on my door and windows trespassing for 30 minutes. This could have been resolved during business hours the next day not at 9:00 PM on a work/school night. 

  Given the way this situation has been handled, I don't even think I should owe the $289 for the estimate, leaving me with a zero dollar balance with Rapid Dry. If this is not something the company wishes to do I have already consulted with my attorney ****** J ******* - of Kretmar ****** ****** & ******* - ************ regarding this issue as well as the ********************************** regarding price gouging and consumer protection violations and will be filing additional complaints as necessary to reach a resolution, but I would prefer to stop this here and move on. 

  Sincerely,

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

  

  Business Response

  Date: 11/07/2024

  The contract very clearly states that the customer is charged daily for the equipment rental.

  
  The estimate that was sent was an estimate for less than a week and the customer had equipment there at their home for 32 days.
  

  They were notified several times that the equipment was still there still running and they were still being charged. They never at any time told us to come get their equipment and if they have something in writing stating otherwise I will be more than happy to look at that.

   

  they were notified several times that the equipment was still there still running and they were still being charged. They never at any time told us to come get their equipment and if they have something in writing stating otherwise I will be more than happy to look at that.

   

  all the points that the customer brought up are covered in the signed contract.

   

   all the points that the customer brought up are covered in the signed contract.

   

  As far as being dry, the home was never dry because it's not possible to dry the structure behind the kitchen that need to be torn out  

   

  The customer admits to violating her contract by disturbing the equipment and shutting it off, which she was not supposed to do.

   

  PleaseThe customer admits to violating her contract by disturbing the equipment and shutting it off, which she was not supposed to do.

   

  Please review the contract and cancel this