ComplaintsforRestoration 1 of Winston-Salem

• Initial Complaint

  12/07/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On the advice of a friend, I contacted a company to see if they could help me with some water damage in my bathroom. The representative, Mike *******, inspected the area on 10/27. He led me to believe I required his company’s services and that those services would restore my floor. He secured half of the payment for the job prior to beginning it. When the technicians who actually did the work arrived on 10/28, Mike was on-site. Within a half hour the technicians had the tile removed and told Mike to tell me I would need to have both layers of subfloor removed and replaced by a flooring company. After Mike left, I asked a technician why the floor needed treatment if it wasn’t salvageable. He said he thought it was to keep any mold from spreading. Testing for mold was never carried out so presence of mold wasn’t confirmed. I notified Mike that I wanted to stop treatment and asked him why he advised treatment of an unsalvageable floor and he said he thought he could have dried the floor out so that it wouldn’t need replaced. He told me the technician I spoke with wasn’t experienced and shouldn’t have told me I needed the floor replaced. He discouraged me from contacting my homeowners insurance company, telling me they would “flag” me and increase my rate. After I complained about the price, he then offered to contact the insurance company for reimbursement. The water damage in my bathroom was confined to approximately a 9 square foot area; I was quoted over $3600.00 to treat that area. After I refused further treatment, my bill was adjusted to $2275.00. I contacted the owner of Restoration 1, Ron *****, thinking that an isolated employee, Mike *******, might be to blame for me being misled about need for treatment and being charged so much. I received an email from Rory *****, general manager, defending the job as justifiable. In his email he stated, “our industry is one of the most misunderstood of all service providers on prices and services.” I got no resolution!

  

  Business response

  02/08/2022

  During the initial inspection Mike did detect some wood rot in the subfloor.  He created a quote that included setting containment (prevent Silica Dust cross contamination while removal of tile), setting air scrubbers to capture contaminates, removal of tile, detailed cleaning of every surface within containment and then application of antimicrobial across all surfaces.  Once demolition is complete to then set drying equipment to dry the subfloor.  He educated the homeowner that there was some indication of rot which is normally seen as long term damage but did not think that the entire subfloor was rotted.  Mike walked the client through each item of the estimate (line item by line item).
  
  The goal of drying should be to save as much of the subfloor as possible as well as to dry out the beams supporting the floor.  Water will continue to migrate and cause damage until it reaches dry standard.  Mold can start to grow within hours of a natural surface becoming wet and can be visible within 24 hours.  We did not see anything with a suspected microbial growth during the inspection or mitigation.
  
  The homeowner contacted Mike later that day to start the project the next day.
  
  Once the tile was removed then you can see that there is rot next to the tub and then the subfloor is wet by sink. 
  
  We do not remove the subfloor and leave that for a licensed General Contractor to determine what is salvageable and what needs to be replaced.
  
  The homeowner contacted Mike on day two asking us to remove equipment and stop project.  The subfloor still has a moisture content of 53% and therefore is not “dry”.  As such we did ask the homeowner to sign a non-compliance and removed all equipment.  We modified the initial estimate to include only the work performed.
  
  You will see in the initial estimate that we only estimated to remove the tile and dry the existing subfloor.  There are no line items concerning putting the floor back (our company does not do what is called rebuild and only focuses on water mitigation).
  
  The billing used was based on per element and as you will see most of the prices related to the prep work and the demolition (which was all complete).  The only portion of the project not completed was the final drying (equipment rental) due to the client asking us to stop.

  Customer response

  02/08/2022

   I am rejecting this response because:
  
  I maintain that the amount of money they charged was exorbitant for the square footage of area they treated. Additionally, not one time before the on-site job began was I ever told that they could do the job and I still may have some unsalvageable flooring that would need to be removed and replaced by another contractor; if they had been transparent about that I would never have purchased their services. They are an unscrupulous business that treated an area that their own employee stated would need to be completely replaced. I’ve had businesses charge a consultation fee to see if their product might be appropriate to fix an issue; I feel they should have done this and then been honest that they wouldn’t be able to save the flooring no matter the treatment. I could have then decided if I wanted to proceed with treating the area or not. And again, no testing for mold was ever carried out. If I don’t receive a reimbursement for unnecessary services, I want my complaint posted.

  

  Business response

  02/09/2022

  The homeowner was given (and has shared with BBB) a detailed scope of the work we would perform.   It is broken out by element (how much for setting containment, cleaning, demolition, equipment, etc..).  The pictures that I provided showed that there was a hole through her floor when we did the initial inspection.  We communicated to the homeowner that she had visible rot.  At no point did our services state that we would repair her floor.  Our services was purely to remove the tile, clean the surfaces to remove the silica dust and dry the remaining subfloor and joists (in the crawl space as well as the bathroom).  The homeowner reviewed our initial estimate, signed a work authorization and asked us to get started, which we did in a timely manner.  She then called us and asked us to stop, which we also did in a timely manner. Customer signed a certificate of satisfaction (will attach) and a non compliance release form (as we were not allowed to finish drying the structure).   Our contract states that we can charge for a percentage of work not performed, which we DID NOT DO.  We only charged for the work performed.  I have submitted a copy of the contract signed by the homeowner. 
  
  We clearly documented the work to be perform.  Have documentation of the work that was performed and only charged for what was done.  The homeowner agreed to our pricing per element and only after the work was performed is stating that it is too much. We have already lowered the price of not charging a percentage on the work not performed (as per contract) and dropped price to only the work we performed in an attempt to meet the customer half way.  She is continuing to push for a lowered bill for work that was performed and we incurred the costs and she signed a certificate of satisfaction.  

  Customer response

  02/09/2022

   I am rejecting this response because: I was told by Mike ******* that I HAD to sign the certificate of satisfaction in order for the treatment to be stopped and the company’s equipment to be removed from my residence as requested. I was not given a chance to read the certificate of satisfaction; Mike held his cell phone with the certificate of satisfaction on it and scrolled quickly to the signature space. I shouldn’t have signed it but, again, I was told I HAD to. I maintain that the business practices on behalf of this company were unethical and not transparent. I should have been informed up front that they could treat the area but that I would still have to have the flooring removed and replaced. It doesn’t sound like I’m going to receive any portion of the monies I paid so, please, post my experience on

  the BBB site for Restoration 1 so that others may avoid a similar situation.
  
  
  

*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. ↩