ComplaintsforCousino Restoration & Environmental LLC

• Initial Complaint

  05/09/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  company was contracted to repair home due to fire. company has not finished the work at all. said they would come back and complete the work and to also repair work that was done incorrectly. after waiting several weeks we contacted company and was told that they would not be coming back out to do the work they are contractually obligated to do. and even though this was an insurance claim on our home which is currently still open, they have now sent letters via an attorney to collect money they say is owed. insurance company has said NOTHING has been submitted to them at all and Cousinos should not be contacting me personally for money and that they are in breach of contract.

  

  Business response

  05/09/2024

  This file came across my desk in the last 48 hours. Since then, Cousino has had two conversations with the customer through our attorney. Cousino has made an offer to not charge for the items that are in question, whether they were not completed, or not completed to the clients satisfation. The amount of the credited amount is $9,272.13 off the balance owed of $27,018.41 which would bring a balance due of $17,746.28. The amount of the credit is the amount that the insurance company has allowed for these items which would allow the client to have another contractor take care of the repairs. A few hours ago, we reached out to the adjuster and explained the situation, and he also reached out the customer to go through the details and share that a portion of the additional money would be released from the insurance company as it is owed. The client was given my cell phone number and had asked for a week to review the details. At this point, there is nothing further for us to do. i did not attach the document which shows the credits and the estimate as it does have the clients personal information and i did not want to share that. We are attempting to resolve this matter and please feel free to reach out if anything additional is required.

• Initial Complaint

  05/22/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  6/13/22 - my sump failed and my basement and lower level flooded. Contacted Cousino's for clean-up and repair on the morning of 6/14. They weren't able to make it out until 6/17 to start clean up, which went fine. They didn't send someone to start repairs until 11/8. I had to ask multiple times to see the estimate - which ended up being wrong. Despite me telling them multiple times that there was mold and walls were going to need to be removed, doors replaced, and a new vanity (which *****, my contact person in charge of the repair, assured me he understood on his visit to my house), none of it was covered on the estimate, and they made the assumption that I wanted carpeting in the lower level, again despite me telling ***** differently. The single repair man they sent was not prepared to do any of it, only flooring. They proceeded to make design decisions for my home (which direction to run flooring, metal transition strips, etc.) for which I was not consulted. Had my mother not been in my home (they assured me I didn't need anyone there, and this is precisely why I did) I wouldn't have been able to get it corrected before too much was done. He left after about 6 days in my home. 11/3 - I asked ***** where we stand on replacing doors and finishing my stairs, he said they were waiting on stair nose. 12/7 - asked if he ordered the doors yet. He tells me they aren't on insurance estimate but he will submit supplement. When guy finally returned 1/17, he did not have doors and had incorrect stair nose - said he hadn't heard from insurance. I called my ins. co. immediately - they had never received the supplement as of 2/1/23 almost 2 months after saying he would! 3/14 ***** asks for pictures of doors, I sent them. 3/30 I rcvd payment from ins. 4/3 - he says nose should be in that week. That's the last I have heard from them. It's been almost a year - it's not done, and I have been repeatedly lied to. There's more - but I am out of character space in this box.

  

  Business response

  05/25/2023

  I have spoken with ***** ****** the Project manager handling this file. He shared with me that the stair nosing did arrive from Chicago today and is scheduled to be installed next week. There was a supply chain issue with this nosing as the nosing was discontinued and no longer available. They were able to source this and have it shipped in. There was a delay as to the supplement for the doors, and the approval, along with the ordering. The doors were measured and one was a special order door which has been ordered and will take 2-4 weeks to arrive. Next week, they will install the one door that is in stock and will install the special order door once it arrives which will complete the project. Cousino will consider discussing a discount regarding the timeline of events once the work has been completed.

• Initial Complaint

  08/15/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Cousino Restoration did some work to our home after a fire. Numerous times they failed to call or get things scheduled. They delayed our ability to get back in our house in a resonable time from the neglect of none of the "supervisors" knowing what was going on. Numerous people involved not knowing what the prior person had told us and a bunch of back and fourth. Higher ups never available to actually take calls or answer emails in a timely manner. Our adjuster was even fed up with them. They took the job and were all nice than once you hire them you can take a back seat to all the other clients that can sucker in. Than they send an invoice with work not yet completed but want a full payment, and charge for stuff that wasn't done. Than they have the nerve to put a lien on yoir house.

  

  Business response

  08/18/2022

  The ******** hired Cousino Restoration of Toledo LLC on 5-13-21 to repair fire and smoke damages at their home at **** ********* ***** ** **********. The claim was substantial, resulting in over $70,000 of total damages. Even though the contract provided we would do all the repairs the ******** wanted to do a lot of the work themselves, which our Project Manager allowed. This always complicates projects, usually causing delays because the work has to be coordinated between multiple parties instead of being under a single point of control and management. It also frequently causes billing disputes because the parties disagree over who completed a particular item of work. Both of those problems are present here.

  Another problem when homeowners do part of the work themselves is they frequently overspend on their portion of the work, resulting in funding shortages to pay the contractor.  We don't know if that occurred here.

  In any case, Cousino performed significant amounts of work until March and sent its $44,764.86 Invoice (also attached) on May 31, 2022. This followed emails and conversations trying to sort out who did what work. The ******** still believe there are a few errors in the billing but have paid nothing so far. They should at least pay the undisputed portion now instead of holding the entire balance hostage, which is what they are doing. This is why the lien was filed (lien attached also). Cousino is happy to meet with them at our office to resolve this and payment of the undisputed portion is not a condition for meeting. However, good faith suggests they at least make a partial payment.

  Customer response

  08/26/2022

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because: 

  We were not the ones holding up the process.  The ball has always been in *****, or *****'s court, but according to ***** ***** would never respond when he said he would.  He has consistently not returned my husband *****'s phone calls or emails.  He has known since before November that we had the money owed to the company we just needed a correct invoice because we are not gonna pay an invoice that is incorrect.  This company has been nothing but a headache since the 2nd month of having been hired.  As for my husband holding up the process, that is laughable.  He is the one who kept it moving or we would more than like still be held up in an apartment.  We still do not have siding.  The one time ***** got the piece of siding to match he "lost" it.  As you can see from the screenahot of the email I attached we have been more than willing to work with them, they are just not wiring to work with us.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ******** *******

  

  Business response

  08/29/2022

  I am not sure where, but there seems to be some confusion regarding this file. Since our response, ***** has reached out and had a phone conference with Mr. ******* and they had reached an agreement on 1/3 items in question. The other two items ***** shared that he would need to look into and get back to discuss so that final resolution can be reached. I just hung up with ***** and he is reaching out to him today to discuss the remaining 2 items. 

  Customer response

  09/02/2022

  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ******** *******

• Initial Complaint

  05/16/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  The company was hired to patch and or tarp a hole in my roof, which was found at the boot/base of a pipe. It took them a week to come and do the patching. Then come to find out they didn’t tarp it, you couldn’t even tell anything was done at all. This took place on March 10th. I then proceeded to text the project manager about the repair and he responded that they ‘tempted and piece of sheet metal into the roof for a better repair’. This was disproved when about six days later I had a different company do the actual repair of the hole in my roof, when I looked over the pieces of my roof, which included the pipe with the boot, from my roof. There was no sheet metal to be found, just a rubber cover over the boot that was basically glued on. So I was lied to and was upset, so knowing they would be billing me I took a picture and sent it to the project manager in which he didn’t respond to. Fast forward to 2 months later! I finally get an email of the invoice, in which they are now saying that two workers were involved and the entire patch job took 4 hours to do! To glue a piece of rubber into my roof! My roof repair in total didn’t take much over 3 hours and he Cut into my roof and Nailed In new wood. There is no reason I should be charged for four hours of work that I know is a lie! I am willing to pay for the one worker being there for an hour, I refuse to pay for the other being there for 3 hours, which is apparently what was put on a written time card that could easily be flawed just to make hours. I want this company to retract the invoice and have me pay what I know I should be paying because I refuse to let their employees take advantage of me and my money, they have also wasted my time with their unprofessional ways but of course I can not get that time back. I wish I had never dealt with this sham of a company ever!

  

  Business response

  06/08/2022

  I am responding to this complaint, as ********* in-house attorney. First, let me apologize for not responding sooner. Our policy is is to respond to BBB complaints right away and I'm the one who has done it for years. However, this is the first I've seen this complaint, probably because we completely changed over our IT system, including emails. I believe the BBB had my old email.
  
  I read Ms. ********* complaint and reviewed the file, time cards, etc...By way of background, this location is a multi-unit rental. The customer lives there but also owns the building. I believe she is a sophisticated landlord who normally has repairs like this done by her "go-to" maintenance contractors. In fact, my information is that she originally called them but they couldn't respond immediately so she then called us. I say this because 99% of the time our emergency services are funded by insurance coverage. That industry, by its very nature, is more expensive than non-insurance contractors - and especially compared to rental maintenance contractors. I personally believe the roofer she refers to is probably someone she normally uses for maintenance and likely has a lower overhead and cost structure. Nevertheless, she hired us.
  
  The project manager dispatched a field technician to look at the situation. Counting drive time that took 1 hour. Then, there were 3 hours for repairs, again including drive time. Drive is chargeable because we are interrupting other services to respond. ***** thought they installed a piece of metal. The customer is correct: they didn't. But they did "blackjack" TWO vents, not one, as a temporary fix.
  
  I believe the charges are completely legitimate. But Cousino will accept $200 as full payment for settlement purposes. Please let me know the customer's response. I can be clear that Cousino will never agree to only collect for a single hour - we are not going to lose money on this callout. But we will negotiate.

*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. ↩