ComplaintsforSERVPRO of Northeast Columbus and SERVPRO of Gahanna

• Initial Complaint

  01/29/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I've been working with ServPro and Doug (the project manager) for the past two months starting 12/7/2023. The mitigation process went great but the repairs have been terrible and slow. When picking out new flooring they insisted I used a flooring company that they wanted and would be billed through wanting to change an extra 10% for flooring costs- when I asked for a quote for the flooring costs they refused to provide one. When I chose to go with a different flooring company Doug threatened to walk off the repair project. Doug has been incredibly unprofessional and rude. Then when having the original repair quote adjusted to have flooring removed, they added random charges- some of which they refuse to explain or wont respond with an answer. When I finally got ahold of Doug to ask about some of the charges- he threatened to walk off the project AGAIN. Work finally started last week 1/24/2024. Doug the project manager has not checked in on any work that has been done. there are line items in the quote that I am being charged There is only one guy who has been doing work at my house- he doesn't show up in the Servpro uniform or van that the mitigation team did so I suspect he is a contract hire. They are also trying to charge me to move furniture they didn't move.

  Business response

  02/06/2024

  We have been in communication with the customer and are working to finalize the job and credits for any work we did not complete.  This matter should be resolved.  Thank you

  Customer response

  02/06/2024

  I accept the business's response to resolve this complaint.
  
  Regards,
  
  ****** *****

• Initial Complaint

  05/03/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This is a rental. I had renters insurance: structural and personal. My landlord had property insurance. I hired them on 10.18.22 for a fire restoration of a home. They began work on or about 10.25.22. They sent in a team of Spanish speaking staff to do the clean up, so it was hard for me to communicate with them. I tried to tell them not to take out the furniture. But they did, and put a lot in a dumpster. They took all of the furniture out and did the cleaning and some deconstruction; carpeting, drywall, and ceiling, wiped down walls, packed up 25 boxes and sent them to storage, then disappeared. They billed my insurance company $30,000.00. My insurance company negotiated with them down to $13,000. I negotiated with them down to $10,000. They held my belongings hostage until I paid. ServPro is asking $1000 a month for a regular 10' x 20' storage unit. My landlord paid for the cleaning. 

  Ultimately, another contractor was hired to finish the job. I was in a hotel from the fire until 4.5.23.

  Business response

  05/08/2023

  I would like to first address the reason our initial estimate decreased from $30,000 to the amount we invoiced for of $9,646.48.  When we prepared the initial estimate we were advised we would be holding the customers personal property in storage for the duration of the repairs to the structure.  We estimated for 9 months of storage.  The initial estimate also accounted for cleaning all of the personal property.  The customer then informed us that he had limited coverage through his insurance and that he didn't want us to clean anything and wanted to arrange for the items to be picked up.  We adjusted our estimate and invoice to reflect only the work we completed and we capped storage at 1 month.  Additionally we have 125 boxes packed with the customers belongings as well as approximately 60 items.  Our current charge of $9,646.48 is accurate and fair. 

  Mr. ******* has had multiple conversations with our office staff and one of our owners, Ramy M****, about these charges.  We expect to be paid for the work we completed.  Mr. ******* should contact Ramy M**** at ###-###-#### to resolve this matter.  

   

  Thank you.

  Customer response

  05/16/2023

  I am rejecting this response because: This company did not have my permission to take the contents to their storage facility. I told many of the workers that the furniture was smoke ingested and that we would be replacing this stuff for the most part. They all I began to find out did not speak much or no English. The company had put a lock box on the door with my permission so as to get in the dwelling to CLEAN and remove damaged ceilings, walls, carpeting, padding, damaged items to be discarded, etc. As I noticed from time to time as I came back to check their progress I noticed that furniture was removed or being removed. There was no one to communicate with as to what was happening etc. I have tried since December the 2nd to get the contents picked up to put into a storage facility which I had leased with ,****** ******* on ******* ** in my vicinity but was told that that is not an option and that this was now all about COLLATERAL! There was no mention of work, starting the work etc. Then SERVEPRO sent another estimator out and he informed me that they would be ordering the materials and that it would be 4-6 weeks before they could start depending upon the arrival of the materials. **** ***** and ***** is right around the corner and these are the places where the materials are at and were at. SERVEPRO had no intentions of fulfilling their obligation. We were mislead from NOV., Dec., 2022, Jan., and Feb., 2023. This is where SERVEPRO mysteriously disappeared and cut all communication by not answering phone calls, texts, voice messages, emails, etc. It was at this point and time that my Landowner/Landlord conferred with me about seeking another CONTRACTOR and PURECLEAN was chosen and immediately began the work and had everything 95% completed within three weeks total and was 100% professional, prompt, and totally responsible with any and all questions answered , explained, and guaranteed!!!  Sincerely and thanks, ****** ** *******
  
  Regards,
  
  ****** *******

  Business response

  05/22/2023

  We respectfully disagree.  Mr. ******* signed a contract with us for his personal belongings to be removed from the property, cleaned, and stored while repairs to his rental home were being completed.  This process was explained in detail to Mr. ******* by our estimator/project manager, Cory M********  We adjusted our estimate to accurately reflect the work that we completed.  We have capped his storage charges at 1 month despite them being in our facility for several months.  We verified with this insurance company that he was paid per the estimate we have provided.  He has received the funds to reimburse us for the work we completed.  In an effort to resolve this matter, we will take $1,000 off of his current balance of $9,464.48. 

  Thank you

• Initial Complaint

  12/06/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  In summer of 2020, i had a roof leak after a thunderstorm. The insurance company denied the claim stating it was not unexpected/sudden loss. The insurance will cover the water damage to the bathroom wall, and they referred the claim to Servpro. The roof leak took priority first. A contractor (Craig) from Servpro arrived. I made arrangements with the contractor (Craig) to repair the roof leak, at my own expense. The work was completed. In November 2022, it was noticed that the hole/leak has re-appeared in the same area. I contacted Craig. He came out and said he no longer works for Servpro, the work was done when with Servpro. But, he would do the re-repair and get back to me on the cost. I didn't hear back. That is paying twice and i was going to dispute that. On November 28, 2022, i called Servpro directly at ###-###-####. I was transferred to the local Servpro office. The man i spoke to sent this case to Coordinator Rachel. Rachel called me the same day from ###-###-####. She said there is no record of doing any work here, and this is not covered. I gave her Craig name and number. She was to contact him to clarify this. I asked her to call me with an update and her reply was "i can do that." I never heard from her or anybody. I had a feeling/vibes that i was not going to hear back and i was going to have to 'chase after' Servpro. Why doesn't Servpro have records of this work on file ? To me, there are several scenarios as to how/why. This type of work can't wait indefinitely until a resolution. I am seeking/hiring another company to do this re-repair. It has rained/light snow since i called Servpro and Craig. ** I am requesting to be reimbursed the cost of hiring another company to do this re-repair.

  Business response

  12/08/2022

  I have reviewed our files on this matter.  We did receive a call to go out and provide emergency services to the customers roof on July 8 of 2020.  However, the insurance adjuster inspected the roof prior to us completing any work and he informed us and the customer there was no coverage for the roof damage due to age and wear and tear.  Our sub contractor, Craig, was going to handle the roof tarp on our behalf.  Once the adjuster advised he would not be covering this service, the customer declined to have us complete any work.  He chose to work directly with Craig, to complete a temporary repair to the roof. 

  Rachel from our office acknowledges speaking with Mr. ******** on 11/28. While on the call with Mr. ******** she could not find any record of Servpro completing work for him.  She requested that if he had any documentation to suggest otherwise, he should provide it to our office for further review.  She did not hear back from Mr. ********, and thought this matter was resolved until we received notification of this complaint.  

  Servpro was not paid any funds by this customer and did not complete any work.  The customer chose to work directly with Craig, which kept his costs lower at the time of the work being completed.  If he has concerns about the work that was completed, he should deal directly with Craig.   

  Servpro doesn't have any money to refund because we did not complete any work. 

  Thank you
  

• Initial Complaint

  10/13/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  ******** **********I own a condo in ****** ***** building in Columbus, OH run by a Home Owner’s Association (HOA) and managed by a third party, **** ******** *********** On 6/21/2020 are unit become flooded from above, we notified the management company they contacted SERVPRO to help them clean and dry out the flooding. Maintenance services for these type of events are covered by our HOA as documented by the HOA Declarations. All work by SERVPRO was ordered and authorized by ****, I did not order or sign for any of the work performed by SERVPRO. Today I received a final notice invoice for $3935.09, this is the only invoice ever I received, from SERVPRO dated 8/7/2020 stating if I don’t pay by 10/14/2022 it would be sent to collections.

  Business response

  10/14/2022

  This was an internal accounting error.  Our office has spoken with the customer and ****** ***** ********** this morning.  No funds are owed to Servpro.  We apologize for the inconvenience and confusion.  Thank you.

• Initial Complaint

  10/09/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  The job was not finished, nothing was covered in plastic while painting and drywalling, paint on photos, wood floor, leather couch etc. As opposed to covering my clothes dressers they took all clothes out and placed in trash bags, quit in the middle of cleaning up their mess and didn't finish cleaning. One night I came home and 2 guys said we think there is jewelry in the bottom drawer. Sounds strange. All of my mom's, grandmas precious diamonds and gems gone. Not sure what happened. DO NOT EVER USE THIS COMPANY IN WORTHINGTON.

  Business response

  10/12/2022

  I reviewed our job management system and the last time we did any work for ******** **** was in 2018.  I worked with Ms. **** at that time to address some concerns she had.  I would be willing to meet with her and inspect her home if this work is related to the job we were involved with in 2018, however this complaint has caught me off guard.  There was never any mention of missing jewelry when I met with Ms. **** in 2018.  Please review and let me know what should happen next.  I'm hoping this is a mistake, or possibly an old complaint from 2018 that just came through due to a technical issue.  Thank you, *** ****** ###-###-####

• Initial Complaint

  10/03/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Due to extremely heavy rain right before July 4th 2022, the basement drain backed up and water from the unfinished part of the basement ( furnance room) leaked into the finished area. I called my homeowners insurance (****) and they said to call Servpro and gave me the number to call. They did not give me any other companies to call so I assumed that they were working with Servpro and that **** would approve the costs. Servpro came out and immediately wanted to know how much my insurance would pay. I told them my policy allowed $10,000.00 total and he repeatedly said not to worry about anything as my insurance would pay for everything. I am an 86 yr old widower living alone so I trusted him and because the insurance gave me their number I thought they were the only option. NO estimate was given but because of his misleading claim and misleading affiliation with **** Insurance, I gave authority to do the work. My adjuster then visited to go over my claim and he said that I could use any money leftover ( after servpro clean-up , and then repairs ( drywall, new carpet, painting) to buy any furniture that might have water damage). He thought clean-up would be $3,000-$4,000 and repair an additional $5,000.00. After he left, I received an invoice from Serv-Pro for just clean up for $8,948.42 and then an estimate for repair for $9,427.85 for a total cost of $18,376.27. I called **** Insurance who were appalled but only then did I learn that they had no affiliation with ServPro at all. I was stunned to learn that I could have called any number of companies . I then reviewed closely the invoice to see that they had charged me for 4 days drying time for bare concrete floors and claimed to have 8 dryers in the furnace room ( extremely small). The did flood cuts on two entire walls that did not have water within 10 feet. they took the carpet and discarded, and then charged four days worth of drying time. I believe they did what they could just to take all of the money.

  Business response

  10/10/2022

  I have reviewed the complaint from Ms. ********.  Upon receiving the complaint, I also reviewed her entire file and I spoke to the initial estimator that responded to the job.  Our invoice is not inflated.  It is supported by the facts of the damages that were present in the customers home at the time of our inspection.  Our estimator indicated he did have a brief conversation with the customer about the policy limits, only as an FYI that it could come into play on the job (most drain back up jobs that we handle, have limit issues that impact the final outcome of the job).  We would never intentionally inflate a scope of work.  The equipment that was placed on this job was calculated using software that our corporate office created.  It takes into account the SF of affected area along with the type of loss and building materials.  

   

  We also never told the customer that our charges would be $3-$4K.  We rely on 3rd party estimating software to calculate the final cost of the job.  In this particular case, this customers home was one of many that were impacted from a major storm event.  There was a City wide flood event and there was more work than we were able to capture.  We were only running service call appointments and were not providing estimates due to our limited resources compared to work that needed service.  If customers called into our office and inquired about an estimate before service began, we told them they would be placed on a wait list.

   

  In an attempt to help this customer and resolve this complaint, we have adjusted our invoice.  We reduced our equipment count from 24 total air movers to 18 air movers.  This was the lowest possible air mover count our software indicated could be used to properly dry the home.  Typically when we use less air moves, it requires additional days onsite to properly dry.  We also, reduced the drying days from 4 to 3.  Lastly, we made a few other revisions to our extraction charge (normal instead of heavy), waived our service call fee, etc.  These revisions resulted in a new estimate amount of $6,993.  This is a reduction of $1,995.42.  

   

  Our accounting department will update the invoice and send a new copy to the customer.  I have provided the updated estimate as an attachment to this complaint.  

   

  Thank you,

  Ken P****r

  Customer response

  10/12/2022

  I am rejecting this response because:  The fact that almost half of the flood cuts were made and not needed doubled the amount of expense as I know need to pay to have that repaired. To clarify, your adjuster did not say $3,000.00-$4,000.00 he only claimed that my insurance would pay for everything. It was my insurance adjuster (**** Insurance) who was thinking that.  Your software square footage was erroneous as the wrong info was entered and how you could possibly call that an estimate or invoice as it details absolutely no information in any logical way. It looks like high technology but is used to mislead. This whole operation- from acting like you are a vendor for my insurance company..to a misleading, illegible ,non-sensical invoice and refusing to give estimates! smacks of unethical business practices. Drying concrete 3 days with all those blowers ( supposedly) is ridiculous. I will pay $5,000.00 and that is $1,000.00 more than it is worth and that is all I will entertain. Have a good day.
  
  Regards,
  
  **** ********

  Business response

  10/14/2022

  Ms. ********,

   I take offense to you calling our company unethical.  We pride ourselves in doing the right thing.  The concessions that were made to our original invoice were more than fair.  The scope of work we completed is in full compliance with the IICRC industry standards. We will not make any further reductions to the balance we are owed.  I'm sorry that your insurance coverage isn't adequate, however this doesn't change the work that was required to be completed in your home to properly mitigate from a sewage back up.  I would be happy to sit down with you and review our estimate line by line.  If you would like to schedule a time to come into our office and review everything in person, please call to schedule.

  Thank you.

  Customer response

  10/24/2022

  The complaint number ******** ( **** ******** ...Servpro) has not been satisfactorily resolved on my part. I offered to  pay Servpro $5,000.00 for work that was excessive and performed under their assertion that my Insurance company would pay for everything. I am an 87 yr old widow and I firmly believe that they took advantage of my lack of knowledge at the time.  The main points of my complaint are as follows:

     1) When they came to my house, they immediately wanted to know what my insurance would pay and then assured me that my insurance would pay for everything. They did not mention at all that once they did drywall cuts on my basement and took out the carpet that they would bill me almost the entire amount that my insurance paid ($10,000.00). They did not provide any type of estimate at all, but only said "don't worry about it". 

     2) they came back for more:  They initially did half the amount of drywall cuts as they only cut the walls that were actually left. Four days later they came back and said they had to do more work. To my horror, they cut all the walls in my basement where water was not within 10 feet!!! 

     3) Their invoice disguised the fact that they did not have half of the amount equipment in the home as they are stating nor that they were charging 4 days of drying time for concrete!!!

      4) It was not until I complained to my Insurance company (****) that I found out that Serv-pro was not a vendor for **** and I could have gotten estimates.

      5) the work was shoddy (cuts uneven) and they provided absolutely no details.

      6) they state that they are sorry I did not have better insurance ( I let my insurance company know that too) but this is not about money. This is about

          stopping companies like this take advantage  of people that need help.

   

• Initial Complaint

  03/17/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  There was a fire August 12, 2020 and I hired Servpro to do the restoration of the property. The contact person on the job was Ramy M. She came two separate times to give estimates, the second time she brought two additional people with her. They were talking alot and I am deaf and was feeling uncomfortable about the situation. I was telling them that they could store a lot of my things in my garage so they didn't have to store it. I felt like they weren't understanding or there was a lack of understanding but she kept telling me she understood. When they came to empty the house, they tried to take items that they didn't need to, like items in my bedroom. I explained I wanted to keep these things here. As they cleared the house, I noticed 3 lock boxes and my personal briefcase was missing.I tried calling Ramy, but she never called me back. I called Ken, who was the other person helping with the budgeting for my job, and he answered. Said he would have Ramy call me. She never did. This restoration took until October of 2021 when I could move back in. I have received boxes of items that are not mine, I am missing many of my items, and they have brought me furniture they stored that was supposed to be cleaned and it is filthy black from the fire, even damaged. I filed a police report because they are unwilling to help me find my missing items and are charging me for storage on items that could have been stored in my garage, per my wishes. I had an issue with my bathtub they installed being damaged and they were unwilling to replace that.

  Business response

  03/23/2022

  Mr. ********* contacted us and advised there were items missing from his home.  We reviewed our full inventory list and photos of the items we took into our possession and we didn't have the items he claims to be missing.  While we were working at his residence there were a few rooms that he had locked with deadbolts that we were never permitted to enter or work in.  We acknowledge that we mistakenly took some boxes of items from another job to Mr. ********* when we returned his property and he has never allowed us to return to retrieve these items.  We maintain that we do not have any of the items Mr. ********* believes we have taken.  We are more than willing to comply with a police investigation if we are contacted.  His items had to be stored at our facility to accommodate the repairs to Mr. *********'s home. 

  Mr. ********* claims we damaged his bathtub while we were cleaning it.  This isn't possible.  Despite this claim, we were willing to work with him and resurface the tub to appease him.  

  As of this date Mr. ********* owes us $19,141.74 for the cleaning and storage of his personal property and he owes us a remaining balance of $11,070.26 for the repairs to his home.  We have made numerous attempts to collect these funds.  Mr. ********* has refused certified mail that we have sent to his home and he ignores our calls.  We will offer a reduction of 10% ($3,021.20) of the total outstanding balance ($30,212) in exchange for full payment of our invoice and the return of the belongings that were mistakenly delivered to his home.  Please note that we are under the impression from his insurance provider that he was paid in full for the amounts of our invoices so that he could in turn pay us for our services.  NOTE:  We invoiced Mr.  ********* for 95% of our repair invoice because we acknowledge that we were to return to complete tile backsplash work, but he stopped communicating with us to schedule a return date for this work to be complete and he never gave us a tile material selection.  Our invoices are several months past due.  

  When interacting with Mr. ********* over the phone there was an interpreter on his end to assist with communication.  At no point in time were we ever lead to believe that Mr. ********* had trouble understanding our communications.  

  If there are quality issues with the cleaning or work performed at Mr. *********'s home, we are willing to return and correct them once we are paid for our services rendered.  

  Thank you,

  *** ******

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