Aqua-Dri Waterproofing

Our family home required basement waterproofing. A contract agreement between the Aqua-Dri Company was explained by Mr. **, signed and agreed upon (04/03/2010). Upon system installment and work task completion (04/03/2010), I was reminded to have a complete system free inspected every six months to ensure that the system setup and equipment was working correctly.

I have been attempting to contact Aqua-Dri to have my basement inspected. When calling or attempting to e-mail them, they are no longer listed. I did not receive any notice as to how to contact them or a phone number to call in the event of something going wrong with my system or its setup. I do not know their location (if they moved) or their business phone number information to date.

I'm a first-time home buyer and single mom. I noticed the house had a strange odor in the basement and I called 3 waterproofing contractors for bids. Two were asking $10,000 upfront for drainage system and mold treatment for the cinder blocks. I only had $8,000.00 cash. When the Aqua-Dri, senior inspector came, he pointed out "black mold" in the basement and said that the other companies didn't mention it because he was an expert mold inspector and only the Aqua-Dri system of mold remediation could save my house from the "cancer" and that the foundation would not hold up unless I bought Aqua-Dri's unique system.

He then when on to show me medical photos and lists of all the health problems my kids and I would have if I didn't treat the "deadly black mold". Of course, I was in shock by these scare tactics. I told him that I didn't have more than $8,000.00 cash. He then told me he would be doing me a favor by taking my $8,00 and 12 post-dated checks totaling $16,000.00 over 12 months.

I needed to move my kids in, so I signed the contract and they started the very next day. The results were that Aqua-Dri subcontracts a crew of day laborers with a foreman that can speak enough English to talk to the homeowner. When I saw the water, they sprayed a little anti-mold product here and there. I was not happy and wrote a clause on the finished work form that they had to come back and finish.

When I realized I had been overcharged for substandard work, I called Eco-Logic, an independent mold inspector. They took 4 samples from mold areas that were not treated and the results for toxic mold was negative.

When I called Gary ** from Aqua-Dri, he said it sure looked like toxic mold to him. I also told him the the anti-mold application looked like a 3-year-old finger painted in random spots. His reply was, "I gotta go, I'm with a customer now." He suggested I call the main office to get a crew to return to finish. I did and they did not show up for the appointment. Surprise!

I went down to the basement and saw puddles of water on the basement floor. So much for Aqua-Dri. When I called to complain vigorously, they sent a crew over right away. The foreman barely spoke English and I had a hard time understanding why they started to jack hammer up the french drain again. I also asked the foreman why the mold treatment was spotty. He mumbled something about "spotty is okay." I said not for $16,000, it's not okay. Because Aqua-Dri sent a different group of labors, they had no idea what was installed incorrectly and they couldn't explain it to me.