The Basement Doctor Reviews

Steve assured us that his plan would solve our issues and we moved forward with a contract to do the recommended work. The initial process was very quick and easy. Steve sold us on a job that he guaranteed to solve our issue and we felt very comfortable paying the premium price for what we thought would be premium quality and service. This is not what we received however and The Basement Doctor has left our basement in worse shape than before they started. Their installers are young men who were caught smoking ** on the job site by our Contractor. The same young men tore our yard up with their heavy truck with no disregard to the damage they left behind.

I wish I could tell you that was the worst part of this experience but it is not. The actual work performed by these young men included removing our existing waterproofing system in order to get their power brace system in place. When approached with this we were assured that the basement would still be completely waterproofed and we would have no issues removing the system so that their work could be completed "easier". Trusting that the company knew more than we did about Basement Repair - we agreed to allow the installers to remove the waterproofing system with the understanding it would cause no issues and the basement would still be waterproofed.

Immediately realized this was false information provided by the installers. Making their job "easier" for them ended up creating a huge issue for us. The basement is now collecting water and having issues that it was never having before. We were then contacted by one of the installers via FB and was shocked with the information he provided to us. The installer that works for The Basement Doctor and performed the installation on our house began messaging us telling us that the job Steve had sold us on should have never been sold to us because they knew ahead of time the issues that would be created by removing the waterproofing system.

The installer then attempted to sell us on the repair job to allow him to come back in and fix the issue that had been created but to allow him to do it on the "side" so that The Basement Doctor wouldn't get the money he would get the money directly and in return could provide a better price to complete the work. This is mind-blowing! The installer who completed the work after telling us it was ok to remove the waterproofing system and assured us no issues would be created from doing so, was now telling us they knew all along that was a mistake and he was trying to get us to pay him "on the side" to come back in and fix the issue they created. Business Integrity? Business Ethics? Is this even LEGAL??

We attempted to resolve this issue with management (Ben) and expressed to Ben why we felt this didn't seem or feel right to us only to be met with an aggressive resistance telling us that we were lying and no employee from The Basement Doctor would ever say these things to us or try and get side work to fix an issue they created. Having all of the messages from this employee I don't understand why The Basement Doctor has taken such an aggressive position in refusing to do what is right and stand up for doing good honest business.

Our position is we trusted The Basement Doctor to lead us into the best solution for repair and got burned by dishonest Salesmen and dishonest installers. The same installers who performed the work admittedly identified via FB Messages that the job should have never been sold to us the way it was and that they knew issues would be created but choose not to disclose that upfront. Beware of this company, they take advantage of their customers, take their money and leave them with a total disaster! As their employee stated the materials and jobs are basically DIY from Lowe's, don't be their next victim!

I called the Mr. Basement number and it went to Basement Doctor voice mail. The lady called me back and said that Mr. Basement of MD is no longer in business and so the so called "lifetime warranty" they gave is no longer respected and so any fix made would be like a new job. They gave the name of some other company in MD who services them but that guy only once called and said he would come and never showed up.

Apparently the logo of the now defunct Mr. Basement and the now operational Basement Doctor is the same and has the the face of the person who is probably the owner of this shady enterprise. The lady told that the two companies had a relationship once and now they no longer have. I'm sure that they are the same company and because of the bad work they did and the numerous complains (check BBB reports), they dissolved one of the companies so as to not be bothered about the so called "lifetime warranty". Needless to say I am having to redo that section of the wall again by another company at a significant expense, when the Mr. Basement/Basement Doctor or whatever name they pick in future should have honored their warranty and fixed their sloppy job.

The whole time Wes was attempting to make it seem as if I was wrong and everything was just fine. Being my wife's father is financing this operation... I have no ultimate control, Wes called a supposedly independent engineer to come in and look at the walls. Supposedly he agrees with Wes. They are not in imminent danger of complete failure. I suspect that engineer will say whatever the Basement Doctor wants him to. It does not take an engineer to see that the block is failing... at $46000.00 the total amount my father in law is surrendering or being swindled out of is unbelievable.

I hired an engineer and personally opened up the floor in three places to confirm the problem. I initiated discussions with my insurance company. After a year, they finally conceded that they were responsible for my problem. When we started the process of determining the costs involved, I contacted J&D Basement Systems/The Basement Doctor. They gave me a proposal to fix the problem in my basement. During a six-month process of negotiating a settlement amount with the insurance company, I met with Wes ** of J&D Basement Systems on a few occasions and traded several emails and phone calls. I was concerned that in order to get a settlement payment, the insurance company was asking me to sign a release, indemnifying them from further responsibility.

I spent a great deal of time making sure I had all the costs covered before I signed the release. Wes ** gave me every assurance that he had all the work I needed included in my bid. As I said, I met with him to discuss this specifically. We proceeded to sign a contract for the work and scheduled a date to start. Approximately two weeks later, I got a letter in the mail stating that J&D Basement Systems was terminating my contract. There was no explanation included. When I inquired about why they wished to terminate the agreement, I was told that the amount of work anticipated was not covered in their contract amount. Specifically, Wes Martin told me that he wasn't sure how many cracks were in my walls that would require repairs and he couldn't verify the amount of my existing drainage system under the floor that would need to be replaced. Both of these are items we specifically discussed. Not only did he assure me that any cracks they found would be repaired, but he also stated that most or all of the existing drainage system would be replaced.

These were not items that were overlooked during the process. We specifically discussed them. I was then told that the job could be completed for a possible up charge of $4,400, depending on what they will find when they started the job. Needless to say, I can no longer go back to the insurance company and ask for an additional $4,400, and J&D Basement Systems claims no responsibility in their apparent miscalculation. In my opinion, because all of their reasons for requesting additional money for this job were specifically discussed prior to them preparing the estimate, I believe this is a deceptive effort to get more money out of a client. I'm sure J&D Basement Systems and Wes ** would disagree, but either I am correct or they are incredibly incompetent.

In either case, I can't imagine why anyone would choose to hire this company for their basement repairs. This explanation is based entirely on facts. I am not an angry customer that's fabricating the truth to try and get back at my contractor. Because of the tactics of J&D Basement Systems (aka The Basement Doctor), I simply believe anyone considering them deserves to know what type of people they are dealing with and what to watch out for. Better yet, I would recommend that you look to someone else for your basement repair needs.