SERVPRO Reviews

Well, long story short, they submitted their invoice (which I asked them for several times to look at before they submitted for payment) to the insurance company. Our rep was out of town when submitted. They charged us for their equipment for 7 days and said that it was intentionally not monitored. They also damaged the foam insulation that is built into our foundation and cut drywall out too far so now it has to be replaced. They did not credit for this damage. They also charged for debris removal which my husband did and told us that the insurance company sometimes would pay for us to do that! So charge insurance twice for something they got paid for! Their bill came out to over $10,000.00 for a 900 square foot area. They lie and they overcharge insurance companies. I would never again use ServPro or refer anyone to them, not even to repair a dog house. NEVER EVER AGAIN.

The following day when the tech came I told him I was happy with the service so far and insisted the equipment be removed. Once again, no one was able to give me a cost quote based on the "rental" of the equipment, emergency response cost, or the number and length of time of each of the visits. The area that was cleaned was very small. Less than 3 ft x 3 ft and all that was done was carpet spot cleaning and water suction. I was told that I would receive a bill via e-mail. I received an bill that was not itemized. The cost was $475. This is an incredulous price! I will never use them again. I have been ill and have not been able to contact the company, but in searching the page, I have not been able to find any place on their website to leave a complaint directly with them, but will be calling them in the morning.

While here picking up the equipment, they tested the wet area and it was still at 100%. FOUR full days of noise, cost and zero progress! At this point we still have a huge hole into our attic and wet drywall. It’s December and our heating bill will be astronomical. This was comparable to sitting in a taxi with the meter running but going nowhere! We have a high deductible so most of this is coming out of our pockets. We haven’t seen our itemized bill; if even one day of these machines are charged to us we will be calling our Insurance agent and informing them of the poor service. Also will be contacting the BBB and ServPro Corp. We strongly advise not to use this company. If you do, be smart, stay on top them and make them do the right thing.

That made me even more nervous. Then I spoke to the gentleman and ask his name. He gave me his name and surprisingly I was right. He was currently on probation for attacking 2 family members, number of different domestic violence and theft charges in FL, and Ark, and vandalism in Louisiana. This guy had been in and out of jail for multiple incident, back child support, suspended license and he was driving company vehicle. The list went on. It took me awhile to decide if I wanted to really go this far in investigation, but I did. I feel it should be against the law for this company to place their past and future customer at risk In this non professional way.

I was appalled and informed them we wanted to pick up our items immediately. Have set-up movers four different times and each time they find an excuse why the day or time does not work meanwhile charging storage. My family is sleeping on the floor. This has been the biggest scam and we're still without our furniture. Their posturing is as if they full in total control and we will suffer.

Original Review: Oct. 13, 2016

I am a single working mother with children. I received a call about a kitchen fire 09/28/2016 while I was at work. It took me an hour to get home. My mother along with 2 companies (chasers) were at my home waiting to sucker me into hiring them for business. I gave 1 of them a chance hoping for the best. I asked them to not remove anything from my home unless I was home to go through my things. I felt as though my privacy was invaded and had no time to think. The fire happened Wednesday. Thursday I met with a man we talked in detail about what I would like. The next day Friday I get a call that they need my input. Well they decided to demolish the kitchen as well as box my things without waiting for me like I asked. I was very frustrated and annoyed that I felt so disrespected and ignored. I am the owner I have the right to do with my things what I please not people walk over me.

I spoke to a woman in office claiming she would make sure there were no more mistakes. Well they showed up for 3 days boxing and took 1 truck load. The last 2 days they did not show up or even call. They claim they had an emergency. I stopped all work. They then the nerve to send me a 20K bill and refuse to send my belongings back. The contract is not detailed very brief. I did not see myself as a victim. Now I feel like a have been burnt twice. Please ask to be present if you choose to use this company again before they take anything out of the home. I suggest just ask for a dump truck and toss any items that are not necessary to be cleaned. It would be much more affordable for everyone.

We called another local ServPro and was told there is nothing they can do since each is independently owned and operated, even though this franchise has expanded to take on Troy ** area! I called ServPro corporate office and was told they would not do anything because it is franchised out! Do not use SERVPRO! So basically ServPro does not care about customers, do not do quality work, do not finish the jobs. But cashed the check from our insurance as fast as they could! I am totally disgusted with ServPro corporation! It is now costing us another $600.00 to have it done right and that is only for the roof! We will need to replace some ceiling Sheetrock, which will also be out of our pocket!

At the end I asked a reasonable question. "Is there anything you can do with the deductible?" The answer! No! I will share may experience with everyone. FYI... They removed the ability to post a review from their Facebook page. They had several negative posts. They however did have one 5 star review!! It was their operations manager. When they finally finished I would say after great heartache the job was 90 percent satisfactory. Not worth the time and effort!

We were directly told/assured "everything will be in better shape than when we started" as well as all the insulation that needed to be replaced would be up to code (R38) but we've just discovered after going up to the attic that they only put in R15 and didn't even cover the entire attic area! There are large areas that aren't insulated at all! In addition, they damaged the woodwork in the house, the crown molding, door frames, and baseboards, did poor sheet rock repairs, and extremely poor painting. They didn't even clean everything as we are still finding traces of the soot, etc. Then they refused to talk to us since "technically" we didn't own the house yet!! We were told everything was done, completed, and in good condition so we closed on the house (we were out of state).

In retrospect, we should have had someone do a thorough inspection prior to closing rather than taking someone else's word. We, the new owners, moved in only to discover all the issues noted above and almost two years later, are still finding soot, carbon chains, and poor workmanship. They billed the previous owner's insurance an astronomical amount of money and got away with it. I was actually told by one of their employees who had to come back AFTER we owned the house that they had a bunch of untrained new employees working on our house over the several MONTHS they "worked" there!!

We have had to pay to repaint, repair and replace much of the woodwork and still have more to do to repair what ServPro did to the house. I would have taken legal action except for that technicality that we didn't actually own the house in spite of the fact we had a contract on it. I would NEVER recommend ServPro for anything, EVER!! They were rude, dishonest, and, in my personal opinion, fraudulent in their work and what they billed for!!

On 6/27 I called to make appointment for 6/29 to have living room floor removed & both floors reinstalled. Deb was the lady I spoke to. She didn't come off very friendly during our initial conversation. On 6/29 I got a call from James, they had an emergency to tend to on their end & I would need to reschedule. I called SP that day & got a different office lady. I asked for Deb & was told she was unavailable. I told the lady I spoke with who I was & what was going on & she said she would leave a note for Deb to call me. No call that day.

James called 6/30 to tell me to just call back the following week; Deb was out for holiday. I called 6/5 & ever since I have basically gotten the runaround. Deb informed me no appt could be made due to all the emergencies they have had to deal with lately. I adjusted my availability for her & she said she would call me as soon as any availability became available on their part. She told me to talk to my claims adjuster to possibly go with another company to continue the work. This irritated me. They obviously are not staffed enough to finish what they started. I will not be recommending this company to anyone.

Also insurance would not refund me for anything they took and when I asked for the computer back I was told they disposed of it! Reading other reviews it sounds like they give you one price so you will go ahead with the job then they hit you with a much more expensive bill when the job is done! I lost my father in law and having to deal with these people calling me every day for more expenses was an awful experience! I will never use them for anything ever again nor will my family or friends!

They moved everything around. I mean, they couldn't even put the dishes back in the same cupboard where they found them! They also felt the need to stage the house. Ok so it looked cute, I didn't ask for that! Just put it back! I could go on and on... Onto restoration: If his name is Shawn **, RUN! I had posted on FB that ServPro was doing the work and a minimum of 10 local friends told me not to use this guy because of his shoddy work. I called the guy from ServPro that first came out to discuss what was going to happen and let him know what I had heard. I doubt he did any checking into it, they were friends. Needless to say, I called the insurance company and went with a different contractor!

After having a very heated conversation with the supervisor (during that discussion he had the nerve to call me a liar), he called me 2 days later to tell me that they were going to lose money but would drop the bill to 15000.00. What he didn't tell me was that they stopped cleaning out belongs. When we got our stuff back and started unpacking this is when we discovered that lot of things hadn't been cleaned and smelled like smoke. We had to rush the boxes out of the house. I still can't believe that these people think it's OK to treat their customers so horribly at the worst time of our lives. Please think long and hard before choosing this company.

Original Review: May 4, 2016

The apartment building I lived in caught on fire. My insurance company called ServPro in to possibly restore my things. They came into my home and started packing my things up without my permission. I continuously asked them for a estimate from day 1. They would not give me one and tried to reassure me that it would be okay. To make a long story short they hustled me and tried to max out my renter's insurance policy and tried to tell me 'well it's not your money anyways'.

First of all they don't know a damn thing about what your insurance company will do so don't let them tell you that. They will hold your things and not return them. They still have my things. I told them they can keep everything. I'll start all over. They tried charging me $14,000 for cleaning when I don't even have $14,000 dollars worth of stuff. They are a BIG rip off. Don't let them in your home. I will be calling the BBB on them and I'll also be contacting their regional manager. I told them from day one don't try to hustle me and that's exactly what they did. Do not I delete. Do not let them in your life at all. They tried to make deals with me outside the insurance company. Don't trust them at all. Some of the people are very nice, but the people in charge will try to hustle you out of your insurance policy money.

They wanted to be the company to totally redo the interior of the house. The fact it took 3 weeks to get the basement to stop flooding and total lack of communication made us change our minds and hire a different contractor. They were hired to dispose of the fridge, stove, washer and dryer. Those items are sitting in my garage. They failed to do so. After we complained AFTER we got the bill about that they did remove a few hundred dollars.

Then they took a bunch of stuff from the basement and threw it into the garage. My garage now smells and has mold growing. Not to mention in doing that they broke a reptile tank and my pressure washer. They did replace the tank but lied about the pressure washer. I am also missing tools from my garage. In short they overcharges, set it up so it took longer, trashed the garage, broke items, stolen items and didn't communicate. Then they went and billed insurance FAR more than the job was worth and tried their best to badger my wife into signing documents before reading and acknowledging that the work was done. Then even though they know it had to be done with insurance, homeowners (us) and the mortgage they continued to call us daily (a few times day at that).

I told Servpro to leave my house. I called another company, they came right out and did the work without ripping up my carpet or cutting my walls. Servpro operates hoping you as the homeowner will be ignorant and let them tell you what you need to do in your home. You are the homeowner, they are there to do what you want, you are the boss. If they give you a problem ask them to leave and find someone else to do the work.

I wish now, I would have kept on until they came here to stay - never would have happened, they would never let anyone/Anything they cared about do that. It seeped into everything in the house. I tried "desperately" to work with them for 6 months. And forced into first time ever, legal... I will be the one living with a permanent lung illness causing physical and neurological problems, diagnosed finally in December, 2015.

If anyone out there has been through a chemical experience with ServPro, and not felt right afterwards, please let me know, because they all tried to tell me in was in my head, at a suppose to be my insurance agent and one service person with Servpro, whom I had been dealing with. Instead, I got bombarded with dozens of Servpro executives and state auto adjuster at my door.

They were and are liers. Cause I am the one living 24/7 with what they caused. Being nice got me nowhere but trusting my inner guidance and knowing myself. So please trust yourself no matter: How many high and mighty "so called powerful people" are trying to get out of doing the right thing. The really crazy part is it would have only cost them several thousands of dollars, to fix the whole problem. State auto that day threw me out of the hotel - they only paid for a week back to a house that made me sick, sick sick to come back too. So I had to find places to stay.

You know, it's sad and literally cry, that the entire two (2) years, despite all my efforts asking them to put themselves in my shoes "literally wear them". Everyone involved in this whole experience (other than me) has went to their comfortable, beautiful home and life and the peace and serenity of what my home was before. Would everyone, good, bad or indifferent experiences, PLEASE READ SERVPRO LOGO AND GIVE ME YOUR THOUGHTS. With all my heart, I appreciate everyone reading this. This is the first ever thing like this I've done. In the 58 years of my life. May everyone be treated with dignity, respect and care.

On 6/28, I received information that my U-Haul bill was due and containers were still on lease to ServPro. After calling the insurance co. to report, ServPro said I could come on July 2 to view the items. On July 1, I went to ServPro to find ALL of my contents still locked in the hot containers, not cleaned. I went inside, took pictures where they had it written on a board, to do before I got there! Unbelievable!! The owner tells me I cannot see my property because I will be upset. I had to hire an attorney ($13,000 in debt) because no one would tell me anything - lack of communication!

A few months later, I found out ServPro disposed of my vanities, and personal property from my garage, and damaged my kitchen cabinets and left them setting wet, and filthy with soot. So when it came time to put the cabinets in everything is a complete disaster - with ServPro to blame. Then on Feb. 2, 2016, ServPro was to deliver my contents. They came with my furniture and contents packed in a truck like it was headed for the dump! Took pictures of that and insurance adjuster saw it.

Now that ServPro has milked my homeowner's policy for things they NEVER DID, I have damaged furniture and a mess of damages that I have yet to be paid for. We are living in our home, sleeping on air mattress for 3 weeks because ServPro damages my contents and almost 9 months after the fire - nothing is done! This is the worst experience I have ever in my life been thru and cannot understand how they get away with it!!! I will be back on the phone with the Regional Mgr. and the SCC.

In December the insurance needed an invoice to complete my claim. Again, I called ServPro several time to get one until I finally spoke to someone in accounting. I SHOCKED to see an invoice for $3700. I called for an update on my insurance claim and was told they paid my $2000 directly to Servpro. Here it is in February and they still have my belongings. I called them and insisted to talk to a manager. She tells me they are waiting for payment on the balance and as soon as they get it they will return my belongings. I told her no one ever called me to tell me they were picking up my stuff, no one called me to tell me how much it was going to be, and no one ever returned my call period.

Obviously, had I know how much they were going to charge, I would have cleaned my own stuff. The manager at ServPro told me they don't give estimates, they just do the work, then bill. So unless I pay the 1700 they will not return my belongings. DO NOT USE THEM. They will charge an outrageous amount and hold your belongings as ransom. I will be filing a lawsuit so I would appreciate if anyone can tell me of a similar situation.

Then ServPro seemed to have disappeared. I had to make repeated calls to find out when work was to begin. I had to stay home and wait for their return calls that didn't come. I had to remind them to send a POD before work could even start. It was 5 weeks after the water incident before Merit showed up. In removing the old flooring, the flying wood pieces damaged my walls. Merit workers said ServPro workers would fit it. The flooring is now an engineered wood of inconsistent pattern. Merit said that hardwood cannot ever be put over concrete and that is why they had to use the cheaper engineered wood. (No refund to my insurance company.)

The installation is horrible. There are gaps at the ends of many boards and now there are gaps between the long sides of the boards. Some of these gaps are so large one can see the trowel marks on the concrete. These gaps collect dirt and sand. Overall, a horrible installation. Workers also left cigarette butts in the yard, general trash and damaged the aluminum thresholds of two doorways.

ServPro workers were suppose to stain and replace the quarter round and transition pieces. They wanted us to buy the wood and the stain. They did relent and purchase the wood but got the wrong color stain. Again, they wanted us to buy the wood because they stained it wrong. We finally bought the correct stain. The transition pieces they bought were incorrect and broke lengthwise. They wanted to piece together trim around the fireplace.

They finally came up with trim pieces that they then cut wrong and refused to fix. They painted the hall ceiling with the wrong type of paint. The dents from the removal are still in the walls. After 5 months and several visits from the owner of ServPro, I finally gave up. My 67-year old husband got on his hands and knees to fix what was fixable. The gaps from the installation of Merit are not fixable. I will never recommend Servpro of Aiken or Merit Flooring of Aiken.

Needless to say, I didn't hire them to come sweep and mop my floors and pay them $675!!!! The payment was made in advance and I have been arguing with the "owner" for two days now and they will not be coming back out, nor reimbursing us. Very disappointed and will tell EVERYONE -- DO NOT USE THEM!! THEY ARE CROOKS!! I didn't hire them at all, and now after my bad experience and looking at their reviews, I NEVER would have. I am completely disgusted with them. Please, do not waste your time or money on them. Because we did, and still had to do our floors ourselves!!!

The family of 9 had been staying in a hotel for over 2 weeks already due to a chimney fire. This all happened days after Christmas. Plus the mom is due with 8th child in less than 10 days. One child has severe asthma. She has been known to have anywhere from 10-15 attacks a day. This home is a very old farm house and is extremely big. When the fire company came in they had to put a bunch of holes in most of the walls of the house. Luckily the sunroom, kitchen and one bathroom didn't get that damage. They still have smoke damage and a bunch of dust from all the walls that were bunched through. The poor family didn't know what they were going to do.

They decided to hire ServPro to come in and clean the 3 rooms so they could at least get back in the house while the contractors worked on the rest of the house. Mind you all the kids are home schooled. So after having ServPro come in and clean because they say they are the best at disaster clean-up the family was all excited that they could finally get the 7 children and themselves out of the little hotel they had been cramped up in for almost 2 & 1/2 weeks. Now it was stressed over and over again about the child with severe asthma. When they went to the house to look it over and see what they needed to do to set it up for living again they were so disgusted. We got a phone call asking us to come asap and see if we could help. Needless to say we took the job. This is what we walked into though.

Everything they owned was either just thrown in piles in closets, thrown in trash bags, or never touched. Between the 2 of us it took us 7 hours of non stop cleaning to scrub the 3 rooms, ceiling to floor. Now we are talking about a average size bathroom and sunroom. The kitchen is a little bigger than average but it was wood walls and floors. We had to use 2 gals. of cleaner to get it all clean. It was unbelievable the amount of smoke, dirt and dust that they never touched. I really have no idea what they did do but I will tell you it wasn't much if anything. I didn't feel it was my place to ask how much they/insurance company had to pay ServPro but for them to have to turn around hand pay us like $300 to re-clean everything they got paid to do already and didn't it complete bull crap.

I asked the wife "Why don't you follow through with this and take them to court?" She said "With me having a baby in less the 10 days and having to get the rest of our things out of the other big part of the house in 3 days for the contractors to come in I don't know how I could do anything." She is at the point where she just wants her home back for her family. Money is tight but she knows that her family's safety is more important than money.

Now on another note because they decided to just throw things in bags and in closets they have no idea where anything is. So it will prob take a good 6 months to get life back to normal and everything back where it needs to be. Once she has the baby she will be down for at least 2 months. So what is to say that nothing is broken or even taken? They will not know until they go to find it or need it. I wish I could show you the amount of dirt we cleaned up. You would think there is no way anyone cleaned in there.

I honestly suggest you go with another company if you need a disaster's clean up or any type of cleaning. I was trying to find where to write a review and all I found was all negative reviews. I wouldn't even give them 1 star but you have to at least do that to write a review. So please I am not gaining anything by taking time out of my busy life to write this review. I really just don't want anyone else having to go through all this like this poor family did. Now they live in upper Maryland so maybe it is just that franchise but like I said all I see is extremely bad reviews. It is so sad that people can take advantage of a family when they are in such a bad position already.

Updated on 12/2/2015: I have again contacted State Farm asking for a return call, I have not received a call. This ordeal should have been handle and file closed. My kitchen floor is still not repaired. All I am asking that since Servpro has a direct contact with State Farm, State Farm charged their bill against my name in their file, yet refused to allow their bill of almost a $1,000.00 to count against my deductible. I have a $2,000.00 deductible. I took that deductible because of the high premium. I am 76 years old and live on Social Security. What am I supposed to do??? Had Servpro never be called by State Farm, the small leak on the floor would have dried. I need help.

Both days they were here and probably started close to 930am and received calls close to 2pm saying they completed the jobs. Now call me crazy but the bathroom which is less than a quarter of the size of the bedroom took just as long as the bedroom?! Not to mention the walls in the bedroom were not cleaned?! My best guess is they took roughly 4 hours to clean the rug in the bedroom.

2- DUCT CLEANING-915am on the 28th, received a call from Alex saying he was at home depot and would be late. Estimated arrival 945am. Alex called me at 1pm to say the job was done. I was a bit surprised as the job took them less than 3 hours to complete. As I mentioned to you over the phone 2 office lights were left on, things were not put back the way they were and Alex must have decided to use my wet/ dry vac that was in the garage to suck up some of the material. It was left plugged in right next to the system unit was being cleaned with a fair amount of duct dust etc. I also found the head of MY wet and dry vac in the guest room near the register. Why would they decide that it was okay to do this? From the looks of it they rushed out of there without even taking a second look around. I have enclosed numerous photos of the dust left behind and the walls in the bedroom.

This is unacceptable and I want to speak with your supervisor as soon as possible. You guys came highly recommended and meeting with you Joe gave me plenty of confidence that I was hiring the right crew. Sadly, I was proven wrong and feel the job that was performed was less than satisfactory. I feel as if I wasted 3 of my mornings waiting till the crew arrived to then leave to work. I thought the job would be in good hands. Clearly, I should have been on site the entire time making sure they were doing what they said they were doing. I am starting to wonder what work your folks actually did sadly, leaving an awful taste in my mouth. Joe, I am a very easy going guy and rarely get this fired up. I just cannot see how this would happen, I really don't.

After about a week or so, they called left a message saying they would stop by when we were not going to be home the next day to pick up the dehumidifiers. We left a message they could not come by since nobody would be home. Shortly after that we were getting calls from them threatening to call the local authorities that we stole equipment. They refused to call me on my cell phone, just leave messages at home. Today, I get the amount they charged the insurance company. Things like the project manager making a number of trips to my house... Never happened. I think they pulled a fast one. They appear to be a fraud. AVOID them at all costs.

Then the great part finally as they take out fans etc. I'm told "that's all they do, see ya." What happened to all the crap in their ads LIKE IT NEVER EVEN HAPPENED? How can they legally say that. Before it happened, I had a floor, walls, paint, furniture in rooms etc. Then never having been given estimate for what they were going to do, I am stuck with nobody set up, to put it back LIKE IT NEVER EVEN HAPPENED. Getting all that lined up takes time, most people are not able to be there tomorrow, things have to be ordered, etc. This all could have been set up, instead I'm living in what looks like a hunting cabin and hearing about it every day. LIKE IT NEVER EVEN HAPPENED. What a scam to milk insurance money.

Their fans left a large rust stain in the middle of her floor which the employee tried different chemicals to get out but in the end said he was sorry. Mom can barely walk and they left the carpets bunched up without tacking them down properly. We went to their office to ask questions about why they overcharged a senior citizen on fixed income and they responded with if she doesn't pay in 30 days they will file a judgement against her house. They do not accept payments.

I asked you to send to me the original contract that I signed involving the charges that you stated I owed, to which I have not received. The invoice that you sent to me dated 9/23/2015, states that I have a past due amount in arrears of 90 days. This is completely inaccurate. The arrears payment listed on the invoice shows that I have a remaining balance of $99.84. This is also inaccurate. I received a call from Cindy ** mid February stating that I had a balance due. Her conduct was very condescending with an added pushy demeanor. The implications were that I was avoiding her calls - it was during that time I asked her what was the final payment, process the payment, send a receipt and discontinue calling me. It was then I was told the final balance was $200.84, which was completely inaccurate and a total lie.

Cindy calls me again mid-Sept. stating that there is another balance. I informed her that this was completely bogus and to send me said documents. If you did this to me, I can only imagine how many other customers you have conveniently miscalculated and overcharged. It is my hopes that State Farm and other companies that you have relationships with will see you all as unprofessional scammers and refuse to do business with you. Again, review the images of the information that you sent to me via mail and send me my refund immediately.

We were refused a proper work estimate (complete with updated diagram of the area to be remediated, correct work description, etc.) multiple times for the second job. We were given one estimate for the second job that was literally the exact same one from the first job, same diagram of area to be treated (and these jobs were for two separate areas in opposite sides of the house), same cost, same description except for line 3 on page 2 of a 4 page estimate. Line 3 was to be the updated job description but the description was incorrect according to what Brian and I had agreed on for the job. Crews showed up having wrong directions for the job because of this. Brian repeatedly insisted he was giving me an updated/new estimate when in fact he was not- the vast majority of it had the exact same info and details as our first job and they were two different jobs in two different areas.

Mold affected areas of our home have repeatedly been left unremediated/untreated or left behind when they should have been removed after crews have said the job is done. Steps of jobs that he had in our estimates have been skipped over (such as fogging and sealing treated areas with an antimicrobial spray/Kilz), we've been lied to and yelled at as customers as well. If I had the option to give 0 stars I would have.

The paperwork they had us sign states that a supervisor is to do a final walk through on jobs but this has not happened at all after crews considered each job finished...and both jobs were left unfinished in multiple ways. A simple walk-through by a supervisor would have caught the many mistakes I have caught (and I'm not even someone who works in this industry, I'm an educator).

The two months they have been dragging their feet to get our jobs done have been a complete waste of our time, have created a great deal of undue stress with no resolution and have caused me to deeply regret hiring them for the job. We have lost use of half of our home due to the high spore counts we have (that are triple and quadruple what is safe) for 2.5 months now since the discovery of the mold. Brian was aware of our mold spore counts and health issues from the first day of the job on 7/20/15 and that our doctor wanted us to stay out of our finished basement but did not make it a priority to get our job done in a timely manner.

If our home isn't remediated to the point of showing spore counts in the safe range by the time closed window weather arrives, our doctor wants us to move out of our home because we will no longer be able to stay upstairs where spore counts are in the safe range and flush our house with fresh air from outside to counteract the dangerously high spore counts. We cannot afford to live in a hotel, and my parents live just far enough away that my husband would be in violation of his on-call work contract for Mercy Hospital that states he has to be within a 30 minute drive in case of emergency surgeries after typical work hours.

I now have to hire another company to finish the many steps in the jobs they said they would do but could not get right, so I feel as though I am having to start over with this mold remediation. I said it once and I'll say it again, I highly regret hiring Brian's Servpro franchise. We have not had a single job go right in their care.

We have also contacted Servpro Corporate to help oversee this process of negotiating a resolution but that has proven to be ineffective. The effort on their part to oversee a resolution was minimal at best and they are no longer trying to assist in a resolution. After one offer from us and one "non-offer" from Brian (his counter was to offer for us to continue business with his franchise but leave him out of it and go through his GM), Servpro corporate closed our case and said to go to the BBB. A review on the BBB will be up soon as well that gives more info.

We have not heard from them since which was probably a blessing in disguise. I have been reading all the negative reviews about this company so I really do not want anybody from this company in my home again. I guess "insurance" is the key factor here. We did find out that we do have insurance so I wonder if we would have heard back from them. Anyway, my lower level is dry now thanks to my family helping out but guess we will go the sump pump route. Ticked off grandma in Jacksonville, IL.

I was not home when they removed their equipment, but the person that took it and was there to collect didn't want to provide a receipt to my mom who was there to pay. She wouldn't pay without one, so they wrote one on letterhead, but when listing services, didn't write in the services that they promised to include. I have left multiple messages to Sean ** without getting any type of response. If you must use them, don't count on their standard paperwork as proof as to what they will do, it is vague. In my experience, I wouldn't believe anything they promise if not in writing.

So after I learned that, I went down there myself to "try to get some of my things" and my brother's Social Security Card so he can get his permit. Well, the lady that worked there told me very rudely that I am NOT their customer and my parents never even paid ANY of their bills.. We've been paying our bills for 6 months until that day. Then, the next day, ServPro people called my father to tell him that I went in their business yesterday and gave them straight up attitude.

As of right now, they are holding everything without telling us where our stuff is. All the lady said was that our stuff is in a warehouse somewhere. They won't even give us back our Social Security Cards, Birth Certificates etc... I don't think any of this is legal. I DO NOT recommend this company at all. I'm working on exposing them to the News.

The supervisor asked to see the ins check and paperwork and when we were otherwise occupied he took the check and left, deposited it, and they left never to return. So I would recommend that anyone who has anything to do with this company, store your own furniture as they will keep it or hold ransomed for any money they want. This a franchise type operation so I cannot understand why The Corporate Office accepts no responsibility for their franchisees. In the end I had to hire my own contractor who pressure washed dried and painted the whole basement for 1/3 of Servers cost. He also told me that this was a common occurrence.

1. The technician could have spent as much time as he wanted examining the damage. I was expecting a similar amount of detail as the insurance adjustor noted, but instead he chose a quick look at the surfaces of the kitchen and concrete basement wall, not opening up any cabinets, not moving the dishwasher, nothing to inspect what is damaged beyond the stained linoleum, and not looking under the crawlspace to examine that either.

2. I was handed several pages of forms, which weren't explained well, trusting that things were being done properly. But then he took the forms saying he'd bring copies back. It is my understanding that I need to be provided copies, hence the enclosed right to cancellation letter, postmarked 2 business days after I signed something, because it wasn't explained to me what I signed. 3. After calling to delay the start of the project due to ServPro not providing any estimate of the cost or scope of the work involved, ** was attempting numerous high-pressure and fear tactics about the dangers of water and mold, about insurance possibly being cancelled if I didn't act fast, mentioning I don't know until we get in there, probably several thousand dollars. See #1 above, their technician was here, and again, I was under the impression that he was here to determine the scope and cost of the job in order to provide an estimate.

4. The speed at which ServPro wanted to begin work without any mention of cost was astounding. I did receive a voicemail with a mention of $6,000 - $7,000 dollars for the mold remediation, disposal, and new subfloor, but again, nothing in writing.

5. I have since contacted other restoration companies and they responded even faster, did a thorough examination, and emailed me a line item estimate in less than a day, giving me the option of what work I wanted to do after the damage is removed and mold is gone.

6. On a side note: My brother has built thousands of homes in various states around the country. My Dad has been helping demo homes as long as I can remember, donating to Habitat for Humanity. Grandpa was an antique restorer and dealer. I've helped on countless jobs with the various building trades because I am always curious and learning. So I'm not naive about what makes up an entire home, and didn't appreciate this ServPro franchises way of doing business. Finally, Im a certified hypnotist, so I'm aware of all the tactics!

After the submission, ML approved the repair for $3389.55. After we saw the approved amt, we let SP know we wanted to wait due to ML not covering the full job - the 1K (deductible) -- was something we didn't want to spend due to X-mas being a few weeks away. SP then stated that the quote amt was nothing to worry about and they wanted the job so they would 'make it work.' Meaning, the approved MetLife amt would cover the full job. (*The 1K was our ML deductible. Contractors often include the deductible in their quote - so the customer does not have to incur additional cost.) My mom asked SP PM more than 3x's (I did as well) was he sure the ML check would cover the full amt. He assured we wouldn't owe anything. Our SP PM, who by the way is a very nice guy said "we wouldn't do that to you all, especially around the holidays - we will make this work for you."

We moved forward and SP did the job. 12/12/14: Received email from SP asking us to rate their service, which was great and I let them know that in a review. 1/12/15: Received email from SP ** informing me of an 1K balance that was still due. Immediately, I email SP back to inform them we did not have a balance because of what our SP PM told us. This is where the back and forth began.

1/13/15: Our SP PM joined the email chain and apologized for the miscommunication and said they never waive deductibles. SP gave us the impression they would make it so the deductible was covered in cost. Not only did I understand it as that - but my mom and siblings did also. All three of us being home owners + rental owners we have had this type of setup with contractors before.

The back and forth continues -- then we just decide to pay. BUT, since we felt this was done unfairly + under false pretenses just to win our job - we would break in payments and pay when we could. As this was a bill we should have never had, as we would have waited and gotten other quotes - but SP lied about making sure the job was covered by our ML check just to win the job.

SP agreed on a payment plan, but when I reached out to set up the 2 payments 4 months later, I wanted a final written agreement and payment form emailed to me. They didn't send the agreement, but sent the payment CC form. SP sent the doc on 5/18 - I didn't get to respond until 5/19 when they resent it at 12:34 pm est. I told them I would send over EOD. But, I did not have access to a fax/scanner and traveling - so I did not get to send over and planned on getting to Kinkos in the am. On 5/20 and at 9:09 am est - SP sent an email stating that since I did not send EOD (not even a full 24hrs) they "assumed I didn't intend to pay them" and was sending us to collections.

At that point, I was tired of everything and said just do that because I didn't know I had timer on me. SP collections was even worse -- ** was very rude, yelled/did not allow me to speak -- just the most unprofessional person I have ever come across. SP Collections/Ms. ** added $200 to the balance and threatened my almost 70-year-old mother with a home lien for 3K if she didn't pay that day. We would have paid it off in less than 15 days if they gave me a full 24hrs to send over the form. I would not recommend SP due to saying one thing to win new business and then not honoring their word after they have. Not the way to do business and I will warn others so they will not experience what my family has.

I would like for ServPro to honor what they told my family, but at this point my mother is scared and just wants this over. My family wants to warn others about SP's practices, as well as warn others of their collections practices + tactics. SP Collections yelled, screamed, did not allow calm verbal engagement and very unprofessional and rude to me and my mother. SP collections also used threat tactics on my mother saying they would place a 3K lien on her home causing her anxiety + stress.

When we asked to come to their facility we were told no and they brought everything back and put it all in our garage. I arrived the second day and the same story was told to me about their vault, etc. They told me that our items that were not salvageable would be store in a separate vault for 6 months then destroy. Any item that we took would be taken off their inventory list.

Question 1 I had was why they didn't want us at their facility and our vault there? In retrospect the items we wanted back were not to be found when they brought our items back nor were they on their inventory list, so now it's a case of where did our items go? Now they can say they bought back everything and since it's not on their inventory list it didn't exist. However we did take pictures of those items and now they have nothing to say to us. We just received a collection letter and they want their money without negotiating items that are missing and not returned. This is not the whole story, there a matter of several breaches of their contract among other issues.

We had a professional come and see the work and they said that the ceiling was cleaned with a regular household sponge and that the soot was just sloshed around on the ceiling. The cleaning chemicals that they used also erased all the markings for ovens (the timer and degree mark), and again, not at fault. The only good thing that deserves a star is the house (not the ceiling) was left in a clean condition. Other than that, we were left with no A/C after the work was done, thank you ServPro!

The small appliances (including TV's, Stereos, Vacuum Cleaners - hard to clean up when they've taken your vacuum cleaners! - Toaster Oven, et al were STILL not returned 12 days after they were removed) AND they still hadn't come in to "remediate" the interiors of the larger appliances. Even all my CD's and DVD's have disappeared for "necessary cleaning". WHAT?????? This is SCAM Central AND myself and our other housemate have been inconvenienced and put out for almost two weeks for no truly discernible reason. This company is serving up a big steaming plate of you-know-what.

During this phone conversation I was told they disposed of all my Christmas decorations. They stated that I had requested that they do so. I had 8-10 large Tupperware bins of Christmas ornaments and decorations. There were many ornaments passed down in the family. Hand made decorations from my Grandpa. Stockings made by my Grandma. Ornaments my children made during their elementary years. I am upset sad and frustrated. Servpro will take no responsibility. They are putting the responsibility on me, and I would have NEVER asked them to dispose of my Christmas items.

Their final bill was $42,405. That was only for the packing out and cleaning of my items. They did nothing else. I received the $ 42,405 check from the insurance company and I withheld $4000. They are threatening to put a lien on my house because I have not paid them all the insurance $ according to contract. I feel they haven't fulfilled their part of the contract. I never signed anything stating they could dispose of my personal belongings as they pleased. I have other missing items. The company is unprofessional, deceptive and unethical.

Were almost always late and no showed several times. Charged thousands to run dehumidifiers yet had each dehumidifier sitting beside toilets still filled with sewage water. They never drained the toilets or pipes, so the dehumidifiers were not even effective. Refused to Remove the tile flooring after the sewage sat on it for 2 days - even though there were visiting let signs of sewage water absorbed by the tiles refused to lift the toilets and clean underneath them when there was visible solid waste sticking out from underneath each toilet. Removed base tiles from the Wall with visible sewage absorption and threw them into the bathtubs, causing damage to the finish on the tubs. Damaged personal items that were not damaged previously (ie: throwing clean bath rugs in tub along with sewage soaked items). This is the worst company I have ever dealt with - horrible.

When I called ** he gave me a bunch of excuses, he said he was very short staffed, he never told me it would take them a week to finish the job. I had bugs coming out of my basement in large amount, then they left 8 bags of debris on my front lawn for 2 day infested with bugs. When I complained to ** he told that, "I have been very staff," again I asked to e-mail me all the paperwork and estimate, final bill. They keep saying they lost my e-mail address. When the job was finally completed, my insurance company refused to cover it because there was still mold in the basement. I am now stuck paying for this out of my pocket, they totally lied to me about the home owners insurance. ** verbally told over the phone that was going lien on my property, and I still have no paperwork, no idea what he is going to inflate my balance too. Can you please get back to me, give some advice on how to resolve this please.

I keep asking the cost, he respond "how much is your insurance worth?" Never really giving me an exact total, he said "Between 1,500 to 3,000 in cost." It ended up being over 4,000 and my deductible was 1,000 they have. Gotten a check for 3,330 and threatening me to put a Lien on my house for the 1,000 which they haven't given me the bill or anything. And has not given me time to pay. Please watch out for this company.

Not even 3 hours of work for 2 people, and they weren't even halfway done with the pantry. Said they'd be back bright and early at 9 am the following day. When they still hadn't shown up or called by noon, we called to inquire and Rhonda apologized for having forgot to call and tell us there was an emergency that popped up. They said they'd come back the next day, Friday. They showed up at 11:45 am on Friday with a 3rd woman named Stacy and worked all of 45 minutes before they left without saying a word to anyone. There are 5 people that live here that they could have told. They came back an hour later, and finished the pantry and moved into the laundry room. About an hour or so since their last break, all 3 of them went back out to the van for 35 minutes. When they came back in, they said they were going to mop up the laundry room and call it a day.

Rhonda actually said "All we have left now for Monday, is the kitchen, dining room, breakfast room, hallway, bathroom and foyer!" Yes. That's all. It took 3 women 2 days to clean a pantry and a laundry room, yet somehow they're going to finish 3 times as many rooms with more fire damage in one day. They left our pantry in a wreck, and 150 lbs of pantry items stacked on our deep freezer which is where we keep all our food. They did not put things back where they go in the pantry, despite having took many pictures first. After they left, I called the office to file a complaint and ask for a new crew to replace them on Monday. At this point, we would have stayed with Servpro. The woman that answered the phone asked me what had happened, and I explained everything and asked how out of the ordinary this was. She said it was absolutely not the norm and apologized.

She transferred me to another woman who I told our story to, and she said she'd have the production manager call me back to file the complaint. 45 minutes later I get a call from the production manager. Turns out, the 3rd lady that joined Rhonda and her partner on Friday, Stacy, WAS the production manager. This woman lied through her teeth and told us that her girls work 80 hours a week and get two 30 minute breaks and 1 hour break every day. What kind of company allows an employee who has a complaint filed against them, to call that customer and harass them? She made excuse after excuse and took zero responsibility for their unprofessionalism. We asked that another crew be sent out and she actually had the audacity to tell us no, that because the complaint was not founded and was not about their cleaning abilities, that she would not switch the crews.

We talked to our insurance agent and they promptly called and fired Servpro. A few minutes later, Servpro called us to inquire. It was the nice gentleman Ricky who came to set up the scrubbers. When I told him what happened, He apologized profusely and asked if he could send out a professional crew to finish the job in one day. I declined because I have had enough with this company, but he did everything he could do to get us to stay and was very kind and professional. If only everyone working for this location were like him, I'm sure they'd all be better off.

In the end, our insurance company was very upset that this particular crew appeared to be milking the insurance money. They have asked us to provide them with the actual hours they worked in our home, as I'm sure it differs greatly from what they've reported. After this was over, I posted on Facebook asking friends and family if they'd ever had an experience with Servpro in Douglasville. I had 14 people chime in with negative reviews, all similar to mine. Not one person stood up for them. Man, if only I'd read the reviews beforehand.

My insurance wrote them a fat check and now SERVPRO won't come out to resolve this now that they have been paid and then told us we have to now pay them $500 dollars for them to come out to view the damages... I'M LIVID. I NEED HELP NOW, I NEED A LAWYER A.S.A.P. THIS COMPANY IS A SCAM AND A FRAUD AND NEEDS TO GO DOWN!

They said it would be done by Sunday, which turned into Tuesday. When they removed the drywall in my garage they cracked my door frame. We are so thankful to have them out of our house, but are still waiting for them to replace the door frame. Also they were never on time for any of the appointments they made with us, consistently at least 2 hours late. The old carpet sat in my backyard for 4 days when it was supposed to have been removed the same day it was pulled out. The managers we spoke with were all very polite, but the work they provided was just way below our satisfaction. I would never ever use them again, nor let anyone I know use them. That goes to show you that big-name companies don't have to do a good job, all they have to do is advertise a lot. When you're in an emergency situation you don't really take the time to check reviews, and I'm sure that's what they count on.

We are now into our third week of sorting through everything and having to re-clean everything ourselves, as their "professional" restoration/cleaning is laughable. The only thing we haven't had to re-clean are some expensive items that have mysteriously disappeared. Bottom line: Their business model is to spend as little money/effort into the job as they can, have the insurance company pay for their "professional restoration" services, and then steal or auction off as much as they can. These guys are scam artists. DO NOT USE THEM!

Oh and before they left, they turned off my water!!! Did not even think to cap it so I could at least use the bathroom if need be. I had to go to Lowe's before they closed to buy caps to be able to use the water. I am just like one man said, they don't need any damn stars and the insurance companies need to STOP sending these ass wipes out to people's houses. With what they did, my husband and I could have done for under $50.00. Seriously! DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. EVER!!!!! They need to be sued for false advertisement as well.

I ran into a young man working for this company and relayed my story to him - after him swearing up and down it could not have been the Northeast Mecklenburg office (which it was) he said he would talk to his manager and get back in touch with me. I have called him and no response to my voicemail - I guess the crow he had to swallow must have choked him up. I did not want a new floor. All I wanted was someone to come out and give us an unbiased opinion on bad work - this kid tried to tell me that they had no record of who the installer was - even though the guy who owned the company then owns it now. NEVER AGAIN.........

All containers would be marked as to the exact location from which they were taken and returned to those exact same locations. Items that might suffer damage in moving would be appropriately protected such as glass items, picture frames, keepsakes, etc. As a professional addictions counselor having my legal practice in my home using my own personal office type equipment and also as a published writer and legislative author, I had many files that were of significant importance in providing reference in my writing and in my work with my clients. I also had a private workshop with many expensive tools and materials in my basement.

The problems that have occurred were many. Containers of expensive professional books were not returned to the location from whence they came. Many of the files were simply dumped loose in cardboard boxes and all file arrangement was lost. Expensive professional books were damaged. Glass breakage was significant (broken picture frame glass, mirrors, etc.). The primary problem was that the files that I used in my professional private practice were in such a disarray that income from my private practice was seriously damaged. Also, most of those client files were protected by Government Regulations regarding Confidentiality (42CFR, Part 2). Was Federal Law violated? I would have to contact the appropriate agencies in our Federal Government to get a ruling on that and I have not done so at this point in time.

Regarding the personal computers, printers, and other electronic and electrical items, the plugs and cords were separated from each and placed loose and unmarked in other containers. Trying to match the connecting electronic and electrical cords and attached components is still an ongoing nightmare. As far as the files that were simply dumped from their file racks and holders in no order whatsoever, this will have to be an ongoing recovery project. The ability to do any writing is totally disrupted as finding the reference material is virtually impossible and will remain so for more than a full year. Tools and boxes of fasteners were dumped into boxes where the containers of nails, nuts, bolts and screws were broken open and the contents scattered within the box with the tools. Replacement of workshop item were literally jammed into whatever space they could find. No order was maintained here either.

An example of misplaced items, we had kitchen utensils in the washroom in the basement, there were boxes in the computer room that belonged in the downstairs office space. There were boxes that contained a mix of items that came from all over the house. We were able to move back in during the first part of June 2014 and it will be longer than June 2015 for us to get things together and where they belong. My personal black leather desk chair which was a personal gift to me by one of my client's mother was replaced with a cheap office chair and the ServiceMaster Franchisee does not know where it is. It should be in the video but he says no. A hand carved German Cuckoo Clock with genuine Hummel dancing figurines was smashed beyond repair and has yet to be replaced. The steel leg on my desk was completely broken off and not repaired. There is much other damage that we have documented.

This has been a very costly and unnecessary disaster. To place a value on lost income and the amount of time my wife and I have put into this is limitless. Naturally, we have every intention of taking some form of action to at least get some monetary return but we have yet to decide what will be the most reasonable and responsible manner in which to go. We are not the type of people that want to "get even", we simply want to have retribution provided that will at least cover a portion of what we have endured to date and what lies ahead as our reorganization continues. We are in our 70's and so the work is considerably harder. No one can help since the files of clients remain protected by Federal Confidentiality Law.

We are left to do this with help only with the shop and wash room etc. Many items remain to be found or considered lost forever. Our insurance company is aware of our situation but is not responsible for the totally unethical and uncaring functions of the ServPro and ServiceMaster Franchisees. We will add to this complaint as we progress into some form of remuneration that is fair and reasonable. If there are others out there who have had similar experiences, I would like to see their comments here in the Consumer Affairs News. Photos will likely come in our next commentary as it may well include the response of those companies and individuals involved.

They have piled stuff on my upstairs beds and treadmill. Took apart my computer desk upstairs and made it a bookcase. They have left my furniture in the rain. I am disabled and should not have to navigate the stairs to find my things, nor should I have to deal with the damage to my things because they think I have too much stuff. They have blocked my door upstairs creating a hazard for me. All my beds are filled with stuff that they put on there after being told not to. Closet doors are down and no insulation was put back, nor was my furniture cleaned from the water damage. My bed has marks and nicks in it from them handling. This is just the short of the situation. I do have further proof of the issues.

ServPro did not inventory anything they removed from our home. Many items were thrown away without being inventoried or photographed. We were told everything would be written down and photographed...it was NOT DONE. Since receiving a partial return of our items back it is noted and photographed that wet fecal matter soaked items were placed in with dry items, not cleaned, and were covered in mold and mildew. They destroyed 100's of books by according to employees of company, used fire repair/odor methods (we had no fire).

We filed a police report after it was noted and witnessed by company employees that a lock box that ServPro had taken from our home, had been broken into by being pried open and robbed of articles within. Items sent BACK to SERVPRO that were coated with fecal matter and mildew after they claim to have cleaned them, are most likely now completely ruined. ServPro is holding the large remaining amount of our personal contents "hostage" because we are refusing to sign for release of full payment due to their shoddy work and negligence. Nowhere in a contract does it state they can keep our property and we want it back so that we can attempt valid professional restoration and to properly itemize our remaining items for our insurance company.

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Secondly, the mission statement of ServPro is "In Insurance we trust!" In other words, everything in your house is potentially up for theft or being trashed. And it gripes their soul to have to container store any of your items out in the yard, and if they do they don't guard them--that's right, ServPro IS NOT a 24/7 service fer-cryin'-out-loud. But rather the scum "contracted" people will come on their own time in the dead of the night like a crew of zombies and steal you blind while you're in a motel, and local law enforcement is in on the theft too. Steer clear from ServPro!

Two guys showed up at @ 4 pm Thursday 9/18/14 cleaned up for 2.5 hours, clean being the operative word! Now I must admit they worked hard during that time, but made a worse mess than the damn water damage did. Careless is an understatement. Literally moved contents from an undamaged area and placed them right smack in the water! You can't make this stuff up!

Here is the best part... On that Friday the 19th of September I receive a call from my claims examiner stating that I was going to get a check for @ $1656.00 for my troubles! Well, needless to say I told him what he could do with his check! Just out of curiosity I asked him how did he arrive at that number from behind a desk 200 miles away? His answer was that the project manager from Servpro said it wasn't that bad! I asked him, "What kind of moron do you think I am? I am your customer not those scumbags!" With that I phoned Servpro and told this jerk to come and get his useless blowers ASAP or they were going to be tossed on my lawn! Furthermore, I contacted my Insurance Agent and told him that if I was not going to be treated fairly, I would have to hire a private adjuster.

On Friday 9/26/2014 an extremely fair and reasonable adjuster from my company showed up and we went over line items from what my private contractor had estimated vs hers. The settlement now stands to be near $8000.00 as long as Servpro's bill does not exceed @ $5000 for the 2.5 hours work... No wonder our premiums are out of sight! Servpro has cornered the market on cleanup situations and from my experience is not being monitored at all! When you hear Servpro's name, do yourself a favor and get everything in writing before they touch anything in your home... They truly stink!

Since my father did not have flood insurance, this service was not covered. My father received a bill of $5833.46. This price included tax. I contacted the owner of the company located in Deer Park Ny. I explained to him that he needed to go over this bill again. He was very defensive when I asked him to explain these charges. I also asked why he did not give my father an estimate before the work was started, he said he could not. Most reputable companies give estimates before work is started.

My father does not have a problem paying for services rendered, but he received a bill for services that were not done, besides the prices were inflated because they thought that the insurance company would pay for it.

Of all the issues the only one they will admit to and reimburse me for are my table runners. BUT I do not have the check and who know when and if I will get it. I am going to contact my insurance adjuster to make sure they know how dissatisfied I am with ServPro. The last I heard this week after months of trying to get the situation addressed is "Someone from the front office will contact you." No one has called yet!!!

Case in point: I live in a high-rise apartment house and there was a broken pipe on an upper floor. The water in my apartment was minimal, and was taken up with a wet vac almost immediately because I was home at the time. Essentially, we had a puddle on the floor. Keep in mind that the apartment is an "efficiency apartment" of only about 400 sq. ft.

The insurance company called in ServPro, which came soon (it should be noted that other apartments in the building also had damage, much worse than mine, and also had other ServPro franchises called in). The result was 13 MACHINES in the apartment, consisting of 3 heavy-duty, commercial grade dehumidifiers, and 10 commercial-grade fans! All this for a small amount of water on a tiled floor in a 400 sq. ft area! They had fans pointing at walls nowhere near where the water went!

All this stuff was brought in on a Friday night. By Sunday, I was forced to move myself into a hotel (at my own expense, due to a high insurance deductible). Upon return on Wednesday, all the stuff was still there. I called the rep at ServPro and told him it was certainly time for these to go! After 'reviewing the file,' he tried to tell me that all this stuff had to stay for "a couple of more days..." I gave him a choice: send a crew over to pick them up, or I'll put the stuff at the curb and call you to pick them up then! He sent the crew. Be vigilant when dealing with ServPro...!

3 State Farm reps said they should have turned off the A/C, used air scrubbers and sealed off the area, none were done. Now I sit in a home of filth, walls have dust so thick I can write on them, every dish in every cupboard is dusty. I will spend DAYS cleaning up, so much for "like it never happened". What joke. The owner TAMMY from the Des Moines, Iowa office, was rude and short with me, claiming they leave every home like this and she's never had ANY complaints, right like having NO complaints is even possible. I could go on and on, but I've said enough for anyone to realize this is a company NOT worth taking a risk with!!

Bottom line, they came in, tore up some of my floor, drilled holes in my baseboard, identified mold but did nothing about it, left wet insulation in the attic, hauled off some of my trim molding with the trash (I had to replace it), blew dust and mold around my living area for 8 days, and then said... "Sorry, we can't get it dry." They told the insurance company they had finished the dry down, and then they refused to finish the job. They sent out a supervisor to get me to sign a release of liability by promising he could get more money from the insurance company??

The workers showed up at all hours charging for 2 hours when they only stayed 10 min, and complained to the insurance folks because I never answered my phone and then complained that they never called. They later admitted that the supervisor never gave them my correct number. They used this, and the fact that I wouldn't let them in when they showed up unannounced late at night once as a reason for refusing to finish the job.

I'm still attempting to clean up the mess they left as I'm somewhat disabled and can't do very much at a time. I guess it's good that they didn't try to finish the job... It could have been much worse... As it is, I had to pay someone to come out and repair the damage caused by servpro, and do the build back out of my pocket. Since the insurance company, insurance adjuster, and servpro are all friends and have been coworkers, they all ditched me when I tried to dispute servpro's charges.

By the way, my house is only around 1150 sq ft. in size. They also never took any base boards off except 1 1/2 walls in the living room and 2 walls in the small bedroom. I kept telling them they needed to open up the wall under the leak and after 2 & 1/2 weeks, I did it myself only to find GREEN & WHITE fuzzy MOLD growing all inside the wall. Then a crew came to take the ceiling down (5 people). They took most of it down after many smoke breaks but never got to the bathroom.

When they did come back (on a snow day) they only got a 1/4 of it done. That was on Jan.25th when I came home to meet with my Insurance Agent. The 2 guys there just stopped working and stood around listening to our conversation. They had only been there about 20 min. when I arrived (9:30am) and I left at 10:30am at which time it was snowing and their office told them to leave at 11:30 since the weather was getting bad.

My neighbor saw them leave as soon as my car was out of sight (10:45) but they charged me for that day. They never called or came back to finish that ceiling or anything else. They CUT the fans in 2 rooms from the ceiling and the wires were too short to even use to reinstall them. I asked several of their supervisors (and showed them the fans) if they were going to replace them. The response was, "That's normal procedure for removing fans", and my insurance company could pay for them to be replaced. I fired them and had to hire new people to take down the remaining ceilings/insulation. They also charged me for 2hrs of their time every visit (everyday) to take counts off their equipment when I had to take off work every time and they were only there 45 mins. tops. Antibacterial spray for floors, walls and ceilings was charged when the only time it was used is when they took the carpet out in living and bedrooms.

When I called them out on ALL of the overcharged items on my bill, they sent a supervisor to meet me at my house to talk about it. At that time my bill was over $6,200.00. After his visit and his re-look at the bill. He came back with a revised bill and not only did he NOT take a lot off but he added $2000.00 more to my bill. Now it's over $8000.00. My insurance company called them about it and surprise, surprise, they took off the $2000.00 but still left everything else. To say they are crooked is an understatement. They have taken advantage of everyone in this city and ALL of the insurance companies here. The insurance companies are the ones that should be complaining, not us....

It has been a bitter cold winter here at the Jersey shore and I was concerned about the pipes being fully exposed. They said, "Well, it may help a little". They told me they couldn't set up heat unless the insurance approved. The insurance would not approve until they knew the cause. A few days later I called ServPro and asked they remove the fans because they were doing absolutely no good. Our claim is being denied by the insurance company because they say it was sewer related. I asked ServPro to send me the bill and could not believe what a rip off this company is. They are charging $9300.

The square footage has been fraudulently over-stated. They are billing for anti microbial spray in both garages when only one garage was done. Then, there are bogus charges for "content manipulation" and "equipment monitoring". No one monitored anything but me! In addition to the excessive cost of doing the actual work they are charging $1988 for the fans for four days that did absolutely nothing. PLEASE DO NOT use this company. For those who have already been victims, my sympathy! I will shout it from the highest rooftop to try and protect others in Cape May county from this company.

They are sending me a bill for $322.18 for a service charge. I contacted them and their very rude representative who left me a threatening message of placing a lien on my house said it was for them going to the house. I told them I had not signed for anything taking that responsibility and not only did they state a free estimate to my dad it states it on their website as well. She told me my insurance had told her they had paid me the money she requested (untrue). I asked her to have the call pulled as proof and to send me paperwork that I had signed allowing this. She stated they don't record their calls and continued to threaten me and call me rude for defending my rights and hung up on me for standing my ground.

A week later I received a letter in the mail stating they had placed a lien on my house and that they would start foreclosing action for doing absolutely nothing! I contacted my insurance who called them and they lied to my insurance and said they had sent a whole crew over with supplies and I had declined. (1 tech with nothing with him but pushiness). This company is trying to scam honest citizens and their insurance companies. My insurance ended up paying just to save me the headache of this lying good for nothing company and owner, Jodi Zachary. Do not do business with these people. They will rip you off, they are money hungry and liars.

In the Kitchen - The Cabinet Doors were still sticky around the pull handles. The Vertical Blinds were poorly cleaned. They were not cleaned on the top at all. The Coat Closet was not cleaned properly and still smells of smoke. So does the clothes that are put in it. We've been living in this home for only 3 months. We keep finding more and more things that were not cleaned properly. We have called and spoken with the owner/estimator, but didn't get anywhere with her. The last day the crew cleaned, we were not at the house. The days we were there, they took a lot of smoke breaks. Very disappointed with what they left us with.

The following Monday evening around 8:00 pm one more guy from ServPro came out. My husband and I asked him 5 or 6 times why their people didn't extract the excess water first. He wouldn't answer the question. He said yes the carpet was still damp and the carpet would have to be pulled back and the pad removed. It was only to the damp point because we had been towel blotting the water up. The man pulled up all the metal strips at the bedroom doorways and pulled the carpet back. He then cut out a round piece of pad approx. 2 1/2 by 3 ft in the middle of the hall and laid the carpet back down. We were left with carpet that sagged and dried in the shape of where the pad was cut out and exposed tack strip in all the bedroom doorways.

There is more damage now to the carpet than the water damaged in the first place. They then left one fan and the dehumidifier. After another day, someone else came and picked up the rest of their equipment. We then received a bill for $1097.62. Now because of the misshapen spot in the middle of the carpet, the carpet through that hall, down the stairs and into the downstairs hall and living room all has to be replaced as it is all connected and cannot be matched. There is nothing PRO about ServPro.

The rugs were removed but three came back just as dirty and in the case of two of the three rugs, dirtier. This was brought to the owner's attention and he stated the rugs were sanitized but not cleaned. I paid for them to be cleaned. The owner refunded $150 of $3500 to have the rugs cleaned. Nowhere can you get anyone to clean three area rugs for $150. He also said the furniture was sprayed with a chemical and vacuumed to mitigate the mold. The furniture reeked of a mold smell and I had to hire another company to clean the furniture/rugs at an additional cost of $1,000. Some of the baseboard was removed in the sunroom to remove mold behind the boards and the wall was damaged as well as some of the baseboard.

The owner said the $150 he refunded would also cover having someone repair the damage his personnel caused. Lowest estimate I received was $250. On the plus side the company was quick to respond but the cost was excessive for no more than was accomplished. I was charged $3500, one check for $1750 was made out to Servpro before the work began and the owner requested the second check be made out to him for the final $1750. I documented the second check that it was the final for Servpro so he could not claim I did not pay the company. I let him know I was not entirely happy with his service, thus the $150 refund, which covers little to nothing of the work not accomplished that was agreed to. I never received a copy of the work order/contract as I was promised. I still have a mold smell in the sunroom, but not in the main house. I do not recommend this company.

Update 2: After receiving notice from their lawyer and trying to contact him for a few days, I finally got the chance to talk to him. Even though I disagreed with the fact that we owe them anything, I wanted to make a reasonable arrangement, but one could not be reached. I was also told that once they sold my family's possessions, they would keep coming after us until they got their money, and they would even force a sheriff sale of our home. They would do this knowing about my disabled husband and six children (2 which have Autism). I feel that this would be very cold and heartless. If they put as much effort into doing their job as they do into getting their money, we probably wouldn't have all the problems we have now.

I do not want anyone to have to go through what my family has been through. How much is enough? If anyone has any advice or has any questions, feel free to contact me or message me on this page. My family would appreciate any advice or help. We have had so many problems with ServPro so I started a Facebook page with pictures and documentation. Please feel free to check it out, share, and post your experience on this page as well. I don't want anyone else to have to go through what my family is still going through because of them.

Original Review: Nov. 13, 2013

Serv pro in Lexington, KY is unprofessional. First my contractor asks of he can spend the night then the same man asks where my hotel was in Lexington, KY. Serv pro did not close the vents after installing a gas hot water heater and when I complained of a gas leak they dismissed me. They said that it was my responsibility to have Columbia gas turn on the heat. Thankfully I called the emergency team for gas leaks at Columbia gas because they prevented me from dying of carbon monoxide poisoning.

My mother was shocked at how little time it took, given the impression she got from them, that it was a lot of work (to the tune of $12,000). When she questioned them about the fees, the response was, "It is what it is" - she felt like she had been taken advantage of because she is a senior citizen. When my brother reached out to ServPro - Highland Redlands to get further clarification about the charges, the franchise owner was uncooperative. We will NEVER work with ServPro again. Find another resource should you need water damage removal services.

Their ad claims they leave a home "as if nothing happened." Well that is far from the reality. They had to be called back a few times to ask for a better service but when I came into town for a visit with my parents I found the floor to be filthy with mud after Servpro supposedly "cleaned" it. It took me 4 hours with 11 buckets of clean water and a detergent that they left to thoroughly clean the basement. And their bill was just under $3000!! We would never use them again of course and will advise others who might be considering them.

We were asked by the roofing company why our insurance company would not FIX the leak problem first, then dry out the attic? I did not have an answer for him, as we were trusting that our insurance company knew what they were talking about. I guess not. So all you people out there that are trusting your insurance companies, don't. As we have yet to get a bill for ServPro, I cannot honestly rate them yet. But I will if they come up with more than what was charged to our insurance co. I can say this, there was no professionalism in any of the three people which came out, and if you did not speak Spanish, you could not understand them.

For three days, these fans were running constantly, and for the next two days someone would show up, before calling, to check on them. After reading all the reviews throughout the country, I have to agree. DO NOT let ServPro into your home. Find another solution, and don't let your insurance company bully you into something that is not necessary.

The estimate, and remember it is only an estimate, included a page we probably weren't supposed to get the one that showed their profit at $15,000, and the tax for $4950. The estimate included no breakdown of materials and labor, nothing to indicate a time frame of completion, nothing to indicate that samples had been sent to any lab anywhere. Just a picture of a 'mold meter' you can get at Home Depot, which plainly states on the packaging, that it is not an accurate of scientific devise. For most folks, they are in a panic when approached by these scam artists. I was fortunate that there were no emergencies, and I had time to think and research. I wanted to pass this along to folks who might not have that luxury. Mold is gold is the mantra of 'mold remediation' services and lawyers, but in this case it was fool's gold for Serve-Pro. Like it never even happened because for this old gal, it didn't.

We needed to get a dumpster to dispose of all the ruined items that were supposed to be cleaned. List of taken items was very vague. I had to clean any item that was not ruined because it was still dirty, never gave us a list of discarded items or itemized list of how they cleaned items (which we repeatedly asked for). We have had several meetings because we were dissatisfied when they worked for us, but the issues were never resolved. There were several different crew chiefs during the job and the one who started the job no longer worked for them when the job was supposed to be completed, never finished everything they promised (cleaning debris from gutters, picking up glass outside). We have many pictures and even paperwork from them stating how long they waited to clean items.

ServPro got paid partially from insurance. Now they are suing my husband and I for about $24,000. My husband signed the paperwork after the fire. I never read, signed or agreed to anything with them. My husband is disabled and going through disability. I have him and 4 children to take care of (2 of them have autism spectrum disorder, and I have my own medical issues). This whole matter has been very stressful to our whole family. Its bad enough to have a house fire, but we lost much more than we should have.

I had made plans many months before to be away during the Thanksgiving holidays. So off I go thinking my house was in good hands. DO NOT EVER THINK SERVPRO WILL TAKE GOOD CARE OF YOUR HOUSE!!! When I came back the week after Thanksgiving, I was shocked by what I found. The kitchen fire had gone up to the roof. Servpro had taken down EVERY ceiling in the house and destroyed EVERY light fixture that was in the ceiling. The first bathroom was COMPLETELY gone. There was nothing left, not even the walls. ALL the cabinets in the kitchen were taken out, even cabinets that had no damage. There was no drywall left in the kitchen, dining room or living room. EVERY room in the house had drywall either completely removed or had taken drywall part of the way up the wall out.

Every day that I would come to the house, Servpro was removing something from some room in the house - EVEN IF THE ROOM WAS AT THE BACK OF THE HOUSE. Do not expect Servpro to come every day, because that is not how they work. If Servpro showed up in the morning they were usually gone for the day by lunch time. Many times Servpro would not show up for days at a time because they had an emergency call someplace else. After over six weeks of "work" and having 5 construction companies tell me Servpro was taking out things that did not need to be taken out, I told Servpro they had 4 days to pick up everything they had pulled off the walls & ceiling and to clean up all the mess that they had made. The last two days, Servpro tore out more of the house which also increased their bill.

It was during this last week that the EPA showed up to find out if the asbestos inspection had been done. Maybe I should be thankful that Servpro DIDN'T do the inspection because the $400.00 inspection might have cost $1,200.00 or more. Also, Servpro had never told the dump that they were dumping fire damaged drywall and insulation which was a violation. Needless to say, to protect myself, I quickly ordered the asbestos inspection & contacted the county dump to let them know what Servpro was doing.

Servpro got around all the regulations because everything they took to the dump was in a black plastic bag. No wonder Servpro did not have a dumpster. They didn't want to comply with the law. Pictures that were taken of my personal items were NOT taken where they were right after the fire. ALL of Servpro's pictures were taken AFTER they moved my property. Servpro charged for a dumpster, BUT NEVER had a dumpster at my house. Servpro charged to clean and my insurance company paid them for cleaning BUT Servpro NEVER did the work.

I had to fight with the insurance company to deduct the over $3,000.00 from future payments. Servpro bought packing boxes from Lowe's that cost 76 CENTS and charged me almost 5 times as much and that did not include the cost of tape & packing paper. Servpro ESTIMATED box counts and when I called them on the number they were charging for, Servpro told me that is how they bill. A total of SEVEN bills were presented to my insurance company & I instructed my insurance company to not pay bills till I looked everything over.

Many of the bills had the same item on several of the bills. My personal property was stored in "pods" type boxes and put in a large warehouse. Servpro charged me for the cost of the ENTIRE WAREHOUSE. When I called Servpro on charging me for three months of storage at over $1,000.00 per month when I had ONLY USED TWO MONTHS, Servpro changed the cost per square foot of the entire warehouse to reflect the same cost as if I used their storage for three months. I was able to find a heated 300 square foot storage unit for $179.00 per month. I made arrangements for Servpro to bring me back my personal property to my storage unit and they brought the items back in a small panel truck, thus having to make two trips which increased the cost by double.

After going through my items, a lot of my electronics were not returned. It took several days for Servpro to find them and when I went to pick up the items at their warehouse, Servpro had done NO smoke cleaning of ANYTHING, I had THREE boxes of food in this batch and most of the boxes were only HALF full of my items but filled up with packing paper. After looking through these items, I discovered that Servpro had given me items that belonged to someone else in the Bremerton area. The other person's items had personal information that showed the names of everyone in the family, dates of birth, IRS returns, pay stubs, driver's license number and anything else that a person would need to steal this person's identity.

I contacted the person and found out that these items were from two years before. We met and he provided me with a notarized statement so if my insurance company questioned me on many of the items that were not pictured and NEVER RETURNED to me by Servpro, I could show the insurance company that Servpro does not keep good records on where they put customers' personal items when they take the property out of the house. There were quite a few items that Servpro said they had no pictures on and I did not own that I was able to provide receipts for from Costco and other companies. Servpro charged to clean my personal items either by the piece or the box.

After looking over the cleaning bill I discovered that some items that were charged per item were then put in a box and Servpor charged for cleaning that box also. Most of the boxes were only half full but I was charged as if the boxes were full. In one box was only a metal mixing bowl and I was charged over $20.00 to clean that box. I repacked EVERY BOX and ended up with less than half of the boxes with my items in them. Needless to say, after showing pictures to my insurance company Servpro was only paid for the FULL boxes for cleaning and box count.

My dining room table left the house in one piece, BUT was returned in THREE PIECES. I was told this was so the table would be able to fit in the storage "BOX" and be able to be transported back to me. I also did not pay for the charge to clean the table. The first time I went through all my "clean" items, the next day, the skin on my hands started to blister and peel. I called Servpro & asked what they used to clean my items with, but was never told what it was. It took almost a week for my hands to heal. After that, until I could clean everything again, I used work gloves to handle my items.

The fire was bad enough, but having to deal with Servpro and their dishonesty, overbilling and billing for work and things they did not do was 100 times worse. I have no idea why the State of Washington, or any other state for that matter, has not investigated Servpro for their business practices. Companies like this should not be allowed to continue to be in business!!! THINK ONE HUNDRED TIMES BEFORE YOU HIRE SERVPRO!!! Hire a contractor, a cleaning company & you will then have enough insurance money left to repair your home - NOT have to tear it down because Servpro left you with a shell of a house. If I knew how to attach pictures to this I would because I would show you what type of work Servpro does!

Weeks turned into months... After many of the repairs, downstairs drywall included, a leak appeared in the ceiling downstairs. I questioned it. The plumber came out, cut a hole in the ceiling and stated it was an unrelated leak in a tub drain. He tightened it and charged the "contractor" ServPro $156. ServPro charged me $209 and are not responsible for the hole. I don't see how after months of workers doing flooring, drywall, painting and such downstairs, that NO ONE saw a leak. Then to repair it without telling me or asking if they should fix it, my hubs could have and would have done it had we known. They replaced a nice oak vanity and put white baseboard on the side to cover the crack at the floor. When I let them know, their response was "Well, they didn't have anything else and it looks better than a gap at the floor." I let them know they should have anticipated it and ordered it with the cabinet... if not, then order it using the money they should already have.

I have pics and if I can figure out how to load them, I will. They did some short cut wiring and left it not "like it never happened." There were things I initially included in the contract that I did not do for fear of going over my allotment and owing them money in the end. I was billed an extra $900 in addition to the contract for complicated plumbing to replace the vanity and laundry tub that was already there. Why did they not check out the plumbing before they started? They were replacing what was there... over $900 EXTRA? For what they did, the insurance company was very generous and I would have likely let them do the other bathroom. The insurance paid for that too, but that was not part of the original contract. They kept charging me more for things that should have been included, but I could not get ANY itemized idea of where I was.

When I pointed out all of the things in the contract, they did not do and wanted an adjustment. Somehow, with their creative math, it still came out to the same money. They completed (I use that term loosely, just wanted to be done with them) the last 10% in the last week of May 2013 and I paid the final 10% bill the first week in June. Now I'm being billed a service charge of $112.00. I'm not paying them one more dime. We're done!

If you need repair, find a contractor. That is all this guy is and he's a ripoff. Need mold remediation? Find someone else. That is the only reason he is the contractor for ServPro. They lost the mounting bracket for the ceiling fan and told me, "We're going to have to buy a new ceiling fan." In doing so, they disabled the 3-way switch for the light and fan. Now I have a flipping light switch at the steps that does nothing and a person has to walk all the way across the room to turn the light on. All I can say is BEWARE, BEWARE, BEWARE!!!

ServPro did a great job with the cleanup. They even found some old coins and brought them to me. They cleaned out my room last, which was where the fire was. I told them to please bring me all jewelry and anything else that appeared to be of value, just like they had done with the rest of the house. The day before they cleaned out my room, I had found a bracelet of mine and 2 jewelry boxes on the closet shelf. I had no pocket for the bracelet so I laid it back on the chest of drawers. I knew there was also jewelry in my chest of drawers in a drawer that was swollen shut. I had one of the jewelry boxes in my hand and had looked in it, but then got called downstairs to speak with the guy taking inventory from another company.

I laid the jewelry box on the bed, fully intent on coming back up to get it, but never did. It was stark white and would've stood out among the blackened bed covers. ServPro opened my drawer and brought me a dish of jewelry that was in there, minus items I knew were in there - which were rings with diamonds and colored gemstones. There was also expensive jewelry in the 2 jewelry boxes. A charm bracelet in the white jewelry box was put into the cup before it was brought to me, proof that they were in it.

I decided to go to the bank with my mother's financial power of attorney to check what was in there. None of the missing items were in there. I called the insurance company to tell him of the theft. He advised me to make a police report, which I did. He then contacted the person heading up the ServPro cleaning crew to tell her of the theft. She called me the next day (today) and was angry with me that I should accuse her crew that she knew her crew would never do that. I asked if her employees had background checks done and she said yes. She sent them out to dig through the entire dumpster of stuff. At this time I have no idea if anything was found. I haven't heard anything else about it.

I am so glad a family member in banking suggested I change my account numbers though, since I had wet checks. We asked about shredding important documents like that and one of the head workers said there was no need. Another family member, giving a fake name, called inquiring about whether she needed to have a background check done to get a job there. Instead of saying yes, this woman blurts out are you **? - giving my name. My family member said, no, I'm ** and gave the fake name - makes me even angrier. This is an ongoing deal, so it hasn't been resolved yet; but I want people to know.

Well, the nightmare began on Thursday, April 25, when the crew of one arrived 1 1/2 hours past the agreed on scheduled start time without the proper equipment and without a clue as to what to do first. They began cleaning and sanitizing my carpet without even removing it from the tack strips to determine that the padding was wet and needed to be removed. All of this was done before they even began remediation in the crawl space, which required the removal of wet vapor barrier and wet personal property. It was more of the same on the second day - late arrival, insufficient equipment, etc. On Saturday, April 27, my son contacted me while I was on vacation to let me know things weren't getting any better at home. I authorized him to contact Jeff Cuthbertson (apparently, the head of the franchise).

Long story short, Jeff verbally agreed to return my check for my deductible and further to not bill my insurance. My son then requested an email confirmation, which we received. The story only gets worse as not only did I have to find another remediation company, but ServPro did damage to my walls, my driveway (leaving several large oil stains) and additionally, when they removed 2 telephone jacks in my family room and spliced the wires. I notified my insurance, The Hartford, that I had fired ServPro and find it most interesting that it seems that I now have a coverage issue. Perhaps it is just a coincidence, but I smell a rat.

All I can say is this has been an expensive lesson and I would highly recommend that you do not use the services of Cuthbertson Restoration d/b/a ServPro in Chattanooga, Tennessee. In fairness, I recognize there is ServPro's side of the story, but I feel that my voice needs to be heard. At this point, my concern is restoring my home to a healthy state and getting past this nightmarish experience.

Three days later, I had a horrible case of contact dermatitis. This required about 4 months of steroids, 6 months of anti-histamines and I slept on the first floor sofa for 7 months since I couldn't sleep anywhere on the second floor due to dust contamination. Ultimately, I ended up filing a homeowner's insurance claim. The insurance company sent ServPro to do the estimate and the insurance company agreed to pay for cleanup ($20K) after more than a month of deliberations. I had two weeks to place my jewelry and valuables in a safety deposit box and box breakable items. ServPro came, the crew were very polite and the project lead seemed pleasant.

I began to see practices and started to raise questions. What ServPro didn't realize was I was a former industrial hygienist; I'd done emergency chemical spill response and did OSHA inspections of workplaces. It wasn't long before the project manager and I were arguing about cleanup issues. The house, in theory, was cleaned from top to bottom. Spots were missed after the duct work was cleaned out. The AC systems (2) were turned on and dust came out. After more than a week, dust was still coming out. ServPro returned, much to their dismay, and re-cleaned the basement unit and replaced all flexible duct work in the basement and re-vacuumed the rigid main ducts. The AC system was turned back on and dust and sand still came out of the system.

At that point, ServPro indicated they were not hired to solve the problem; they were hired to just clean the house. They removed some material they'd overlooked on top of the rigid metal ducts, installed filter material in the ducts, did some cursory wiping of surfaces and left. Two weeks after ServPro left, my house was as dusty as it had been before ServPro came. ServPro's suggestion was to get an engineering firm to install an industrial quality air filtration system for my house to make it livable. No effort was expended toward trying to get to the root cause of the problem.

had no effect on the dust levels, so I went to the ducts where the dust concentration was highest. A vent had been damaged during cleaning. The plaster holding the duct covering had been eroded away. I took the time to take off the duct cover and inspected the duct metal housing behind the vent cover. The vent was placed in ceiling of the 2nd floor and happened to be the floor of the area under the AC/heating in the house eve. A close look at the floor of the AC/heating area showed at least a decade of accumulated dust, leaves and debris that had been blown into that area.

A very close inspection of the dirtiest vent revealed that the plaster ceiling had settled across time, leaving a gap between the end of the metal duct and the plaster. Every time the blower turned on, the downdraft into the room from the AC/furnace was sucking debris from the floor of the furnace area into the rooms below.The cure was not a prohibitively expensive industrial air filtration system; it was $25 worth of flexible caulking to close the open gaps, a few air scrubbers to drop the dust concentration in the rooms and having the AC/furnace area cleaned with a HEPA vacuum cleaner on a regular basis.

My house will eventually be like it was, but ServPro had no involvement in diagnosis or resolving the problem. ServPro had no interest in vacuuming my furnace area. They were still hung up on the idea of spending a small fortune to install a high tech/expensive system to solve a problem that was fixed with a heavy application of caulk and some common sense.

He also cleaned the grout in and tile in the bathroom. He put in 2 fans (correctly, so the air blew under the carpet and also dried the floor). He came back in 4 days, put down a new pad, and reinstalled the carpet. I finished the little amount of clean-up work, and my basement is once again livable with no smell of mud, mildew, or mold. His total charge for all of this was $550. I feel I was totally ripped off for the very little amount of work that ServPro did in my house. If I receive a bill for the remainder of their charge, I will probably personally shove it up someone's **. I have already told all my friends to not use ServPro, which is now facing fire and water damage from the Waldo Canyon Fire in Colorado Springs.

They had to come out 2 different times to finish, because they did half of the work they said they had to do for safety of our health. But then when we were supposed to go home, we realized that they only did half the work & kept us in our hotel for more weeks to come. Not to mention when it came time for the insurance co. to replace our items, Mariana (head employee of Servpro of Renton that seems real nice at first & has your best interest - truly has the insurance adjuster's back 150% since the insurance company ends up paying them over $20,000 to throw away your belongings - and they both make lies to each other about your belongings, so the insurance co. will save money on not replacing 90% of your items) ended up saying that she didn't think our belongings were even that valuable, when in fact they were.

We are still noticing that more stuff is missing from them being in our home! Do not hire this company - your insurance co. will have them come out. When they do, ask to hire a different company since the insurance co. doesn't pay them directly. So get someone who won't steal from you & take what you worked for & saved for years! Don't allow this company to violate your home like they have us! Put these people where they should be - out of business!

Homeowners insurance paid over $5,741 to dry out the house and replace the hardwood floors. The floors ServPro replaced warped very badly in a few months. No other floors in the house has any problem except those ServPro installed. I kept calling them and they finally came out to look. From day one, their only reason for coming was to look for every possible excuse to not accept any responsibility. They showed no remorse and all they seem to care about is finding excuses to not stand behind their work. I have never dealt with a company who seemed to care less.

The insurance company sent an examiner and a contractor Paul’s Restoration in Bristol who said ServPro installed the floor incorrectly. I had a contractor examine the house and his opinion is that ServPro did not properly do the work. ServPro was only interested in building a case of excuses and were neither sympathetic nor helpful in any way.

After several months, I suppose they finally decided they had better make a response to the contractor sent by Allstate Insurances claim that ServPro had not properly done the work. ServPro’s written response signed by the owner/manager amounted to a carefully crafted legal maneuvering based on excuses, exaggerations and at least one complete lie. I made a big mistake trusting ServPro. They ruined my house, will do nothing to help and don’t even appear to care.

The bill came to $7,366.73. Included in that was $1,046.05 for the cost of materials and the Sunday emergency charge. Also included in that was $836.62 for a "Hot Thermal Fog". I figure they were each getting about $70/hour. The only problem is that they did a lousy job cleaning. My mother's housekeeper does a better job cleaning and she only gets $12/hour. They missed cleaning the "tops" of pictures and light fixtures, inside of closet doors, or missed cleaning the closets all together. They were going to charge me $569.80 just to wash the dishes in the kitchen. I ran 5 loads through the dishwasher instead.

The thermal fog was a big rip off also. The only thing they did a good job on was cleaning the duct work. I would not recommend ServPro, absolutely the biggest waste of money for a poor job done. I ended up cleaning the kitchen myself and saved over $1,200. Had I had the time, I would have cleaned the entire house!

Their delay and lies to my homeowners insurance (they told my insurance company I had water damage due to Hurricane Irene!) actually caused issues with my insurance company. However, once I got the estimate and approval from the insurance, I decided to try a different company (based on your complaints - thanks guys). This new company came out and said remediation was not necessary because the area was properly dried. The mold ServPro saw was harmless and basically dead because the water leak was corrected. In any event, this company only agreed with ServPro's suggestion of having the ducts cleaned and treated with anti mold stuff, but the carpet and walls were fine. His estimate was free and the charge for duct treatment was $539. FYI - had AirTech Inc. needed to remediate the mold, they would've done so, plus clean up, rebuild the walls, and replace the carpet.

I spoke with the manager regarding my dissatisfaction with the services and the excessive charges. He was unprofessional and condescending. He said he would reduce the bill to $1250 and if I didn't pay within 3 weeks, he would sue me in small claims court and have a mechanic’s lien placed on my house. I have not paid yet. I have 5 days until ServPro's deadline, but I am still waiting on a verdict from my insurance adjuster to see if I can file this on my homeowner’s insurance since the whole ordeal has surpassed my deductible.

We had another flood, and we cleaned it up ourselves. When they came to pick up the equipment they sent us a bill, weeks later for $1700! They did not clean up anything. They sent one guy to pick up the equipment. They told us it was the price for their equipment rental. They are a bunch of crooks. I would never use them again. I offered $500 but they did not respond to my offer. Be very careful to get a full disclosure if using them.

Another company has called three times and I did not even get an estimate with them. I was told that the estimate has been sent and they did not know what happen. I had to ask that the estimate be resent and the girl said well, you went with another company. Well yes, but I would like something for my $125.00. They have very poor service and follow up. I feel like I threw away $125.00!

I attempted to straighten it out with the Franchise owner in Holder, FL but had no luck. I then contacted corporate H.Q. in Gallatin, TN where the district manager for Florida told me that I was undercharged without knowing the facts. It is apparent that ServPro is practicing unethical, if not criminal, business practices. They know how hard it is to get the proper agencies involved to start an investigation.

Anyone that has been gouged by ServPro should contact the Memphis, TN branch of the F.B.I and file a formal complaint. Also, contact your states and Tennessee's Attorney General's office and file a formal complaint as well and also with the Governor's office. ServPro's corporate address is ServPro Industries Inc. 801 Industrial Blvd. Gallatin, TN 37066. Remember, if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem!

They have had nothing but problems with SERVPRO. The supervisor (a woman) at SERVPRO was very nice and has tried to help them. I realize that everyone in Joplin is busy, but a shoddy job is bad business.

The ** family have had to re-clean their house; plus SERVPRO has scratched their floor in one bedroom (fairly large). And, now, their refrigerator was not cleaned; as a result the refrigerator does not work. They have moved in their home, but have had to re-clean their home.

When the ** family spoke to the woman (who is evidently a supervisor) they were told that the person in charge of the cleaning was told (by someone) to do the minimum amount of cleaning.

But, what about mold, is there any left after the rain? The ** family are elderly and are not comfortable to speak up. But I am.

When I called the Norman, Oklahoma SERVPRO, I briefly told him about the problem and asked him for a corporate contact number to call. If was not forthcoming and I explained that I would make certain that the problem was taken care of. The man in charge, all he would do was yell and say I was threatening him. He just kept saying it over and over. That was not the case. I am frustrated; as anyone would be. He might have been having a bad day; but that's not the customer's problem.

I have always had faith in SERVPRO with their wonderful commercials. However!

This problem is evidently being passed from SERVPRO to Allstate and back and forth. I really don't want to be mean about this, but I will do whatever necessary to help make certain that my family lives in a safe and clean environment.

It seems that our entire country is "doing the minimum amount." I hope that your company will step up and take care of people in need.

My home number is **; my cell phone is **.

Also, I have talked to other people in Missouri who seem to be having the same problem – insurance and SERVPRO.

I hope to hear from you by Monday, August 8, 2011.

Juanita **

1. My husband had some concerns that there was work done that didn't need to be done. My husband, being a former general contractor, had some valid concerns. When he questioned Aaron **, the older son of the franchise owners, Aaron repeated that we had nothing to worry about, because the insurance company was covering all the costs. This made us a bit weary, because we didn't want to take advantage of our insurance company, nor did we want them to do unnecessary work, just to hike up their fees.

2. Another son, Cameron, saw that I was very upset about the entire process, particularly that it was during the holidays. He said that they could abandon the job if we wanted them to. This response was flippant and unprofessional.

3. After our kitchen was contained with plastic, we were told that we couldn't enter the containment due to a possible hazardous environment. However, we witnessed the workers at Servpro entering the containment without wearing their masks. They also contained our atrium, but never explained why this was needed, but to just trust them that they were doing this to protect us. My husband informed me that opening the window between the kitchen and the atrium compromised the previous containment of the kitchen as the remediation of the mold had not yet been completed. Essentially the atrium was being used as a conduit for venting contaminants to the outside through the open skylight in the ceiling of the atrium and therefore possibly contaminating the atrium. My husband’s concerns regarding this practice were never satisfied nor were there any attempt on their part to explain their reason for doing this.

4. When finally removing the plastic from the containment, they recklessly tore down the plastic, leaving a staple in our floor, which was not only unsafe, but for someone entering our kitchen with only socks on, this may scrape the bottom of their foot. When I mentioned this to the Servpro employees, they acted as if it was nothing to be upset about and made the comment, you should not be in a construction zone without shoes on. The construction zone was in an area of the kitchen--free from any hazards.

5. The containment was put up in a very sloppy, unprofessional manner, leaving staple marks on our ceiling and walls.

6. When the job was approximately 3/4 completed, Aaron ** pressured me into filling out a survey. He caught me in a moment when I was in a hurry and when I asked if I had to fill it out then and there, he replied that I did. Realizing this afterward, I thought I should have refused to answer the survey, but complete it at my leisure. I would appreciate either filling out a new survey, or destroying the one I did fill out.

7. Finally, when the job was completed, I had a check from my insurance company to give to Robert **, once he delivered my sink, faucet and a couple of other items which belonged to us. When he came by, accompanied by his son Seth **, to collect his check, he carried on and on about how they were so kind to me and helping me out during this stressful time. Then, to top it off, and I thought I heard enough of his diatribe, Robert said to me, "I know you are having problems in your marriage!” I was so completely astounded and taken aback, not to mention completely offended by his unprofessionalism and his remark, that I became defensive about my marriage, even though it was/is none of his business. He was extremely out of line, not to mention completely inappropriate and unprofessional.

8. I have e-mailed Karen **, notifying her of 2 checks I had for them from the insurance company. I also wanted them to return a couple of items which belonged to me. I have been completely ignored, never receiving responses to my e-mails. Last week, when I phoned and spoke with their office receptionist, Jessica **, she snickered as she told me that they would get back to me this week. I assure you that will not happen.

We have some concerns as outlined below:

Line item 100: You never removed or cleaned this item yet you charged for cleaning it.

It appears to us that Servpro never intended for us to see this itemized list, as you refused to provide it to us until we went to the corporate office, and even then, it wasn't until our meeting last week that you provided it to us. We still have not been provided with a list of items for our insurance company that you removed from our home that you considered irreparable and destroyed or disposed of.

With the exorbitant fees, repeat charges, and charges for items that are non-existent, it appears to us that Serpro's actions are criminal by attempting to defraud or insurance company. This matter will be forwarded to the states attorney generals' offices, the local prosecuting attorneys' offices, the BBB, and the Federal Fair Trade Commission for them to determine whether or not criminal actions have indeed transpired in this case, as well as others you have been or are currently involved with.

We felt pressured to quickly sign paperwork and asked several times if we were covered and the ServPro salesman said yes. He had a claim number so I thought that meant we were covered and did not understand that a claim number is not the same as an approval. Please help so this does not happen to others in an emergency situation and give consumers a chance to shop price. Water leaked through ceiling. We had roofing company stop leak. ServPro did only the cleanup after 5 days of us doing it ourselves.

We trust that you can locate your invoices by the address. The project manager on this job was Javier Diaz. The reason we are writing this letter is to inform you that a complete audit has been conducted to the invoicing that your firm has submitted to Kemper Insurance. We have found that your company went far beyond the required scope of services necessary for this loss, your firm exceeded the allowable $10,000 threshold for approved charges from Kemper, your firm proceeded without authority to do so from the homeowner, from our office or from Kemper and you trespassed all areas without notification of scope or cost to the homeowner, this office or Kemper Insurance. Needless to say, the scope represented by your invoices and the charges represented by your invoices are not approved and will not be paid as represented.

In the interest of resolving this matter amicably we have met with the insured, Kemper and an outside restoration vendor. We reviewed the original nature of the loss and we completed a walk through on site with the interested parties. The restoration vendor has submitted a comparison estimate for completing necessary restoration services to the structure totaling $8,600.13. The structure cleaning is limited to the first floor rooms, as would have been approved by all parties.

The same vendor has also submitted a comparison estimate for contents pack out and cleaning in the amount of $7,692.36. The contents estimate includes on site cleaning of the first floor areas of the home, as would have been approved by all parties. We have forwarded the two comparison estimates to Kemper for further review. Upon approval Kemper will issue payment to your firm at $8,600.13 for structural cleaning and $7,692.36 for contents cleaning. These payments will be final payments for your services on this job. Should you wish to contend this outcome then we will recommend that Kemper move to appraisal and/or that the matter be handed over to the in house counsel for Kemper.

However, later that evening when ServPro arrived, Mr. Fogarty knocked on our door stating that our neighbor's mold levels were very high and that ours was probably worse.

Well guess what? Insurance does not pay and now we are stuck with an almost $10,000 bill from ServPro (mine and my neighbors).

I believe Mr. Fogarty offered his services under false pretenses by insuring us that he saw this all the time. We were already devastated by the flood, now our recovery is hindered by this company. They only managed to make matter worse with this economic burden.

When I moved back to my home, I discovered several of my furniture was damaged by his men when they moved my furniture so I contacted ServPro again and tried to settle my complaint. Mr. Meacham came to inspect the damaged furniture and we talked about a possible solution.

But like always, he was full of promises but failed to show real effort. I called and wrote letters again.

On June 21 at around 8:50 pm, Mr. Meacham called me. He said that he was returning my calls out of courtesy but doesn't want to discuss anything with me anymore. For about 5 minutes, he just kept telling me that he has a small company and I was costing him thousands of dollars because of the complaint that I made. He said that I was not being fair and that I am treating him badly for no reason at all. He said that I expand/change things everytime I write.

I did not add or change anything. The list of items that were damaged or missing changed because I already found some items that were included in my previous letters. When I spoke to Mr. Meacham before, I told him that the list that I have was only a partial list since I was still in the process of moving back. When they moved my things in the storage, I was not there to inspect every item. I only found out about the damages when I moved my things back in. I even told him that if I discover more damaged items, I will let him know as soon as possible.

He attacked my person saying that I "should be a better person", he asked me "how could you sleep soundly at night", he said that my boyfriend knows "the kind of person" that I am and he is "embarassed by the things" that I do.

Mr. Meacham has no right to speak to me in that way since he has no knowledge of the kind of person that I am nor can he speak on behalf of the people that am related to.

He said he contacted a lawyer and paid the $500 attorney's fee. He said his lawyer told him that he can take a lien on my home and take me to court because I am trying to take advantage. I am only asking that he pay for repairs which would not even cost more that $400. How can he say that I am trying to take advantage?

I felt that he was trying to intimidate me so I will not ask him to pay for the repairs of the damages. I felt bullied and mistreated. He did not give me a a chance to say anything and when I asked him to give me 2 minutes to talk, he did allow me to speak, he just hung up. I called him back and left a message on his cell.

A number of valuables were never returned.

I submitted 3 letters to this company asking them for remuneration, one in Nov. 2002, one in Oct. 2003 and one in Jan. 2004. I also submitted a complaint to the national headquarters. They said it was up to the local franchise to honor my claim.

Also, this company made a lot of promises about doing fire cleanup, but their actual work was minimal. They came once after the fire and cleaned about 1/2 of my kitchen cabinets, but never returned to do the rest. They came after the construction and again did minimal work.

Also, this company refused my several requests to take my antique furniture to an antique restorer. They claimed they would do the work themselves. When the furniture was returned, some of it had been stripped, none of it refinished. Therefore, I had to send the furniture out myself and instead of not having my furniture for 6 months, I didn't have it for a year.

However, there were two leather sofas and a leather chair in another room that still had soot. These are cream in color so the soot is quite noticeable. I cleaned both sofas and continued to work to clean the leather chair. I have a witness to the cleanings. I called ServPro and asked them to delete the charge for the sofa/chair cleaning since I did it myself. David Arnold at Servpro said the technican insisted they did the work. I emailed 4/21/04 two pictures of the chair with soot I was still working to clean. David Arnold was out of the office the following day. I called the President on 4/28/04 Brent Arnold for status and to discuss the amount paid. After continually calling the president, he passed the buck back to David Arnold.

After several attempts, I finally got a hold of him to discuss. He again insisted the cleaning was completed on the furniture and that if I wasn't happy I should call the insurance adjuster for a replacement. It feel as though they were taking advantage of the fact insurance would pay for the services.