DMS was referred to me by my mother who is a property manager. I had a shower leak that turned into about 50sq ft of water damage behind my shower and beneath it which was the ceiling of my kitchen below. I described the damage to Doug (the alleged owner of DMS) over the phone and he immediately asked me if I had homeowner's insurance. Without hesitation, I replied that I did. First mistake. So Doug shows up, checks out the leak, immediately cuts a hole in my wall, shows me what happened and insists I file a claim. So I did, not knowing any better. My deductible turned out to be extremely high at $3200. Doug obviously saw the dollar signs. I asked him to give me an estimate. I even put him on the phone with a contractor friend of mine who also asked for an estimate. He deflected with the complexity of the water damage and said he could fix it, I just needed to go through my insurance. Mind you, DMS plumbing does not advertise water damage repair. Apparently this is a service Doug provides as Water Damage and Restoration Services, LLC. In a panic because I already had a hectic day and it was a Saturday afternoon, I let him proceed and in the meantime made sure my policy would cover everything. Doug spent a few hours cutting 3 holes in my bathroom and kitchen ceiling and built a containment for the air movers. When it came down to it, after speaking with a few people, there was just no way the job was going to meet my deductible so I tearfully told Doug I could not afford it or to make a claim. I asked him how much it would really cost and offered to pay cash. He told me he would normally BILL my insurance $3800 without explaining how or why but would do the job for $1800 for me. I was overwhelmed, never did get an estimate the whole day and he was nearly done so I gave him $1900 cash ($100 to rethread and glue my shower arm back) and he left. All evening and over the next couple of days, I called around, talked to other contractors and homeowners, my insurance company and researched this type of work online. It turns out drying out water damage costs a lot less then what he charged me. I received the yellow copy of a receipt for DMS plumbing for the shower arm repair and an invoice via email with just a job description and rate of $1800 paid cash from Water Damage and Restoration Services, LLC. Doug came and went over the next few days checking the progress. On the last day, he repaired my shower arm. He must have been able to tell I was uneasy because one of the last things he said to me was "sorry it couldn't be a better price." That seemed unusual so I reached out to Doug via text and inquired about the job in detail. I got a very dismissive reply. I assume Doug needed the $1800 cash a lot more than I did considering how much he bragged about his lifestyle, himself, various trades and handyman expertise during "small talk" while he was in my home. I concur with the other reviews regarding price gouging and wonder how could a nearly $4k job billed to insurance be cut in over half so easily and without itemization. I do not recommend Doug, DMS Plumbing or Water Damage and Restoration Services and have passed all this information along to my mother, my friends, other homeowners and various insurance companies.
Buyer beware, water damage almost always goes hand in hand with plumbing repair which makes it the perfect opportunity to be taken advantage of by Doug in an emergency situation. read more