This company was recommended by Allstate. The way it was explained to us, Allstate's policy is that they require all fabric damaged in a fire to be cleaned first. If it doesn't come clean, they will replace it. They also mentioned that Allstate pays for the service. That seemed fair and reasonable. We could get our clothing cleaned quickly and returned to us before we would even have time to buy new. After all, our house was a total loss and we had more important things to do than shop for clothing.
We signed the contract with Frsteam, a contract that holds the owner of the clothing responsible for payment. They did the best they could, but we found the only clothing they got clean and didn't still reek of smoke and/or cleaning agents was the clothing made primarily of cotton. Everything else was a total loss.
They cleaned all my work boots, but whatever process they used made the soles come loose all the way to the heel.
We were left with several piles of clothing and shoes that smelled like smoke and/or chemicals...though they were nicely hung and pressed, dry cleaner style.
These were all in the basement of our temporary house making it a reminder of our fire loss every time we walked down stairs. After a week, we pulled all the cotton items from the piles and loaded up 8 large garbage bags with the rest of the shirts, pants, dresses and jackets and put them on the curb for garbage pick up.
The bill from Frsteam came, it was over $6,000. Allstate paid it immediately. We had only $40,000 in coverage for contents. Insurance companies do pay for Frsteam's services, from your policy. Our losses added up to over $50,000 for the contents of our home.
Allstate paid us $34,000 ($40,000 in coverage minus $6000 for Frsteam)
Frsteam made $6000 by going through the motions and saving about 75 items, mostly Jeans, Socks, T-shirts and underwear.
We lost everything and are still trying to recover and pay off thousand of dollars of credit card debt.
Unless you know that your insurance coverage exceeds your losses by a large percentage, DON'T SIGN A CONTRACT with this company. You will be charged more than you can even imagine. You will be better off throwing the clothing away and using the insurance money to buy other items you lost.
Learn how to launder smoke damaged clothing for your cottons and find a local dry cleaner to make an attempt if there is anything else you feel you want to try and save. Chances are you will spend more than the item is worth trying to clean it.
Frsteam charged us $6000 to clean about $5000 worth of clothing. We threw out $4000 worth and had to replace it anyway on our credit cards.
The combination of Frsteam and Allstate made a horrible house fire where we lost our dog and all our possessions even worse. They should be ashamed of themselves. read more