This company is absolutely unethical.
After I moved back into my condo, post-remodel, I noticed large streaks of black mold on two of my upright timber beams. Naturally I panicked: I've heard about how difficult it is to get rid of a mold infestation, and it can tank your property value and even ruin your house. I'm also severely allergic to [certain types of] mold, and I certainly didn't want to have to move out of my house for health reasons.
I called 911 restoration and someone came out right away. The representative took a look at my beams. The short story is that without taking samples, without determining what TYPE of mold it was, she scared me into thinking that armageddon was nigh if I didn't immediately have them treat the mold. She told me how difficult it is to get rid of. I'd have to throw out as much soft / upholstered stuff as possible -- clothes, linens, etc. All my furniture was practically brand new, and the thought of having to throw it away made me want to cry.
As part of their process, she explained that they would paint over my brick wall to guarantee that the mold wouldn't come back. This also made me almost cry because that brick is one of the reasons I love the place and it's a big part of the value of the condo. They'd have to rip up at least some of the floor and possibly get behind the walls. I told her that I had literally JUST put all the walls back on after the long remodeling project and that everything behind the walls was totally fine.
She went on to explain getting insurance companies involved, talking to my HOA because the beams are part of the building's structure, etc. etc. She quoted me $4,300: seal off everything, scrub, bleach, blah blah blah; remove all my furniture, fumigate it, dryclean it, etc etc; I was going to have to find a place to store all my furniture during the week that this took, etc.
Well, I was in hysterics. Fortunately my mother reminded me to get a second opinion. I read more about mold infestations and one thing stuck out: never get the analysis done by the company that will be doing the cleaning. So I called Dominion Environmental and they sent someone out the next Monday or Tuesday. The Dominion person was everything the 911 person was not: He was calm and pleasant. He walked in and said "well, I'd obviously have to wait for the lab results to be sure, but I would almost guarantee that you just have lumbar yard mold," which is not toxic, doesn't really spread, and is pretty much unavoidable for new-ish lumber as it dries out over time. Dominion took spore counts, sampled the mold on the beams, and got the results back to me in a timely manner. As it turned out, I could have removed the mold myself with a simple hand sander; a professional mold abatement company quoted me $1,000 to remove the mold.
Ultimately, 911 Restoration behaved in a panic-inducing and shady way. When the woman called back the next week, I gave her a piece of my mind: She sowed fear, tried to capitalize on my worry, didn't do any sort of actual testing, and recommended a course of action utterly inappropriate to my situation. read more