My property manager called Servpro of Fredericksburg in June 2009 when my tenants woke up to find water in the finished basement. Turned out the sump pump had failed to keep up with a rainstorm during the night.
They came out to the house, and called me at work to describe what they were seeing. According to Servpro, my basement contained several inches of standing water, and they recommended that they start mitigating the damage right away. I agreed and they faxed me a blank contract to sign before they would begin work.
After I faxed the contract back, I asked some woman at Servpro how much the total bill would be, and she estimated "a couple thousand dollars", which seemed reasonable to me. During this time, work had begun on the house. They removed several thousand dollars' worth of Berber carpet, and gutted the entire basement from the baseboards up to the 12-inch mark. After they left, I got to speak to the tenants who told me that one of Servpro's technicians told her that the carpet didn't need to be removed, but they decided to do so "since the insurance was covering it" (which was not the case) . My tenants also told me (and they had photos to prove it), that there was no standing water by the time Servpro arrived, and that the most water that had been in the basement was only about 1/2 inch, and only in a couple of isolated areas. .
I was then mailed a bill for nearly $5,700! This price was nearly triple what I was told on the phone, and four times what both my general contractor and Servpro's major competitor in the area charged for a job that size. Given the damage they caused to my house, the dishonesty with which they conducted themselves, and the price incurred by me to have the basement fixed and re-carpeted, I sent them a check for $1,600 with a letter stating that was fair market value for the job they did, despite how poorly they did it.
They filed a lawsuit, and I filed a counter-lawsuit for damages to my house. The court date was postponed once because Servpro's "star witness" was suddenly unavailable. We finally went to court in September, the judge listened to my attorney's argument as he began punching multiple holes (figuratively speaking) in Servpro's standard contract. I also had my tenants and my general contractor testify to the damage Servpro caused. We were all shocked when the judge decided in Servpro's favor, and I had a judgment of more than $5,000 levied against me, in addition to the $1,600 check I wrote them, all the extra money I had to pay my general contractor to address Servpro's damage to my basement and restore it to its original condition, plus my $1,300 in legal fees.
So all things considered, a failed rubber gasket on my sump pump and a fateful call to Servpro cost me around $10,000, 15 months of my life, a lawsuit, a judgment on my credit report, a credit score drop of 40-50 points, three days of vacation time for court and legal meetings, and more stress than I ever needed...and since I work for the federal government, as many of us in this area do, I had to explain to my security office at work why I was taken to court and sued. This is, by far, the single worst company I've ever dealt with.
Bonus: After the judge passed his decision and adjourned the trial, the owner of the company walked passed me and my attorney with a big smile on his face, and he pumped his fist and said "Yessss!" under his breath. Classy.
Based on my experience with Servpro, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if they sued me again for libel to have me remove this online review. read more
