If you do decide to work with this company, make sure you have a lawyer ready to defend you first.
Isaac prepared an estimate on what we needed done after a leak took out half of our kitchen. When the project manager, Tim, came out later, he showed us the break down of charges.
We told him that was way more than we actually needed done. All the material, except two strips of trim, was purchased by me and only needed to be installed. There were charges for material and labor on the list.
Tim said not to worry, that this was an estimate for "worst case scenario" and anything not needed could be removed from the bill later. We even added a bit more so the rest of the kitchen would match what was being replaced.
Since the contract we signed said change orders could be done while the work was happening or after it was finished, we didn't worry. And we paid them the required 50% up front.
We should have worried.
Their people showed up, two of them. Even they were confused by how much work was listed for them to do. About a third of the work listed was required according to the people hired by Servpro to complete the contract.
None of the extra and more expensive items were needed, like a dump truck to haul things away, painting the entire kitchen, and the plumber never showed up.
After the workers stopped showing up, Tim contacted us to finalize payments. There was still work that needed to be done, but with the way Tim was pestering my husband, we decided it would be easier and smarter to finish the last parts ourselves.
Tim didn't come out, didn't verify any work, he also implied that he hadn't even spoken to the people who worked on my house. We brushed that aside, simply wanting things to be over with. Following the contract, we sent him the list of things from the estimate that weren't done. As it was more than half the cost that needed to be removed, we offered to call it even as we'd already overpaid. We thought we were being generous. Again, we just wanted things settled so we could finally have our kitchen back after two months.
Tim's response to that was to threaten us with lawyers, followed up with threats of court dates, and even threatened to place a lien on our property. We explained time and again that we were asking for a change order to reflect the work done, as per the contract and his oral assurances. Tim ignored, and continues to ignore, any mention of change orders and focuses on how much he feels we still owe him.
He sends us threats along with new contracts for us to sign admitting we still owe him money. The amount of money, and even the names on the contracts, keeps changing, but is always more than is required per our first signed contract.
We contacted Isaac, who did the initial walk through and estimate. Isaac said they will look into this issue with Tim, but that was the only response we got. No one else from the company has contacted us in the last week.
Tim, and possibly Servpro themselves, are trying to use bait and switch tactics mixed with bullying and coercion to get us to pay what was estimated for "worst case scenario" instead of what their contractors actually did. He also refused to discuss sending their people out to do the work in order to get the amount he wants. If he wants me to pay 1300 for painting an entire room, I have a room he can paint. He ignored that offer as well.
I cannot recommend this company to anyone, and I strongly suggest using a local handy man to get your work done instead. They might not be good, but at least they won't threaten you with a team of lawyers, court dates, and liens on your property in a bid to extort you for work not done or needed. read more
