We had two separate water damage claims a couple of months apart. Our Insurance company assigned SI Restoration as the clean up team for the second claim and the restoration company for both claims.
The process from the initial damage to the beginning of work was delayed by the second claim. There were some communication problems as the planning process for the job was happening but we dealt with them. Once the restoration work started the crew did work quickly but it was unpredictable (despite several questions to the project manager) what part of the house they would be working on for any given day. This complicated the situation presented by the project manager who advised that even though the job included moving our furniture and household items, we should move anything particularly valuable ourselves - hard to do if you don't know when they will be working on a particular room or floor.
One week into the Restoration work, a subcontractor of SI Restoration destroyed our kitchen granite counter tops. I was extremely frustrated that while SI Restoration was aware of the damage, no effort was made to contact us - no phone call, no email or text. We discovered the damage when we came home and saw the broken granite in our garage. It took two days to get a meeting with SI Restoration and while they were quick to acknowledge responsibility we now had no workable kitchen (cooktop removed, sink removed, stove and microwave electrical was cut off), this was 10 days before Christmas. We found a granite company to replace our counter tops. SI Restoration was moving so slow that we put down the cash deposit to secure the granite and the work and had to be reimbursed and the job almost didn't happen as scheduled due to SI Restoration taking so long to arrange for full payment with the granite company (a little extra effort on their part would have been appreciated after causing over $10,000 damage to our home). We still were forced to eat out (costing us over $1,500) for over 3 weeks while we waited for the kitchen to be rebuilt. Additionally their crew damage one piece of our furniture and spilled paint on a new area rug purchased to replace one lost in the damage.
The job was 'completed' on 31 DEC and when we received the final bill and checks from the insurance company that required our endorsement, we noticed over $7,500 in work that had not been done (some at our request to credit that amount to other work and some that the crew just skipped but we were still being charged for). We submitted our discrepancy list to SI Restoration and they sent the project manager, a quality control manager and a second project manager to review the list. The project manager was adamant that all the work had been done, but as I walked him through the list in our home and pointed out where work was not done he remained adamant briefly until I suggested I get a lawyer. Even the quality control manager and second project manager were agreeing with me that the items were not done. Also, in the rush to finish the job the crew did sloppy painting, drywall & joint compound work and failed to fill in nail holes in crown molding and some flooring and have yet to touch any of that up.
It took nearly 2 months to get a written agreement that SI Restoration would pay to repair the damaged furniture and rug and replace them if they are not repairable. This agreement only came after we refused to endorse the insurance checks to pay for the job.
2 1/2 months after the work was 'done', we are still waiting for communication on the touchups and we are fairly frustrated at the lack of communication and effort to get this resolved.
Update 22 Apr:
We were supposed to exchange our damaged rug with one of your quality control managers for the replacement rug that we were told had arrived. He did not bring the replacement rug so I have again declined to endorse the payment checks from our insurance company.
I rearranged my schedule and took the afternoon off; your internal miscommunication has once again cost us time and money. For a company that is supposed to help people put their homes & lives back together after home damage, you have cost us lost work, used vacation days, over $2,000 in out of pocket expenses to cover the damage your workers did to our home and hours of work on our part to sort out an attempt to overcharge our insurance by $7,500 for undone work in addition to considerable amounts of stress. This is unsatisfactory on the part of your employees. read more