OT...Anyone had any dealing with Servicemaster?

[Reg Evans]

About 2 weeks ago we had a water line break loose under the guest bath sink. It had apparently been squirting hot water full blast under the cabined for about 4 hours. That bath,both bedrooms next to it and 1/2 of the living room were flooded when I got home. All the floors were carpeted and my house is on a slab so the only damage was the 8 year old carpet and pad plus a little baseboard.

I got out the phone book and for some reason called the local Servicemaster. 2 guys arrived 3 hours later and wanted me to sign a blank contract. They wanted to set up fans and dehumidifiers and after I pressed them for a cost they estimated it at~ $1500. I said oh no...just suck up some of the water so you can remove the carpet and pad and just throw it into the car port. The carpet is old and needs to be replaced anyway and our homeowners deductible is $5K so this won't be an insurance job.

My wife,daughter and I had already removed the furniture before they arrived so after 1.5 hours they were done. One of the guys spent a good part of his time measuring and taking photos and notes while the other guy did the brunt of the work. When they were ready to leave I said I wanted to pay them. The head guy said they have to bill me later.

A week later I get the bill for over $2100 so I called and complained and in a few days the bill was reduced to $1600. More complaining on my part and in another day they called to say the bill would be ~$500. I still think at $500 it's still highway robbery. Anyone ever dealt with them? I never will again.

[Dennis Hemingway]

After the flash flood hit our area in August of 05 we had a friend ask us if we paid for someone to clean up and I said that we did it our self. He said that we were lucky as his mother called Servicemaster and got a bill for $25,000. and then put a lean aganst her home when she tried to fight them.

Dennis:mad:

[Plymouthy Adams]

I hate any and all companies large or small that take advantage of disasters, women and the aged...may they all just rot away...I said it before and I will say it again, I have found that I can screw something up a lot cheaper than paying someone to screw it up.

As for the lien on the house...real sweet tactics..and I bet she was never informed up front of any cost estimate..I truly feel for her..if the area was in a declared disaster zone, should not FEMA (or other gvn't agency) have some kind of control over price gouging for services?

[Young Ed]

Its not just the elderly. My grandmas house needed wiring help bad. Between her and two of my moms siblings they hired a guy who did lots of work and didn't fix the problem. She still looses power in 1/2 her house. Oh but she's got ground fault outlets in the kitchen now....woohoo. Oh and the genius turned the fridge outlet into a GFI too.

Norm what kind of windows did she get?

[Dennis Hemingway]

It was a local disaster only, the people who were involved got a tax break.

She had signed a blank service contract when she had 2-3 feet of water in her house. Her son (our friend) went to court and had the bill cut down to $5,500. the judge felt the same as we did, we hit the local service clubs for help and got the bill paid, but it took a year to get the lean off of her property. She had over $75,000 in damages not counting the bill. Photos of her house.

Dennis

[Young Ed]

She certainly does Norm but there's no telling her that!

[JerseyHarold]

Reg,

I deal with water damaged homes on a fairly regular basis. It's good that you got the carpet out and dried things up BUT there is moisture trapped in the walls and insulation and that could result in mold. I don't want to alarm you, but there is more to this than meets the eye. I recently managed a repair/remediation project on a two week old home where a fitting burst in a second-floor bathroom....similar to your situation. The homeowner came home and said it was raining in the dining room. The water travelled over a large area in the walls and even flooded the basement. We ripped out all the sheetrock, hardwood floors, insulation, and cabinets (remember, this was a new house!) and had a remediation company come in with forced hot air driers to 'bake' the gutted section of the house to dry the moisture before mold set in. We also cleaned and disinfected the heating system ductwork to make sure no mold would grow due to the combination of moisture and dust. You may want to consider having a local industrial hygienist or remediation contractor take some moisture readings and/or samples to make sure everything is really dry and mold-free. I know it can be expensive, but the health of your family (and also the resale value of the home) is at stake.

[Reg Evans]

JerseyHarold,

Luckily,in my case the water never rose more than about 3/4 of an inch in any part of the house. The water actually drained off the slab floor around the perimeter of the house. Since the pressure treated mud sill (floor plate) is 1.5" thick the sheet rock and insulation didn't get wet. I'm not concerned with any future mold growth.

What Disgusts me is how ServiceMasters had the gall to bill me $2007.25 for 1 hour and 20 minutes of labor for two slow moving workmen. Their wet carpet removal charge is more than the cost of new carpet and pad and labor to install for the area. I'm also amazed at how easily they backed off this exorbitant charge twice.

[BobT-47P15]

There is another company that does about the same proceedures as Servicemaster, it is called ServPro. I don't know how their charges compare. They put on continuing education classes for insurance people during the year......addressing such things as Harold mentioned.....mold, water wicking up the sheet rock walls, etc. Also they do fire cleanup and restoration.

There are other similar companies around. I would say most all these companies are used to doing insurance work and charging accordingly. I agree with Norm, it's wise to get some sort of firm estimate......even if they don't like it. If they refuse to give any sort of estimate, then I would say look elsewhere. In a pretty simple situation, you can probably rent a big shop vac from a rental store for water and a couple fans. But there are some things that probably need more help than the layman can do.

[Plymouthy Adams]

Norm..there are always a few things that you do not have the abiltiy to do and if the abilitly is there..the time involved is not. I had to farm out the paint of the house as I needed to rent a bucket otherwise..he had one..all was written and signed..they did it right..after two redo's in a couple areas..they ate that because it was in writing. The roof with 12 pitch and huge size..contract..good guy, bonded, did not even want me to pay a cent of the iron clad price till I was satisfied..excellent deal there also. And of course I had a new drain field put in for the sewer..again..written contract and done right on time on the money. A contract is great..a company not willing to give you one is a company to avoid. IMHO

[PatS....]

I have a problem with all the franchises in this type of industry. Why do they need to belong to a franchise? If they were any damn good, they could hang out a shingle and do quite well. The reason most go for a franchise is because they have no idea about how to do what needs to be done without the company "training". They also don't have clue about how to run a business, so they rely on the head office to "train" them.

So, employing a franchise really only gets you some trained seals.

You can do the work yourself with just as much professionalism.

If you want REAL professionals, find a local business in the industry you need who has been around for a while and check them out.

Most of the time you will be better off.

In all cases when it comes to home contractors, you really have to do your homework because as was posted those crooks can put a lien on your house and cost a kings ransom in legal bills.

They only have to perform work. The quality and quantity of work isn't usually up for debate. A sad thing to find out after the fact when you call the cops and they say..."sorry, it's a civil matter...good luck"

[thedahmer]

we had a basement flood here in the spring-- 3" of water in a finished basement-the floor drains were doing ok and I called a local carpet cleaner and they came out and sucked it all away for $175 and were here for about 3 hours... have heard too many bad things about Service Master around here

[Reg Evans]

Well, in my case I didn't have time to go shopping or get bids. It was important in my mind to get all the furniture out in a hurry as it was sitting on the wet carpet. We were still clearing out the rooms as they drove up 3 hours later.

I'm a general building contractor and build several homes per year so I know about the importance of getting clear and firm bids.

Those bas***ds were just going to see how much they could wring out of my wallet while wringing out my carpet.

[Dennis_MN]

Absolutly amazing. This is the second occurance of a broken water valve in two days. My neighbor came home after the Thanksgiving weekend to find water all over his townhouse. The hot water valve broke under the kitchen sink and flooded the house and his finished basement. Servicemaster disaster recovery was the first on the scene.

Do you happen to have a picture of your broken valve? I'm thinking that perhaps I should replace my hot water valves on all of the sinks in the place as a preventative measure.

I've heard of replacing water heaters before they break, but never a shut off valve.

Dennis Sullivan

Monticello, MN

[Reg Evans]

Sure. Here's a photo of the culprit. It's a two piece water supply valve I installed about 8 years ago under the guest bath sink. both valves under the sink are the same type. The rest of the house has one piece valves with the flex line permanently attached to the valve body. for some reason the supply line worked it's way out of the compression fitting.

[Dennis_MN]

Thanks for the photo. It was good to see what the failure mode was.

I'm thinking of adding a electric valve to the input water and using a switch to turn the water off when we leave for a day.

Anyone ever done this?

Dennis Sullivan

[Reg Evans]

Sure sounds like a good idea !

[Dennis_MN]

I found a solution with a little searching. Its called water cop which is a electric shut off with remoter water sensors which can be installed in strategic locations. It also has a remote switch for putting somewhere convenient.

http://www.safehomeproducts.com/SHP2/sm/water_cop.asp

Dennis Sullivan