SERVPRO

Description of Work: We had a home disaster in January 2005 and Servpro was chosen by our insurer Country Mutual (aka Country Companies) to clean, dry and store our 6000sq ft home. I have images of what they left behind. They claimed to have cleaned and dried basement, but pictures show that did not happen. They had workers who were both undocumented and others who had records via Circuit Court that I was not aware of until well after lawyers requested our file from them as we prepared suit against the insurance company. Though they did not list undocumented workers, my husband recognized several because of his work in the migrant community. After we obtained a list of names Servpro did disclose, we found several that had records including, but not limited to, criminal and drugs felonies. Our furniture rotted in their storage and molded because it was never dried before stored, even though they said they would store in controlled conditions. Under oath of deposition, Servpro claimed they were never hired to clean or dry our personal property, but the internal logs of insurance company said they were to clean and dry. During our 10 years (8 in litigation) we were able to obtain internal logs from insurance company where adjuster admits he hired Servpro. Though insurance company claimed in court they never did. Finally, Servpro never produced any records to show how they assessed the amount of water damage our home got. Even though they advertise they have equipment to do this and their website shows said equipment. However, the reason Servpro did not record the |Water saturation level in our home was to eliminate the claim amount so insurance company could claim the damage was not as major as it turned out it was. Hence, less money. The only reason we did not sue Servpro was because we could not afford to sue them and the insurance company at the same time. That is the only reason. FACT: insurance companies are not supposed to recommend any vendors to their insured. Unfortunately, Servpro has a monopoly on fire and water damage because they are one of the only companies in our immediate region (Champaign County) to handle Large Loss disasters. For all disasters that are not Large Scale, I |Would recommend using one of the other fire and water cleanup companies. However, if Servpro is your only recourse, here is some advice: 1) read the company's obligations and compare to your expectations. 2) do not sign anything you have not carefully reviewed first and if you are in an emotional state, wait until you have a lawyer or a person who is not immediately affected by the disaster read before you sign 3) Make a copy of what you signed (front and back) with your smartphone if nothing else is on hand. Servpro altered a document I signed but I have original and the copy they altered for the insurance company to use. 4) ask for full names of all who come into your home and ask to see drivers license or State ID. If they have none with photo (only those two are acceptable) you should not allow in your home. For those IDs you do get, you have the right to take a copy with your smartphone. Then look them up on our online Court to view records. Official IDs will have given names and not the ones they use for emolument or general public requests. I had items missing and unaccounted for. Items of value even though Servpro states they get permission before discarding. 5) NEVER ALLOW ADJUSTER OR SERVPRO SMILES TO DISARM YOU FROM YOUR RIGHTS. NEVER ALLOW ADJUSTERS TO MAKE NEGOTIATONS OUTSIDE OF YOUR PRESENCE AND THEN MAKE SURE THAT DEAL IS ON PAPER THAT HAS SIGNATURE FROM YOUR INSURER. Finally, do not allow Servpro to assist the insurance company to calculate your replacement (structural) because they use Exactimate software and besides its flaws, if your insurer or Servpro puts in a lesser quality item to be replaced, your items replacement value can go down considerable and collectively if that happens across the board on all of your items, you may get 50% less than what you rightfully are owed. FACT: no one at your insurance adjusters office has an appraisal license and neither does Servpro. If you disagree or feel the amount of damage has not been carefully accessed, I can assure you you are probably correct. It is worth the few dollars to get your own appraiser who is licensed to value your damage both structurally and personal items.

Description of Work: Moved all of our furniture and items so floor finishers could refinish hardwood floors. Servpro expertly moved large furniture into other rooms of the house. They had to pack a lot of stuff into a couple of rooms, and did a good job. Not a scratch. They had to remove legs from tables, etc. They also moved a large refrigerator to our garage. This also required removing handles, etc. Finally, they removed toilet and sink from bathroom. All without issue,and all in about 2 hours!