Ace Fire & Water Restoration, Inc.

"We would like to respond to the negative review from Member regarding her experience with Ace Fire and Water Restoration. It sounds like the emergency services we provided in boarding up her property and packing her salvageable contents went as planned and she was satisfied. It’s our understanding that she has an issue with the specialty dry cleaner that she hired. I secured a copy of the job communication log report between the dry cleaner and Verba. She met with the cleaning representative personally on the day of the loss at 4:32 pm on May 1st, 2012. The log sheet states: “Met with the homeowner today and we have pulled out 50 bags and brought them down to her porch as she wants to go through everything and toss out what she doesn’t want to keep. We will need to return and pick up the items she has chosen to keep…she has “rush” but no set date of return. Some may not be salvageable.” Clearly, the homeowner was aware of what the dry cleaner was doing. I would like to set the record straight about the use of specialty cleaners and furniture restoration. The homeowner contracts with the specialists directly, not through our company. We can make a recommendation but it is the homeowners’ decision who they use. We receive no money for these services and they are billed by the specialist to the homeowner. Incidentally, this cleaner was a preferred vendor of Member’s insurance company. The cleaner goes on to detail a continuous correspondence with the homeowners’ insurance adjuster in evaluating the claim and delivery of goods. The insurance company ultimately decides how much they are going to reimburse you for your total loss items. It depends on your policy. You may have actual cash value or full replacement value. These values are not determined by the general contractor that you’re working with. Finally, in signing contracts with any restoration company for emergency services and rebuild at the time of the loss, it is standard procedure to put “TBD” or “to be determined” when you sign the contract you agree to the contractor evaluating, negotiating, and settling the amount of the claim with your insurance company. The contractor writes his estimate, the insurance adjuster writes his own estimate and then they negotiate the claim. The contractors’ priority is to restore your property to the pre-loss condition. When the number is settled the homeowner is given a copy of the estimate and a time table for payment. Sometimes the contractor waits a long time to get paid by the insurance company for the work they do. They are, in effect, financing your loss. That is why we have contracts in place. In this case the work by Ace was completed in May for the emergency services and pack out but we did not get paid until August and November, respectively. To conclude, we feel that Ace has been unfairly characterized by Member and we have many references from satisfied customers on our website at acefireandwater.com."