SERVPRO OF NW BERGEN COUNTY

A frozen pipe led to serious water damage from third floor to basement of our house. Servpro, recommended by our insurance company, sent a representative within an hour. With a contract. Although this was an emergency for us, the experience is not like calling the fire department and dealing immediately with the problems. Complications are evident at once as the contract is explicit in naming the home owner as the hirer and Servpro required a credit card including security code. Yet no warrantee is provided to us and in fact arrangements relate to their reports to the insurance company.and they are paid directly according to rates agreed with the insurer, On the positive side, personnel were pleasant and always on time. First work was done 3/16. Equipment was removed 3/27. Work crews appeared efficient and appropriately equipped for their jobs. They removed walls, ceilings, carpeting, and household goods that could not be salvaged. The company brought in ample units of drying equipment. The problems related to judgment. Ours is a large house built more than 100 years ago with plaster walls and chestnut woodwork and paneling, impossible to duplicate. The Servpro rep was focused on demo. He insisted, for instance, that the second floor had to be ripped out, wanting to delay removal of the soggy carpet covering it and take all out at one time. He wanted to tear out chestnut woodwork. We were fortunate to get better advice from contractors familiar with restoration .of areas where clean water has run through, so we perisisted in getting Servpro to limit the demo. We have delayed this review to be able to report that over time there has been no problem as the wood dried. There were problems, however, with areas that Servpro chose not to address. A vanity area central to the damage began developing mold and had to be removed, and a ceiling area over a staircase remained unstable. Both areas were taken out and restored by other contractors. Both were small but time consuming areas, perhaps disincentives when insurance payment was based on square feet remediated. On balance, this company could be fine for a new house if replacement materials are readily available.. For more complicated work it would be important to compare advice from other contractors.

Had flooding in the house and was referred to Servpro to handle the water mitigation part of the job. They were easy to schedule with and were able to get someone in to see our house asap. When the gentlemen, Paul, arrived I asked him to remove his shoes or put on shoe covers since I have a baby who crawls around the house. He refused and said he never takes off his shoes. I asked him again to then put on a shoe cover and he just walked right into my house and ignored me. Although he was extremely knowledgeable about water damage to the house, I did not appreciate him ignoring my request about his shoes. He was wearing Timberlands and got crap all over my clean floors which my baby ended up roaming all over. This was enough to cancel the job with Servpro.

Servpro did an awesome job. It was spic-and-span. They came immediately. We didn't have to wait. They were very professional. They cleaned the whole thing. You could eat off the floor down there. That's how perfectly clean it was. The smoke smell was gone as soon as they came. I think they're pretty reasonable because a lot of people use them around here. They were great. They did a great job. You wouldn't even know that they were here except for the basement was so clean.

The estimate for the pool house/cabana (small room with toilet and shower) was completed and then I had to call again twice to get the estimate which was provided over the phone by Karen the manager. I was advised that it would cost $320 plus tax and that I needed to pre-pay by credit card. I questioned why I had to pay prior to services being rendered and she said, OK well then pay half. I said I intend to pay in cash and not by credit card. She said we still need a credit nonetheless. I questioned this as well and she said this is company policy in order to hold your date. She said she would email the authorization form for the credit card and the authorization to provide the services. I received them both and on the authorization it states that all insurance monies are to sent to them. I questioned again why would I sign this authorization that doesn't involve my insurance. Again she stated it is company policy. I signed it and provided my credit card number to her over the phone as she requested to reserve my date on Friday. The Friday date was necessary as other contractors were scheduled right after their clean up. I was advised by ServPro that they don't move any thing at all and that it had to be cleaned out before they did the cleaning. I had someone else come today on Wednesday July 3rd to clean out the pool house before they cleaned and were scheduled to do so (reserved according to her with my credit card information) to perform the services first thing Friday morning July 5th. My contractor was scheduled to arrive on Saturday July 6th. I took off from work to be available for these services and to pay. At 4PM on July 3rd, within two hours of having received my confirmation of the date and time, I was informed by Karen that they cancelled my reserved and confirmed date for Friday because they got an emergency call to do a water clean up. I advised her that they should have told me and others via their ad on Angie's List that they can cancel your reserved date at any time. She said it is company policy that if an emergency call comes in that other calls are cancelled. I reiterated my point to which she responded it doesn't happen that often. Clearly the frequency doesn't matter, What does matter is that ServPro reserves the right to cancel at any time up to the last minute. At this point I had no means of obtaining someone prior to the holiday weekend at 4:30 on Wednesday July 3rd. This information should be clearly posted on your ad and clearly told to the person hiring your services. To which I got an apology and she said I can do you next week. I explained how I spent hours getting a contractor reserved for that specific date and taking time off from work was already executed. I called back to find out if my credit card was charged and when I announced myself I was put on hold and then told that Karen was not available. I said I will hold and then I was told and quot;we don't put people on hold, we call them backand quot;. I provided my phone number and waited 15 minutes and then called again and was advised that Karen left for the day. Your credit card information was shredded. I asked how do you know that and I was told, well there is a note on your file.

They were here on time did a great job, hit the estimate on spot, it was paid for through my insurance. Estimate was 3000, but my deductible was 500. There was drywall damage, that they had to haul out, and then set up dry vac's, dehumidifiers, blowers...etc. These were set up for 5 days.

Because of the huge demand in the area because of the storm (8" of rain in a day) it took a while to get them -- but that was true for all companies in this business in the area. I called immediately and kept calling in order to keep my name on the radar screen (I am not sure what the response would have been without that, but they did not seem to mind my checking in). Some of the phone answerers were nicer and more helpful than others. When they did finally come, first came an estimator who was on time and very competent. Then on Monday (about a week after the storm) the actual people came. They were on time and most professional. They dispatched the work quickly and effectively. We were quite pleased with their service and their level of knowledge.