Servpro of Plano

We did not expect the cost of the repairs to exceed our deductible, so when we called Servpro we explained that this would not be an insurance claim. When the technician arrived, he took moisture readings around the room and the walls. He recommended services in excess of $800. I asked for water extraction only and he suggested that I should be concerned about "growth" inside the walls. When I insisted on water extraction only, he suggested that I go to home depot and rent a wet vac, fans and de-humidifier and do the job myself. When I told him that I intended to get some value out of the $170 service call call charge that he was charging me, he told me that there would be an additional charge of "about $10" for the water extraction. Before he would begin work, he asked me to sign a contract entitled "Authorization to Perform Services and Direction of Payment." There were three things in the contract that I would not agree to:

1. Assigning proceeds from any insurance claim to Servepro.
2. Giving Serpro permission to "any and all necessary cleaning and/or restoration services... and with respect to items that need to be cleaned at a remote location to remove and clean such items as necessary." 
3. A full page of Terms and Condition on the back of the contract with regard to Limitations of Liability and additional charges and legal remedies and so forth.

I amended the contract according to the services and terms under which I was willing to have the work done, initialed the amendments and had the technician do likewise. The technician went to his truck and returned a few minutes later saying his boss would not allow any contract amendments and therefore he could do no work. I talked to his boss on the phone and he confirmed this.I refused to pay the $170 service charge and the technician left.

My wife called the insurance company back to report our dissatisfaction with the service provided by the company they recommended. 

I then call our carpet installation company. They sent a man in a truck who extracted the water from the carpet, cut out the pad that was wet, treated the area with some kind of disinfectant. He left fans to dry out the area. Two days later he returned, replaced the pad, re-stretched the carpet and moved the bed back in place. The charge was $400 and there was no contract. 

A few days later a bill for $170 arrived in the mail from Servpro of Plano.

My conclusions are:

1. Servpro of Plano prefers project in which the insurance company is involved.
2. The Sevrpro technician who came to our house did not want to provide any service once he realized that there would be no insurance claim.
3. Servpro of Plano was happy to leave my house without doing any restoration work because they knew that they could charge me $170 for having come to my house. 

I will definitely not call Serpro of Plano again and I will send a copy of this review to my insurance company.

- ServPro of Plano (972-403-9004) hereafter known as "ServPro" breached their own contract and "walked out during flood restoration" in response to customer concerns about their service. - Any company that responds to customer criticism by walking out and breaching their own contract should give a the consumer concern about the quality and intent of the services provided. --ServPro of Plano operates out of a PO box with another company owning the business and the owner being in a different city. ServPro is also not accredited by the Dallas area Better Business Bureau which could be of concern to consumers. ServPro's equipment may likely violate the OSHA recommended safe sound pressure levels for ovr 8 hour exposure without informing the homeowner or offering hearing protection of alternate accomidations. This OSHA standard is likely being surpassed for their employees also. When this was brought to ServPro's attention their response was that it was the fan manufacturers responsbility. - ServPro removed their plastic barrier and the tape removed a significant amount of paint from the walls. They made no effort to compenstate the homeowner for this damage leaving the insurance company to cover the cost of their neglegence. - ServPro's did not vacuum the homeowner's floors before engaging their 9 high speed drying fans. This resulted in significant dust and particulate matter being sent airborn for the homeowners to inhale for the duration of the drying. - ServPro arrived to find the homeowner had completed nearly all their work in the 21 hours since the flood damage occured. Despite having "90%" of their work done ServPro took 5 hours to complete paperwork and install 9 fans and 2 dehumidifiers completing the work at 9pm, 26 hours after the flood took place. When presented with these facts ServPro asked the homeowner "What was the technician doing during the 5 hours?" making it appear that the company does not know what tasks their technicians are doing when dispatched to people's homes. - SerPro provided advice that was totally contradictory to what State Farm provided regarding removal of carpet and carpet padding. It appeared ServPro wanted more flood damage to have occurred so they could make more money off the insurance company. - ServPro was unable or unwilling to provide a schedule of events for the work they were performing - ServPro overloaded my home electrical circuits many times on seperate days setting up a potential fire hazard - ServPro left on circuit so loaded that each time the garage door opener engaged the circuit blew. The homeowner had to intervene and reduce the current draw from the 3-fans put on the same circuit as a freezer, lights, and everything else in the garage (FIOS box,......) - ServPro repeatedly came unprepared to test for lead paint despite being advised before arrival. The kept them from performing any baseboard removal or cabinet drilling for over 48 hours after the flood occurred. When they were ready for testing the homeowner was informed that tests may not be covered by insurance and tests had to be done at each location where the over coated latex paint changed color. The homeowner then refused testing and removed all the suspect baseboards in 10 minutes. ServPro then left without any inspection behind the removed baseboards. - ServPro left 3 fans and 1 dehumidifier in an enclosed hall with the A/C thermostat causing a thermal runaway condition that the homeowner took action to remedy. When confronted with this condition the recommendation was to "Turn Up the Thermostat". When shown how the temp went from 78 to 87 in 15 minutes the technician moved the dehumidifier into a room with A/C vents. - I do not trust ServPro of Plano and will never use their services again.