ServiceMaster Clean of Fairfax

They did a great job.  I would highly recommend this company.

Service Master of Fairfax came to do a sewer backup cleanup at a rental townhouse on a Friday evening. When they explained how late they would be there, the tenants werent happy so Service Master agreed to come back early in the morning. The crew of 2 worked for many hours and did an excellent job moving furniture and boxes, cleaning up the waste, cutting away wet drywall, removing carpet, padding and linoleum, and did it with a friendly, caring attitude. A refigerator inadvertently did not get plugged back in causing food spoilage, but the company was so responsive, that they immediately apologized and sent a check to cover the cost of the spoiled food. This is an excellent company run by a man who really understands customer service!! We will highly recommend Service Master of Fairfax.

Our home flooded on a Saturday afternoon due to a broken toilet supply line. The water flowed freely for about an hour or so, causing extensive damage to the front half of our home on both the second and first floors.
We called State Farm as soon as we were aware of the issue (we were called by neighbors as we were over in Baltimore for the afternoon when the flood happened).
State Farm called ServiceMaster on our behalf since SM would direct bill State Farm as part of the homeowner's claim.
Within 90 minutes of us getting back, SM was at the house with Howard and Francisco, ready to work. It was around 6 p.m. at this point.
Howard and Francisco worked through the night to haul out sopping wet carpet and move in fans and drying equipment.
They were very thorough in everything and made sure to check for asbestos as we live in an older home.
Both were extraordinarily professional and very friendly. Howard walked us through every step of the process and since this was our first-ever homeowner's claim, provided good advice on what steps to take next.
He and Francisco came back every day to check on how we were drying out and to make adjustments in the equipment. They then met with our restoration contractors to go over what they'd done and things they'd seen during the flooding itself.
I can't say enough how pleased I am with their work.
My wife worked extensively with a supervisor named Jack who also was extremely helpful, she said.
Since we only had water damage, I can't vouch for their smoke work, but I wouldn't hesitate at all to have them back.

The following is the letter I sent, documenting discrepancies between work performed and claims:

Stephen Simmons
ServiceMaster
43676 Trade Center Place, Suite 155
Dulles, VA 20166  

Dear Mr. Simmons,   On October 14, 2011, ServiceMaster provided invaluable assistance shortly after the cold water feed to our basement bathroom vanity failed.  When your crew arrived, the water was shut off, standing water had been swept into the floor drain, and my wife, [...], had picked up all of the remaining water that could be removed with towels and rags.  Your crew cut up and removed an area rug and brought in four dehumidifiers. 

 We questioned the original billing (invoice # 15070) on several counts, and on 20 DEC 2011 you sent a revised bill, reducing the amount by $258.72, but without any indication of what adjustments had been made.  

My concern is that the itemized billing does not correspond to reality, and the adjustment does not reflect concerns listed below.  I have annotated my copy of your itemized account in over twenty instances; these include some major discrepancies.  The most prominent among the discrepancies between what my wife saw and what your crew reported was that in every room, the billing shows:
1)   ?water extraction from the floor?: no vacuum equipment, mops or other means of extracting water was observed.
2)   ?clean floor?: no mops, rags brushes or other equipment was observed.
3)   ?apply anti-microbial agent?: no sprayer of any sort was observed, no other form of application was observed.  

In the recreation room, there are additional discrepancies:
1)   ?tear out wet carpet pad?: there was no carpet pad.  This is agreed between us already.
2)   ?tear out wet non-salvageable carpet, cut & bag for disposal?: claim is for 270 sq. ft. (the entire room is only 10 ft. x 23 ft., or 230 sq. ft.), whereas the area rug was approximately 10 ft x 14 ft (140 sq. ft.).
3)   ?contents ? move out then reset ? extra large room?: this is rather exaggerated, as most of the contents were not moved at all.  A love seat and a bench were moved just enough to get the carpet out from under them, and my wife helped your crew with a small coffee table.  Nothing was taken out of the room or reset.  

In the bathroom, where the leak occurred, there is an additional discrepancy:
1)   ?toe kick removed? is answered ?YES?  on the survey form.  This is not the case; the vanity was not moved at all, the toe kick was not removed.   

 In the understeps area there are several discrepancies:
1)   the size of the carpet removed was 36? x 30? (24 sq. ft. was claimed)
2)   ?contents ? move out and reset ? extra large room? is claimed, whereas some dozen suitcases and miscellaneous stored items, as well as six saturated cardboard boxes were never touched, and there after your crew departed.  

There are numerous additional discrepancies that all add up to a serious lack of correspondence between reported conditions and actions, as compared to what we have measured and observed.  I believe that it would be fair to say that your crew removed a 10? x 14? area rug and provided four dehumidifiers for four days.   

Finally, I would like to express my dismay related to a phone conversation that my wife had with one of your employees.  When she indicated that she had not witnessed any anti-microbial agent being applied, he rudely asked, ?Are you saying my guys are lying??  She was reporting events as she saw them; he very inappropriately moved the conversation from observations to judgments, in an aggressive and confrontational manner.  I believe this is contrary to ordinary norms of politeness.  

I will be pleased to authorize payment by our agent at Travelers when I have an accurate accounting of work performed.  The initial billing is erroneous, as outlined above, and the second billing (just received) has no itemization attached, making it impossible to judge for accuracy; however it is clear that the discrepancies noted above account for more than the adjustment received.  

Sincerely,
[...]

He arrived early and performed an outstanding job. The carpet looked like new when he was done.

They were alright. The work they did was competent and good but they were pretty expensive. The insurance company fixed that up for me and then they ultimately determined that it was not covered by the policy, and so I ended up paying for the work myself; I wasn?t too happy about it overall. I would probably not use them in the future.

The work turned out well and I was satisfied with the service. The carpets were done well. I would use them in future.

It was a wonderful experience! I called to make an appointment and was given one within a few days that was convenient to my schedule. A gentleman showed up on time and was very friendly. After explaining the areas I needed cleaned he went right to work, he did a very thorough job.

It was a wonderful experience! I called to make an appointment and was given one within a few days that was convenient to my schedule. A gentleman showed up on time and was very friendly. After explaining the areas I needed cleaned he went right to work, he did a very thorough job.

My wife was very please with both the price and the results.

THEY WERE ON TIME AND VERY EFFICIENT. THE COMPANY REPRESENTATIVE WAS VERY NICE. THE RUGS LOOK GREAT - NICELY SPRUCED UP ALMOST NEW. I WOULD REALLY RECOMMEND THIS COMPANY.