Belfor Property Restoration

To whom this may concern,BELFOR Property Restoration is tmaware of this situation. If we were made aware of the situation by the homeowner it would have been resolved immediately. From my tmderstanding and communications with the homeowner they are satisfied and have signed a COS (Certificate of...

Satisfaction) I have attached it as EXHIBIT A. Moving forward, we will waive the $1000.00 deductible that is owed and close out the issue and our books. The homeowner will be notified of this with a follow up phone call. If anything further is needed on this, please do not hesitate to contact me.

I contacted this company around early March 2016 because of a water lose in my basement in Hyattsville, Maryland. They arrived the same night I called them but instead of helping with my problem, they ended up tearing up the entire base of my basement walls and when I asked them why, they told me that it was needed for them to be sure that no water entered the dry wall and to prevent mold but that I should not worry because they will restore everything without any issue. They had their equipment there for three days and suddenly without notice on the third day, they showed up again and took their stuffs and when I asked what is next and who is going to fix all my damaged walls, they told me that their part of the job is done and that their manager will contact me and send another group to come and fix it and that was it. I waited for their manager for some days and called several times to reach him and no answer and also my insurance company also tried to reach them and after about another week they just emailed me a bill of five thousand dollars plus change and I again tried to reach them but their customers service refused to discuss the expensive bill even when I provided them with the invoice and job number. I was told to only contact their manager Mr. Vera. and after several attempts, when I got him and asked him to explain the bill and to find out when they are going to come back and fix all my damage walls and base board and floors, I was told to first pay bill that was sent and then they will send me another estimate of what it was cost for them to come back. I questioned that because it was supposed to be part of their work restoration as I was told on the first night they came but they guy said no that it does not work that way. Main while, my insurance company prepared a check for the cost or bill they forwarded to them and send me the check to pay them and the next thing I knew was this manager now sent me another bill of $3,015.37 that it will cost them to come back to fix their damages they created. I paid them the intial $5,000 plus and they next thing is that the told me that they can no longer come out to fix anything that I should contact any handyman or another company to come and fix my damages that they created. My advice to anyone out there trying to seek them for any type of restoration is to please run aways. They are no good. they look fancy in apperance buy fruedlent. I had a very very bad experience with them and would not even want my enemy to have such please.

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

[Provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution.]The insurance company never paid me for all of the contents thrown away and I just today spoke with insurance adjuster as he did not give Belfor or [redacted] authority to dispose om my contents as they had not paid me for them. This is outright theft as I had no contract with anyone to throw anything away. Please provide wit me with a signed contract stating this or an list I signed of pack-out and a list I signed at pick-up. My only written paperwork was an estimate for pack-out and storage which I signed to malcom as estimate only. This is theft, I have lost many items and a whole lot was broken or damaged by [redacted] in the pack-out.I believe The Attorney General need to be advised as to these two companies business practices.

Regards,

I used belfor in Columbus GA I got my house back after 7 months and have been back in it 8 months. For the first month back in belfor was coming out of a almost weekly basis to finish and repair the work. I have been waiting on them to come back out for about 7 months to fix stuff and my house has been steadily falling apart below I will list some of my issues..

Drain pipes under the house still left unconnected

Leak in master bath that has already rotted baseboards

Towel rack and light switch fell off wall in spare bath

Spare bath tub cracked

In proper thresholds

Door knobs to master bedroom and one spare fell off

Dishwasher that has been repaired multiple times still not installed right

This is all just right off the top of my head in sure I missed multiple things so I beg you please do not use this company they talk an amazing game but that's all it is!

Review: When we filed this claim in September, we were provided an Estimate and [redacted] provided us the detail. We asked for information on the estimate, because the estimate has items on it that were not completed. For Example: Window Reglazing and Repair for 685.06 - There was no window reglazed or repaired. There were no windows that were damaged or replaced with this claim.

Line 1. Charged for 4 hours to "search for tiles at boneyards" but they did not REPLACE any of the tiles, they just put the existing tiles back on and sealed it.

Window Reglazing & Repair - 685.06 (under "Dwelling" coverage) There were NO WINDOWS damaged.

Line 10. They charged labor to "demo" the shed that never happened.

Line 29. They charged for 14 slats of wood to replace on the back gate, they replaced 1 and they NEVER PAINTED IT.

Line 35. They charged for a "dumpster load" that never happened.

They didn't even come clean up the debris until I told them that I wasn't signing the check until all that stuff was done.

When we spoke with the contractor in October, he said that "all companies do this, because it's the way they have to work in order to get paid for things they cannot claim, like labor, etc." He said that they would then count the Glass cost of 685.06 towards our deductible, which they do "all the time" because they are "only allowed to make 10% profit on a job"

The contractor advised both my wife and I that if we allowed him to "fix" the broken shed, rather than replace it, they would take $500 off our deductible. The old shed is NOT fixable and still leaks, so there was no way we were going to put thousands of dollars worth of tack in a LEAKING shed! (that they charged the insurance company to demolish and rebuild.)

After multiple discussions with the contractor, he called my wife one night and advised her that he was going to talk to his boss because we "were too much trouble for the size of the job" and he was just going to just bill for the work they had done and be done with us.

Two days later he called and stated they would be replacing the tack room, rather than just fixing it.

The one fence is still not painted. Supposedly we have to put up the shade that needs installed.

We have been waiting SINCE SEPTEMBER 2014 to get this work done.

Now they are saying that we should have paid the deductible BEFORE the work was done and they are threatening to put a lien on the house until we do!

This is COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE!!Desired Settlement: I want my amount "owed" lowered per our conversation with our contractor, where he advised us that it would be lowered because they cannot legally charge for something that was never done.. AND because this business padded their estimate well over our deductible, AND took 6 MONTHS to do minor work!

Business

Response:

To whom this may concern,BELFOR Property Restoration is tmaware of this situation. If we were made aware of the situation by the homeowner it would have been resolved immediately. From my tmderstanding and communications with the homeowner they are satisfied and have signed a COS (Certificate of Satisfaction) I have attached it as EXHIBIT A. Moving forward, we will waive the $1000.00 deductible that is owed and close out the issue and our books. The homeowner will be notified of this with a follow up phone call. If anything further is needed on this, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Review: my daughter contacted belfor for a salvage operation at my property.Belfor farmed my work to [redacted] restoration of Gilbert Arizona.

I did not request anything but an estimate of personal property inspection.

When I attempted to collect my property I had to pay the bill with a certified check, which I did for all services paid in full.

When I attempted to collect my property several items were missing. Two television sets, a king size bed, a PlayStation 3.

a cox wireless internet modem were missing

I was told the televisions were thrown away.

I never gave any consent to restore, salvage or discard or repair any of my contents.

my contract was for estimate only. I called the gilbert police and reported the theft of my property.

I want my property returned to me now or paid the sum of approx. $6012.98 for the theft.

I never gave anyone permission to discard my property, the intention was for estimate of loss and storage only.

This will probably end in a crime by Belfor and [redacted] as I am sending all info to the [redacted] and the [redacted].

They have 24 hours from 6:00 p.m. on 01/28/2014 to return my belongings or I must proceed.Desired Settlement: My full contents returned and Belfor censured along with [redacted] Restoration for the failure to return my property

Business

Response:

To whom it may concern,

We have reconciled with the customer.

All item in question were part of non-salvage inventory that was paid to the customer by their insurance carrier. At the time of the complaint the property in question belonged to the insurance carrier. BELFOR could not release any of the item to the customer without written approval from the insurance adjuster. A police officer was dispatched to the location of storage, and confirmed that the property in question was no longer the property of the customer.

We have since received authorization from the insurance carrier to return the non-salvage items in question to the customer and have resolved any outstanding issues.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

[Provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution.]The insurance company never paid me for all of the contents thrown away and I just today spoke with insurance adjuster as he did not give Belfor or [redacted] authority to dispose om my contents as they had not paid me for them. This is outright theft as I had no contract with anyone to throw anything away. Please provide wit me with a signed contract stating this or an list I signed of pack-out and a list I signed at pick-up. My only written paperwork was an estimate for pack-out and storage which I signed to malcom as estimate only. This is theft, I have lost many items and a whole lot was broken or damaged by [redacted] in the pack-out.I believe The Attorney General need to be advised as to these two companies business practices.

Regards,

Business

Response:

To whom it may concern,

We have returned all property to the customer. BELFOR has supplied the customer and insurance company all documents necessary for the customer to receive payment for any items that were damage during the fire. Any dispute for payment of property is between the customer and their insurance carrier. I have contacted the customer to try to assist with the resolution to this matter but was unable to come to a resolution.

We do value customer satisfaction and feel we have done everything we can to resolve this matter.

The customer contacted BELFOR on 12/11/2013, The insurance carrier referred BELFOR to [redacted] who called our office and was in need of a company to pack out and inventory their personal belongings that were involved in a fire. We secured a work authorization to start the inventory and pack out of items in the fire and began work the next day. Inventory of the items took a several days and some of the times were beyond repair, those items were documented and photographed and left of site for approval to dispose of. Approval to dispose of the contents on site came from the handling adjuster on 12/23/2014. We then scheduled a dumpster to be delivered and non-salvage items to be disposed of. During the time we had staff on site to dispose of the non-salvage items, the customer was at the property. The customer assisted the crew with disposing of the non-salvage items including some of the items in question.

The property was stored at our facility for a month and a half and all items were restored to the customer on 1/29/2014, including all non-salvage property that was authorized to be returned to the customer by the insurance carrier.

The final invoice was paid in full by the customer upon receipt of his personal property on 1/29/2014 and he signed a Certificate of Satisfaction on that date.

BELFOR PropertyRestoration

Review: Belfor [redacted] was sent to our home via our insurance company to address a water damage situation we had. [redacted] came to our home and my husband was there to meet him. [redacted] was dressed in a filthy Belfor tshirt and that was his only identification as a Belfor employee. He told my husband he was here for the water damage and didn't identify himself or introduce himself until my husband asked that he do so. He came in and was very pushy telling my husband what he would be doing and asking for our insurance deductible ($1000)be paid upfront. He was taking pictures of not only our damaged floor but of our artwork, my husbands laptop and other electronics (that weren't damaged, for what purpose, I can't imagine. Well, I can but lets not go there. [redacted] also told my husband that the floor that would be used as a replacement would be a "close" match. He was told by my husband that was unacceptable as we just put in the floor 9 months ago and the exact match was still available. [redacted] was extremely pushy, unprofessional and rude. My husband said he wanted to see everything [redacted] was stating in writing and there was no way we would be handing over a check without a contract. [redacted] left in a huff, only to return with a partially filled out Residential Service Agreement which he left on our doorstep and proceeded to leave with his panties in a bunch because apparently we're not his normal easily intimidated and pushed around customers. I received a call from the Balfor [redacted] office stating that the person ([redacted]) was called away for an "emergency" and did we still need someone to come out? I at the time was unaware of what had transpired so I instructed them to call my husband at home to sort out where they were in the process. My husband basically told them there was no need, now or ever, for them to darken our door again.Desired Settlement: I would like to see Belfor train the technicians that come to homes to assess damage and propose a restoration plan be better trained. Homeowners that are already in a stressful situation are better treated with someone who can professionally explain the process and not try to take shortcuts and push the customer around demanding payment before a restoration plan has been agreed to.

Business

Response:

[redacted]June 15, 2015Subject: In response to your Revdex.com Complaint ID # [redacted]Dear [redacted]:BELFOR ( e )PROPERTY RESTORATION[redacted]BELFOR Property Restoration9060 Activity Road, Suite A[redacted]First of all, we are sorry for the water loss you experienced at your home and thank you for reaching outto our company with your honest feedback.For more than 70 years, BELFOR Property Restoration has prided itself in helping homeowners like youget back up and rurming as quickly as possible after these unexpected events occur. We would not havebeen able to grow to be the world's largest property restoration company without the dedication of ourcrews providing excellent customer service.Unfortunately, you did not experience the customer service we take pride in and that is extremelyupsetting to hear. For that we apologize. Please know we took your feedback seriously and that is why Ireached out to you as soon as we received your feedback.Additionally, please know BELFOR does have a uniform policy as well as a policy for handlingpaperwork, which we have subsequently scheduled an employee meeting to review. We are in process ofdeveloping more regular training courses for all of our restoration crews that will include assessments.Again, we apologize for the experience you had with our company, and have taken serious steps toprevent it from happening again. If you or husband has any questions or comments for me, please contactme anytime directly on my cell phone: [redacted]Sincerely,~~[redacted]General ManagerBELFOR Property Restoration - [redacted]

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.

Regards,