Rainbow International of Charlottesville

We had a serious water leak in our weekend house in January that lasted perhaps hours The
water had completely soaked a pine floor and some carpeting We shut off the main water valve and several of us spent the next 7-hours moving all furniture to safe areas; removing all standing water from the wood floor; and using water vacs to remove the water from the wall to wall carpeting We then left for Northern Virginia where we reside miles away
I reported the damage to my *** *** agent who recommended we use a man named *** *** (owner of Rainbow Int'l of Charlottesville) for further drying and remediation We knew the bedrooms would be fine, but were not sure if remediation might save the pine flooring in the main room
This review is to state how we were billed by Rainbow Int'l of Charlottesville for almost $4,for a "service" that accomplished absolutely nothing
When we first contacted Rainbow, we were immediately emailed a contract that stated that no estimate for remediation was possible and that the costs could not be determined in advance This was a HUGE red flag but I unfortunately relied on the recommendation of my insurance agent and plowed ahead Big mistake
I gave Rainbow the info needed for owner *** *** to gain access to the property and the next day he visited the property (I was later billed over $for an emergency visit !) He called me at my home to discuss the damage and to gain access to the garage (located below the flooded rooms) *** also stated his son would return the next day with drying equipmentI was again told costs could not be determined in advance OK I said, completely ignorant of how the remediation business works and with no idea that I was about to be charged huge daily rental fees for said equipment and that indeed *** *** knew exactly what those daily fees would be
This failure on ** *** part was clearly deliberate If I had simply been told up front the cost for sand daily rental I would have said (after I stopped laughing) forget it or—maybe, just maybe—do what you can for $to a $if you think the effort will save the knotty pine floor (approxsquare ft)
The cost to entirely replace that floor would be about $4,(including materials and labor) I know this because: (1) I had the original floor installed and (2) I had the new one installed in May-June Apparently in *** *** BIZARRO world, it is OK to spend $4,to save something that costs that amount to replace !!
The next day, floor fans & dehumidifier were brought and placed in the rooms I would later be invoiced labor of eight (8) man hours !! at $an hour (a total of $300) to simply carry in, place, and plug in pieces of equipment—outrageous gouging !!
When I attempted to get in touch with *** *** later that week to see how things were going, I was told
he was on a "cruise" and his son *** was in charge ?! Uh-oh A week later I received my first
communication from Rainbow since prior to the equipment install Son *** had called me to report
that a glass shelving unit had fallen because the wood floor had buckled so severely as to push it over It
would have been obvious to any honest person at that point that the floor could not be saved (I would not
see the floor myself until days later.) By the way, the son simply left the broken glass on the floor, even
though it would have taken only a few minutes to clean it up Dreadful
Also: I later discovered I was being charged for "monitoring" (at a cost of anywhere from $to $an hour) and yet I NEVER received a single report or photo as to the conditions
Because of this odd phone call, I asked the contractor who built the house to visit the location, assess the
situation, and determine the source of the leak (something miserable Rainbow never did) He called me
from the location and told me there were floor fans packed into the small space (two in the tiny hall
closet area alone) and the floor clearly would not be salvageable He kindly cleaned up the glass on the
floor, and easily located the leak: a fridge water line
I still had no idea that I was being charged a DAILY rental cost for each floor fan and the dehumidifier
Are you ready? The fans were being billed to me at over $per day !! and the dehumidifier at $
per day for a daily total equipment cost of $a day Remember, that does not even include the cost of
placing the fans ($300) or the cost to remove the equipment (the exact cost for removal is unclear on the invoice but some hundreds of dollars again) Total labor charged for dropping the equipment off, so-
called “monitoring,” and then removing the equipment: $ Outrageous
As soon as Rainbow realized that we had returned to the property to meet with the insurance claims
adjuster, and that the insurer had seen that the floor was not salvageable, and had clearly not been
salvageable for a week or more, Rainbow scurried over and removed all their fans and dehumidifier (after
we had left that weekend)
They then sent a bill to our insurer for just under $4, Mind you – NO bill was sent to us – just to the insurer even though WE had hired them and ALL the (limited) communications from Rainbow had been with us This invoicing tactic is yet another sign of a shady operator
STAY AWAY from these people, and if you decide to hire a business for any kind of remediation, I highly
recommend you insist on an estimate; if the vendor claims that no cost estimate can be determined in
advance, then tell them, “Thanks, but no thanks.”

We had a serious water leak in our weekend house in January 2014 that lasted perhaps 18 hours. The

water had completely soaked a pine floor and some carpeting. We shut off the main water valve and several of us spent the next 7-8 hours moving all furniture to safe areas; removing all standing water from the wood floor; and using water vacs to remove the water from the wall to wall carpeting. We then left for Northern Virginia where we reside 130 miles away.

I reported the damage to my [redacted] agent who recommended we use a man named [redacted] (owner of Rainbow Int'l of Charlottesville) for further drying and remediation. We knew the bedrooms would be fine, but were not sure if remediation might save the pine flooring in the main room.

This review is to state how we were billed by Rainbow Int'l of Charlottesville for almost $4,000 for a "service" that accomplished absolutely nothing.

When we first contacted Rainbow, we were immediately emailed a contract that stated that no estimate for remediation was possible and that the costs could not be determined in advance. This was a HUGE red flag but I unfortunately relied on the recommendation of my insurance agent and plowed ahead. Big mistake.

I gave Rainbow the info needed for owner [redacted] to gain access to the property and the next day he visited the property (I was later billed over $100 for an emergency visit !). He called me at my home to discuss the damage and to gain access to the garage (located below the flooded rooms). [redacted] also stated his son would return the next day with drying equipment. I was again told costs could not be determined in advance. OK I said, completely ignorant of how the remediation business works and with no idea that I was about to be charged huge daily rental fees for said equipment and that indeed [redacted] knew exactly what those daily fees would be.

This failure on [redacted] part was clearly deliberate. If I had simply been told up front the cost for set-up and daily rental I would have said (after I stopped laughing) forget it or—maybe, just maybe—do what you can for $500 to a $1000 if you think the effort will save the knotty pine floor (approx. 460 square ft).

The cost to entirely replace that floor would be about $4,000 (including materials and labor). I know this because: (1) I had the original floor installed and (2) I had the new one installed in May-June. Apparently in [redacted] BIZARRO world, it is OK to spend $4,000 to save something that costs that amount to replace !!

The next day, 11 floor fans & 1 dehumidifier were brought and placed in the rooms. I would later be invoiced labor of eight (8) man hours !! at $37 an hour (a total of $300) to simply carry in, place, and plug in 12 pieces of equipment—outrageous gouging !!

When I attempted to get in touch with [redacted] later that week to see how things were going, I was told

he was on a "cruise" and his son [redacted] was in charge ?! Uh-oh... A week later I received my first

communication from Rainbow since prior to the equipment install. Son [redacted] had called me to report

that a glass shelving unit had fallen because the wood floor had buckled so severely as to push it over. It

would have been obvious to any honest person at that point that the floor could not be saved. (I would not

see the floor myself until 3 days later.) By the way, the son simply left the broken glass on the floor, even

though it would have taken only a few minutes to clean it up. Dreadful.

Also: I later discovered I was being charged for "monitoring" (at a cost of anywhere from $37 to $56 an hour) and yet I NEVER received a single report or photo as to the conditions.

Because of this odd phone call, I asked the contractor who built the house to visit the location, assess the

situation, and determine the source of the leak (something miserable Rainbow never did). He called me

from the location and told me there were 11 floor fans packed into the small space (two in the tiny hall

closet area alone) and the floor clearly would not be salvageable. He kindly cleaned up the glass on the

floor, and easily located the leak: a fridge water line.

I still had no idea that I was being charged a DAILY rental cost for each floor fan and the dehumidifier.

Are you ready? The 11 fans were being billed to me at over $200 per day !! and the dehumidifier at $110

per day for a daily total equipment cost of $312 a day. Remember, that does not even include the cost of

placing the fans ($300) or the cost to remove the equipment (the exact cost for removal is unclear on the invoice but some hundreds of dollars again). Total labor charged for dropping the equipment off, so-

called “monitoring,” and then removing the equipment: $780. Outrageous...

As soon as Rainbow realized that we had returned to the property to meet with the insurance claims

adjuster, and that the insurer had seen that the floor was not salvageable, and had clearly not been

salvageable for a week or more, Rainbow scurried over and removed all their fans and dehumidifier (after

we had left that weekend).

They then sent a bill to our insurer for just under $4,000. Mind you – NO bill was sent to us – just to the insurer even though WE had hired them and ALL the (limited) communications from Rainbow had been with us. This invoicing tactic is yet another sign of a shady operator.

STAY AWAY from these people, and if you decide to hire a business for any kind of remediation, I highly

recommend you insist on an estimate; if the vendor claims that no cost estimate can be determined in

advance, then tell them, “Thanks, but no thanks.”