We hired ServPro for emergency service to mitigate basement flood damage due to a heavy storm while our home (in Huntington, NY) was being renovatedWhen they arrived I wanted to know EXACTLY what the charges would be before they did any workThe said that there was a $emergency fee for the service call on a holiday plus $per day for the rental of (12) dryers and (2) dehumidifiersThey also said they would prepare a written estimate for the other services that we would requireAt that time I was required to provide them with a credit card to cover the cost of their services until we settled with insuranceI agreed to a maximum charge of $on my cardWell, after three days of their equipment on site I never received any written estimates of charges and I opted to have my contractor do the required demolition work in the basement and only have ServPro steam clean the floor and apply an anti-microbial treatmentthat couldn't cost more than $or so, right? Well at the end of the day my credit card was charged for the full $and I was presented with a bill for almost $4000! Not only were they charging for equipment setup, breakdown, and monitoring fees which were never discussed on the first day, but they also included charges for "content manipulation", i.emoving furniture and other items out of the basementwhich they never did! I personally removed the contents with the help of my contractorWhile I was able to get the bogus charges removed from the invoice, there were no apologies or concessions for charges that I was not aware of until I received the final billTheir attitude was that these are the charges that insurance companies expect to see, so just pay the bill and collect the money from insurance! Totally unbelievable! This is the reason why we are all paying $of dollars more than we should in home owners insurance premiumsServPro's fees are absolutely ridiculous and their business practices of misleading you on what they will bill is purely exploitative and unethical, especially given the emergency nature of their businessIn hindsight, I would have been better off renting the dryer equipment on my own and hiring a company to do the steam cleaning
We hired ServPro for emergency service to mitigate basement flood damage due to a heavy storm while our home (in Huntington, NY) was being renovated. When they arrived I wanted to know EXACTLY what the charges would be before they did any work. The said that there was a $200 emergency fee for the service call on a holiday plus $560 per day for the rental of (12) dryers and (2) dehumidifiers. They also said they would prepare a written estimate for the other services that we would require. At that time I was required to provide them with a credit card to cover the cost of their services until we settled with insurance. I agreed to a maximum charge of $3000 on my card. Well, after three days of their equipment on site I never received any written estimates of charges and I opted to have my contractor do the required demolition work in the basement and only have ServPro steam clean the floor and apply an anti-microbial treatment... that couldn't cost more than $500 or so, right? Well at the end of the day my credit card was charged for the full $3000 and I was presented with a bill for almost $4000! Not only were they charging for equipment setup, breakdown, and monitoring fees which were never discussed on the first day, but they also included charges for "content manipulation", i.e. moving furniture and other items out of the basement... which they never did! I personally removed the contents with the help of my contractor. While I was able to get the bogus charges removed from the invoice, there were no apologies or concessions for charges that I was not aware of until I received the final bill. Their attitude was that these are the charges that insurance companies expect to see, so just pay the bill and collect the money from insurance! Totally unbelievable! This is the reason why we are all paying $1000 of dollars more than we should in home owners insurance premiums. ServPro's fees are absolutely ridiculous and their business practices of misleading you on what they will bill is purely exploitative and unethical, especially given the emergency nature of their business. In hindsight, I would have been better off renting the dryer equipment on my own and hiring a company to do the steam cleaning.
We hired ServPro for emergency service to mitigate basement flood damage due to a heavy storm while our home (in Huntington, NY) was being renovatedWhen they arrived I wanted to know EXACTLY what the charges would be before they did any workThe said that there was a $emergency fee for the service call on a holiday plus $per day for the rental of (12) dryers and (2) dehumidifiersThey also said they would prepare a written estimate for the other services that we would requireAt that time I was required to provide them with a credit card to cover the cost of their services until we settled with insuranceI agreed to a maximum charge of $on my cardWell, after three days of their equipment on site I never received any written estimates of charges and I opted to have my contractor do the required demolition work in the basement and only have ServPro steam clean the floor and apply an anti-microbial treatmentthat couldn't cost more than $or so, right? Well at the end of the day my credit card was charged for the full $and I was presented with a bill for almost $4000! Not only were they charging for equipment setup, breakdown, and monitoring fees which were never discussed on the first day, but they also included charges for "content manipulation", i.emoving furniture and other items out of the basementwhich they never did! I personally removed the contents with the help of my contractorWhile I was able to get the bogus charges removed from the invoice, there were no apologies or concessions for charges that I was not aware of until I received the final billTheir attitude was that these are the charges that insurance companies expect to see, so just pay the bill and collect the money from insurance! Totally unbelievable! This is the reason why we are all paying $of dollars more than we should in home owners insurance premiumsServPro's fees are absolutely ridiculous and their business practices of misleading you on what they will bill is purely exploitative and unethical, especially given the emergency nature of their businessIn hindsight, I would have been better off renting the dryer equipment on my own and hiring a company to do the steam cleaning
We hired ServPro for emergency service to mitigate basement flood damage due to a heavy storm while our home (in Huntington, NY) was being renovated. When they arrived I wanted to know EXACTLY what the charges would be before they did any work. The said that there was a $200 emergency fee for the service call on a holiday plus $560 per day for the rental of (12) dryers and (2) dehumidifiers. They also said they would prepare a written estimate for the other services that we would require. At that time I was required to provide them with a credit card to cover the cost of their services until we settled with insurance. I agreed to a maximum charge of $3000 on my card. Well, after three days of their equipment on site I never received any written estimates of charges and I opted to have my contractor do the required demolition work in the basement and only have ServPro steam clean the floor and apply an anti-microbial treatment... that couldn't cost more than $500 or so, right? Well at the end of the day my credit card was charged for the full $3000 and I was presented with a bill for almost $4000! Not only were they charging for equipment setup, breakdown, and monitoring fees which were never discussed on the first day, but they also included charges for "content manipulation", i.e. moving furniture and other items out of the basement... which they never did! I personally removed the contents with the help of my contractor. While I was able to get the bogus charges removed from the invoice, there were no apologies or concessions for charges that I was not aware of until I received the final bill. Their attitude was that these are the charges that insurance companies expect to see, so just pay the bill and collect the money from insurance! Totally unbelievable! This is the reason why we are all paying $1000 of dollars more than we should in home owners insurance premiums. ServPro's fees are absolutely ridiculous and their business practices of misleading you on what they will bill is purely exploitative and unethical, especially given the emergency nature of their business. In hindsight, I would have been better off renting the dryer equipment on my own and hiring a company to do the steam cleaning.