Servpro

Read and Learn, and Pass it On.

On the evening of March 29, 2021, our fathers home sustained damage due to an electrical fire. He escaped uninjured but was forced to relocate.

This Cedar Rapids home is a pillar on First Avenues Northwest side and has been in our family since our grandmother purchased it on May 15, 1951.

March 31, 2021, was the day that our father signed the contract with ROBARB, LLC dba SERVPRO of Cedar Rapids, IA to complete the restoration of our family home. The owner, project manager, our father, as well as three family members, and our insurance claims representative, were present at this meeting. They assured our father that ROBARB, LLC dba SERVPRO of Cedar Rapids could take care of all cleaning, restoration, and storage of his personal property and that the timeline for completion would be 6-9 months.

At the time, it was reassuring to our father that a local company would be overseeing the entire process of restoration, reconstruction, storage, as well as cleaning. Little did we know that this journey would consume almost three years of our lives.

Nov. 29, 2023, marked 32 months to the day that our father signed the contract with ROBARB, LLC dba SERVPRO of Cedar Rapids.

Yes, the exorbitant bill has been paid but there is much left to be said. This is a forewarning to anyone who may ever need assistance after a disaster when decision-making is driven by emotions, distress, and uncertainty. Please read through our experience so that you will be better prepared than we were when our father signed his agreement with ROBARB, LLC dba SERVPRO of Cedar Rapids in 2021.

Our father passed away on Oct.

1, 2021, and was never able to return to his beloved home. Throughout the reconstruction, we were continually given multiple completion dates by both the project manager and the owner of the company beginning in July 2022. The delays required our family to obtain two claim extensions from our insurance company, as this work was not completed within their 2-year underwriting limit for the claim to be finalized and closed.

Also, because of multiple delays, family members who eventually purchased the home were forced to reapply for mortgages due to the expiration of rate locks they had secured with their financial institution. By the time they could close on the transaction, their interest rates had increased by over 2%.

Because the project manager was rarely on-site, many unnecessary setbacks occurred.

On May 8, 2023, the ROBARB, LLC dba SERVPRO of Cedar Rapids project manager admitted to his failures in a meeting that was prompted by our family and several Cedar Rapids Building Inspectors. He assured us that he would Make it right. When the General Manager was asked about this, his response was, The comment made by _____ to "make it right" was never meant as a financial commitment to the _____ family on behalf of Servpro. If not a financial commitment, how else could Servpro make things right for their admitted negligence?

Here are just a few of the adversities that occurred over the course of 32 months:

- Multiple subcontractors were used during the reconstruction, including out-of-state subcontractors.

Their availability was limited and sporadic. When one subcontractor failed to complete a job, another had to pick up where the first one left off.

- The errant disposal of original wood trim that had not been damaged in the fire. We happened to be at the house one day when a ROBARB, LLC dba SERVPRO of Cedar Rapids employee was removing a pile of debris that included some of the original dining room trim. We rescued those few pieces, but some had already been discarded.

New wood base and case moldings had to be milled - and our family was charged for this work.

- Family heirlooms were lost at the ROBARB, LLC dba SERVPRO of Cedar Rapids storage facility including all the curved wood shelving for a cherished antique china cabinet and the hardware for our grandmother's century-old, custom-made dining room table. The project manager was made aware of these missing items, and we had no resolution or reimbursement. Also lost or misplaced was our mothers antique cheval bedroom mirror. We were reimbursed for this item, but this family heirloom is now gone.

- Over $4,300 in damages to personal property were incurred during the move-out with White Glove Movers, as well as during the cleaning process at Servpros facility in Hiawatha, Iowa Although the damages were paid, this further supports our opinion that their sub-contractors and employees lacked the expertise required in dealing with vintage and antique personal property - see photos attached.

- A water leak in the kitchen ceiling damaged newly installed drywall due to a sub-contractor failing to properly install a water line (photo attached.)

-The side entrance to the home was secured by a pole affixed to the base of the door for 2.5 years before a new door was finally installed.

(photo attached).

We received the final invoice on Nov. 15, 2023, from the General Manager, although no final inspections had yet been completed by the City of Cedar Rapids Building Department. This was quickly brought to his attention, and it was made clear that no payment would be remitted until there was proof of passed inspections. As one would expect, the inspections happened quickly since payment was being withheld.

Interestingly, this was our first communication with the companys General Manager over the course of 32 months and it was made blatantly clear that interest would accrue if the bill was not paid within 30 days.

How unfortunate that this same sense of urgency was nonexistent throughout the restoration process.

One would have to question the 56% increase in costs from the initial dwelling claim estimate to the actual invoice. It is quite astounding that the final invoice was 18% more than the actual assessed value of the home. We find it ironic that in the community we live in multiple homes have been built from the ground up in much less time than it took ROBARB, LLC dba SERVPRO of Cedar Rapids to complete the restoration of our home.

To ensure that other consumers are not burdened with the experience that we endured, we suggest that you consider the following:

1. Take the time to read the ROBARB, LLC dba SERVPRO of Cedar Rapids contract thoroughly.

If you dont understand the language, have an attorney review it for you. It will be money well spent. If you or your attorney have any hesitation at all, take your business elsewhere.

2. If it is an insurance claim-related repair and your insurance provider insists this company be used to perform the work, we strongly advise you to create a service agreement addendum that outlines dates for completion and monetary penalties for failure to meet those deadlines.

If ROBARB, LLC dba SERVPRO of Cedar Rapids refuses to sign your service agreement addendum, take your business elsewhere. If you must - before you engage in a contract with this company, request the names, addresses, and phone numbers of all subcontractors that will be involved in your project. Confirm with them their availability and work history with ROBARB, LLC dba SERVPRO of Cedar Rapids. If they cannot provide this information, take your business elsewhere.

3.

Demand the construction/remodel restoration credentials for all ROBARB, LLC dba SERVPRO of Cedar Rapids employees assigned to your project, as well as references from clients for work they have completed. If they cannot or will not provide these credentials and references, take your business elsewhere.

4. If your insurance provider insists that you use ROBARB, LLC dba SERVPRO of Cedar Rapids, remind them that YOU are the customer and then take your business elsewhere.

5. In our experience, the spoken and written words of our project manager as well as the owner of ROBARB, LLC dba SERVPRO of Cedar Rapids proved to be consistently unreliable, if not outright lies.

In hindsight, we should have taken our business elsewhere.

6. A formal complaint was filed with SERVPROS corporate headquarters in Gallatin, TN, only to be deferred back to the local franchisee, ROBARB, LLC dba SERVPRO of Cedar Rapids. Be aware that SERVPRO INDUSTRIES, INC. prioritizes supporting their local franchisee rather than their paying customer.

Take your business elsewhere.

We have documented communications with ROBARB, LLC dba SERVPRO of Cedar Rapids, including emails, photos, and videos of the multiple challenges our family has faced since March 31, 2021, but anticipate that this business will have contradictory responses to our testimonial. However, the facts remain. It took this company 32 months to complete a project that they committed to our father would take 6-9 months.

We say all of this to create awareness for consumers. If a natural disaster or any unexpected catastrophic event impacts your family, take the time to thoroughly consider all your options.

ROBARB, LLC dba SERVPRO of Cedar Rapids may tout themselves as trusted leaders in the restoration industry with promises to return your property to like it never even happened condition but be prepared for a journey that will leave you questioning the capabilities of this business, as well as their ethics.

In our opinion, this company is a high-dollar carpet cleaning business, at best. They lack the competency, expertise, and organizational skills required to perform restoration and remodeling services. Their slick advertising proclaiming their ability to provide these services is blatantly misleading.

We are steadfast in our mission to honor our fathers legacy. He was a lifelong Cedar Rapidian and proud WWII Veteran who entrusted and believed that ROBARB, LLC dba SERVPRO of Cedar Rapids had the utmost concern for our situation and would complete the repairs of his home in a timely manner.

He came from a generation that entrusted people to follow through with what they said they would do.

If our parents and grandparents were alive today, they would be demoralized by what has transpired over the past three years.

Through it all, this 115-year-old stately home remains in our family, and for that we are grateful.

Lastly, we hope that this account of our experience has enlightened consumers as to the pitfalls of signing a contract with ROBARB, LLC dba SERVPRO of Cedar Rapids. If you are an insurance company or insurance claim representative reading this post, please support your customers by never referring them to this company.

Feel free to message us with any questions and share this review with those who may benefit from it in some way.

Greg & Amy (Hanson) Stewart

Fairfax, IA

#consumerprotection #likeitneverevenhappened #cleanup #firerestoration #servpro #cedarrapids #disasterrecovery #mitigation #iowabusiness #insuranceclaim #servprolife #whiteglovemovers

Warning for anyone contemplating hiring ServPro of Cedar Rapids:

On March 29, 2021, my fathers home sustained excessive damage due to an electrical fire, On March 31, 2021, he signed a contract with ROBARB, LLC dba SERVPRO of Cedar Rapids. He was relieved to know they could take care of all aspects of the restoration process including cleaning, reconstruction, and storage of his contents while he temporarily relocated.

ROBARB, LLC dba SERVPRO of Cedar Rapids told my father that the entire process would take 6-9 months.

It took ROBARB, LLC dba SERVPRO of Cedar Rapids almost THREE YEARS! My father passed October 1, 2021, and never got to return to his home. We received multiple excuses and multiple completion dates when questioned about the progress and completion. ROBARB, LLC dba SERVPRO of Cedar Rapids hired subcontractors to do the work.

The communication between the subcontractors and the project manager was extremely poor, there were issues with keeping consistent subcontractors, poor workmanship, and a problem with no one working for extended periods. During the packing and storing of my fathers possessions, antiques and family heirlooms were damaged or missing. When submitted with the final invoice, there was a 56% increase in costs from the initial dwelling claim estimate. The final invoice was 18% higher than the actual assessed value of the home!

I feel a responsibility to warn the public of our experience, I would never want another family to go through what we endured.

The following are suggestions and considerations to consumers if you are contemplating hiring ROBARB, LLC dba SERVPRO of Cedar Rapids:

1.Take the time to read the ROBARB, LLC dba SERVOPRO contract thoroughly. If you do not understand it, have an attorney review it for you. It will be money well spent.

2.Create a service agreement addendum that outlines dates for completion and monetary penalties for failure to meet those deadlines.

3.Request names, addresses and phone numbers of all subcontractors.

4.Demand the construction/remodel restoration credentials for all ROBARB, LLC dba SERVPRO of Cedar Rapids employees assigned to your project. Ask for references!

5.If your insurance company insists that you use ROBARB, LLC dba SERVPRO of Cedar Rapids, remind them that YOU are the customer.

6.In our experience, the spoken and written words of our project manager as well as the owner of ROBARB, LLC dba SERVPRO of Cedar Rapids proved to be consistently unreliable.

7.A formal complaint was filed with SERVPROS corporate headquarters in Gallatin, TN, only to be deferred back to the local franchisee, ROBARB, LLC dba SERVPRO of Cedar Rapids.

Be aware that SERVPRO INDUSTRIES, INC prioritizes supporting their local franchises rather than their paying customer. Take your business elsewhere!

Jane Hanson Lasko

(Photos posted below were taken two years after starting date)

This relates to SERVPRO OF EAST LOUISVILLE and SERVPRO OF SE JEFFERSON COUNTY. Little more can be said than ServPro did an absolutely terrible job on my elderly mom and dad's house (which had flood damage).

It took 6 months to finish the job (just one small bathroom and one small bedroom in the basement) and every week with them was worse than the one before. They were nightmarish to work with. They went through three construction managers during the course of the job. They refused to let me speak to the owner of the franchise.

They tried to steer my parents into selecting cheap materials (so they could pocket the difference). I had to manage most of the project, because the project manager (who quit ServPro halfway through) and contractor assigned to the job were worse than incompetent. My parents ended up accepting their poor, unprofessional work, just to get them out of our lives. It was that bad.

So bad, in fact, it was only the second time in my life that I've seen my father cry. Watching them cause so much anguish, disappointment, and hopelessness in my sweet, honest, and elderly parents (in their 80s) was almost more than I could take. It makes my stomach turn to know that they profited after causing so much misery. I'm trying to walk the thin line of giving the world fair warning about ServPro while keeping the world convinced that I'm not an angry nutbag.

Please, please, please do not hire this company.

You will regret it. It truly was the worst consumer experience of my life by orders of magnitude.

after the cancellation with no call and no show. i called two more times.

then went to web site to complain. i also found owners number and addressed them. they were very concern and would get to the bottom of this. i told them sorry i had not contacted owner as i thought i was talking to owner.

today got owner number and apologized for not going up the ladder of command. i was frustrated and asked in complaint to hear from corporate and now would like to deal with owner only no need to address . i told owner if not addressed that i would then contact corporate.

again my apologies to all involved with this communication as owner was very concern and reassured me things would be dealt with and line of communication is good. thank you

I am having issues with servpro of Winston salem and need to speak with someone on corporate to resolve this issue before I have to seek civil litigation please .. Ive attempted to resolve the matter through two emails and a complaint with the BBB with no response to the emails.

Below is the attached email for the second attempt with no response.

This is my second attempt at filing a claim in writing as requested in your contract per clause #7.

First attempt was made in writing as well on October 19th, 2022 with no response.

Any claim by Client for faulty performance, for nonperformance or breach under this Contract for damages shall be made in writing to Provider within sixty (60) days after completion of services. Failure to make such a written claim for any matter which could have been corrected by Provider shall be deemed a waiver by Client. NO ACTION, REGARDLESS OF FORM, RELATING TO THE SUBJECT MATTER OF THIS CONTRACT MAY BE BROUGHT MORE THAN ONE (1) YEAR AFTER THE CLAIMING PARTY KNEW OR SHOULD HAVE KNOWN OF THE CAUSE OF ACTION.

As of today I have yet to receive a response from the initial writing.

I received an invoice #1926 for the amount of $10,543.34.

I am willing to pay 50% of that invoice due to damages caused to my residence by servpro by negligence and unfinished work.

Several days after servpro had finished the job my residence began to smell like mold, forcing me and my family to move out of our residence.

911 restorations responded and discovered mold and 99% saturation where servpro had mitigated water damage. This constitutes unfinished work.

This neglect caused black mold and further cost to me as well as it has put me out of my residence and I am still to this day unable to reside in my home.

Secondly, when servpro responded to my residence they destroyed additional water lines in my downstairs bathroom upon removing the drywall to to carelessness behavior with a baseboard removal tool.

Flooding my residence once again.

Several days later, the vanities for the bathrooms were removed and the shutoff valves were left in the open position. When the water was restored my residence was flooded yet again from the second floor due to servpros negligent action of not shutting of the waterlines when removing the upstairs vanities.

This caused my residence to be flooded 3 times, twice as a result of the careless actions by servpro. 66% of the water damages were as a result of servpros actions. Therefore 66% of the $10,500 invoice is not my responsibility.

This comes to approximately $6,900. The actions of servpro resulted in more machines being used, more hours of water mitigation, and several days later my residence was flooded yet again extending the period of time the machines wouldve been used as a result of the actions of servpro.

My dryer was also destroyed in the process which, servpro was able to replace the $15 dryer leg without incident.

However I was never compensated for the additional flooding of my residence, nor for the damages to additional waterlines destroyed by servpro.

I have numerous videos, photos and screenshots of the entire incident which are readily available to view at your convenience.

You may find all of this evidence under servpros review on GOOGLE REVIEW, ANGIES LIST and YELP.

The additional cost of the mold mitigation caused by Servpros can be favorited into the damages if you wish to have an itemized deductions of damages.

These damages were discovered after servpro had finished and are in a report with FARM BUREAU where the saturation level was still determined to be 99%.

If I recall, servpro left me without water due to damaging my waterlines for 5 days, this was due to the workers having to take an emergency call to Florida during the hurricane leaving me neglected and without water.

I estimate the additional damages caused by servpro and the additional cost of the invoice provided by servpro to be a result of the unfinished work and negligence of servpro and its employees.

I estimate these damages to be in excess of $10,500.

66% of the water damage $6930

Mold mitigation by 911 restoration $5000

Waterline and plumbing repair $300

As well as the cost of moving out of my residence due to the black mold. $1000

This total comes to $13,230 in damages as a result of unfinished work provided by servpro and negligent and careless work caused by servpro.

However, i am giving servpro the benefit of the doubt and I am willing to pay 50% of the invoice I was provided with. Which is 5,271.67.

Again this evidence is accessible on google review, Angies list and Yelp.

The reviews contain all of the photos, videos , screenshots of text conversations with servpro employees about advising me they would fix the damages the next day only to be left for 5 days without water.

As a bonus to my generosity I am willing to remove all reviews on these public domains along with the evidence upon agreement to this complaint.

Please contact me by phone 336-755-**** or reach out to me here.

As per your provided contract I reached out in October with no response, this is my second attempt. So please respond so you do not breach your own contract.

Thank you!

I had Servpro because the first of all they had someone come to my door immediately after the fire and it was only in the kitchen over the stove to cabinets they tore out stuff off my wall they did stuff that wasn't necessary and oh gosh I just don't recommend any hope they packed up stuff I have 238 cardboard boxes in my house for what I don't know most of the boxes have little or nothing in it one box had only a oven mitt and a bunch of paper they are they just I believe that they were running a scam on what they do they padding their books on the back of insurance companies just don't use them don't ever use Servpro

discovered we had a bathroom floor water leak issue that caused unknown floor damage until it was partially removed. The Mitigation company Serpro agreed to dryout the room, remove debris, repair floor joist , install new flooring, remove and replace bathroom utilities as required under the limit of $10,000 allowed by our Hanover insurance who recommended them.

After doing partial work they (Serpro) left unanswered calls for over a month while bathroom was totally unuseable and need of water damage repairs. We were forced to go with another contractor to complete the work and repair the damaged they (Serpro) did to plumbing while trying to remove the shower basin.

The total cost to repair bathroom was $9300 of which $2300 was to replace all the loose pipe damages. The owner, Brian refuses to answer any of my calls from November, December and up to January 2023.

Once we filed a claim with our Insurance Hanover for $9300 , we discovered that Serpro billed our Insurance for a total of $2905.77 to do a partial job and caused plumbing damages in the process of their work , We are looking to made whole for the $2300 we had to pay another company for plumbing damages .

Our Insurance company confirmed to day they can not cover the additional cost,