I feel that the business practices of Servpro of Freehold, NJ are completely dishonest and I feel they are preying on the unfortunate losses of the recent floods in NJ. I was not presented with any cost information or warning that there were different charges for weekends vs. weekdays. Had this been openly presented to me I would have waited until a week day or sought alternative resources.

The customer service person that was seeking payment from me was rude and kept trying to reason with me that insurance was paying anyway. This did not matter to me, I would rather keep my money then give it to Servpro.

I will be contacting the better business bureau on this matter as well.

Serv Pro has either:

1. Cancelled the appointment
2. Not shown up to the appointment
3. Shown up over a half hour late to the appointment.

Not ONCE have they been on time. They are impossible to get a hold of. They don't finish their work. They took my money and ran. Very displeased.

Do not use them, even if State Farm recommends. Find your own help!

10 March 2010

To: ServPro,
Customer Relations
Corporate Headquarters
PO Box 1978
Gallatin, TN 37066

From: Rocco Anthony Pedatella
4 Far Hill Lane
Pleasantville, NY 10570
(914)741-0381 (914)239-8592/fax

Re: Liberty Mutual Claim#013552015-01. Remediation by ServPro of Peekskill/Ossining
9 South Broad Street, Peekskill, NY 10566 (914)788-1950
On returning home from a trip in early January 2010, I found that an attic pipe had frozen and burst, causing damage not only in the attic, but also on the second floor, the first floor and the basement of my home.

The morning after my return, I contacted Liberty Mutual, which in turn contacted ServPro of Peekskill/Ossining to provide remediation services. While ServPro of Peekskill/Ossining was at my home providing remediation, a concatenation of incidents occurred, involving negligence by ServPro to my personal property. Said incidents would never have happened if ServPro had exercised a modicum of necessary care and due diligence.

Said incidents are as follows:
1) One of ServPro’s workers negligently slid the backside of a picture frame, hook and all, across an extremely valuable piece of furniture, causing a hairline scratch and bruise to the table, which I had only had for a month. Said table cost $3, 620.00. A bill of sale was provided to ServPro of Peekskill/Ossining. All four of ServPro’s workers denied responsibility. One of them is a liar. Said scratch and bruise were addressed by a furniture repairman, who was able to remove the hairline scratch and somewhat repair the bruise. I was not happy because I was “not made whole”, but accepted the remedy.
2) As if the damage to the first item were not enough, I discovered that another picture frame had been slid, again backside, hook and all, across the surface of another piece of furniture, more than likely by the same individual who had marred the surface of the first piece. Again, as before, all four workers denied culpability. Again, as before, one of them, probably the original culprit, is a liar. This piece was more satisfactorily repaired.
3) Before the hard wood flooring, which had curled, could be removed, furniture had to be moved. Two large Display Units, which weigh 250lbs each, along with at least another 150lbs pounds of books and glass and crystal objects in each unit, were pushed and pulled along the floor. Unfortunately, in so doing, the stress and strain of all the pushing and pulling damaged the back panels of the units. Instead of asking me to lighten the load, so to speak, by removing all the glass and crystal objects, and heavy art books, the workers, by pushing and pulling, abused the Display Units. ServPro’s remedy is to provide me with a nominal sum to hire someone to replace the back panels of the Display Units. This remedy places the burden upon me, and not on ServPro, where it belongs.
4) As mentioned when the ServPro crew began to remove the hard wood flooring, which had curled, they also negligently damaged the surface of a loudspeaker, which was at the side of the fireplace. They then covered the damaged speaker with some plastic sheeting and I only discovered the damage when I removed the plastic cover to move the speaker to another room to protect it. The high gloss finish of this speaker is ruined and irreparable. I provided ServPro’s owner with a bill of sale, indicating replacement cost. He has, however, refused to remedy his work crew’s negligence, stating that I cannot prove who caused the damage to the loud speaker. Obviously, I was not hovering over his work crew and cannot say who was responsible for damaging the loud speaker. All I know is that when the ServPro crew arrived, the loud speaker was in brand new, pristine condition. Now, it is not. And I am left with an esthetically damaged speaker. This failure of ServPro to remedy or replace is quite outrageous.

What an experience this has been! Insult upon injury. The calamity that befell me was bad enough. But then to have all this negligence to boot was just too much. And then to only remedy one act of negligence, partially remedy another, provide promised (not yet received) rudimentary help with a third, and categorically refuse a fourth is salt on an open wound. I am livid and outraged.

The homeowner who discovers damage caused by worker negligence, but does not actually see the malefactors behaving negligently, is at a distinct disadvantage when he is asked, as I was, to prove it. How can such proof be offered? It is impossible. Anyone walking through the front door of my house could see that my personal property was very well maintained. That given, a degree of good faith by ServPro in what was being said was necessary, something which was totally lacking in the present circumstance, where everything was either denied or subsequently challenged. What a nightmare!

This experience has been insulting and bitter. In the future, if, heaven forbid, such a calamity were to ever befall me again, I would never call upon ServPro of Peekskill/Ossining for remediation. It is simply not a trustworthy enough company to act with the necessary care and due diligence. And I shall so inform all my friends and acquaintances. Indeed, I shall also forward a copy of this letter of complaint to the Better Business Bureau.

AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT WOULD BE APPRECIATED. THANK YOU.

Enclosed also find copies of the bills of sale for the two items which have not been satisfactorily addressed by ServPro of Peekskill/Ossining.


Cc John Mangini, Supervisor
Liberty Mutual
Homeowners Claims Department
Northeast Region
Montgomeryville, PA 18936-1053
(845)249-6774 (866)866-4899/fax

Cc Westchester County Department of Consumer Protection
112 East Post Road
White Plains, New York 10601
(914)995-2155

Cc BBB of Metropolitan New York
30 East 33rd Street, 12th Floor
New York, New York 10016
(212)533-6200 (212)477-4912/fax

I recently had a pipe break in my house and unfortunately called Servpro of Bellaire to do my water remediation. The office manager/owner Christiana Nolander stated they already had enough business and when I stated that my insurance company required me to mitigate my loss she finally agreed and stated that she was doing me a favor. They came out for 2 hours and removed my damaged carpet and left a fan for 3 days for my 1, 400 square foot house. They wanted to leave the fans for an additional 3 days because they moisture tester show a very minimal reading of moisture in a wall and when I rejected this they threatened they would include that I rejected the fans in their report and my insurance claim would be denied; which they did put this in my report to the insurance company. I called Servpro after two weeks of them coming out because my insurance company kept asking me for Servpro’s estimate and report. I called Servpro and they continued saying it should be finished “tomorrow” so I kept calling day after day since they always said it would be finished. After a few weeks of this the owner, Christiana Nolander got on the phone and again stated that she only took the job as a favor and wished she hadn’t if she knew that it would be this much trouble. I stated my insurance company will not pay until they received their report and she stated they will get to it when they can. I received my report and invoice a few weeks later which was over $3, 500. A fan that was put in my kitchen was knocked over and clipped a tile and when I let her know of this she stated “yeah right”. Please if you ever have water or mold damage do NOT call Servpro of Bellaire! Caveat emptor “Buyer Beware”.

ServPro was hired to clean our home after a fire. The Co quoted a bid and after discussing that it included cleaning duct work and vents, but they were replaced by another Co-for new HVA, they declined to remove that charge. They did not clean total number of rooms in the house and continue to send me a bill after I paid for the services that they did accomplish. My credit card was stolen by one of the workers and charged almost $3000 on it which is fraud.