Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/29/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  ServPro was contacted on 8/21 /23 by me after *********************** hit the valley. My garage had significant mud damage. ServPro of Palm Desert stated they would put me on the list and contact me as soon a possible. On 8/22 ServPro contacted me and asked if I was still interested in their services and that they would call be back by the end of the day and they did not. The same call from them happened on 8/23 and again they never called back before 5. On 8/24 they called me asking if I needed their services. I told them this was the 4 time I told them I wanted their sevices but if they couldnt start today, forget it. They are assured me a big crew was on the way. Two guys with a shovel each was dropped off and they started clean up at 11, took lunch from ****, and resumed working from 1 -4. At that time they said they are tired and had no direction on what do by Dart the owner and they left. SevPro failed to show up the next two days and I fired them. ServProv billed me $1482.20. They billed $235 for an emergent services call and then started 4 days later so where is the emergency response? They also fraudulently over billed for 6 hours of labor when the two guys were here only for 5 hours and we have this on camera. They also claimed down time in traffic as if I am supposed to pay them for coming to the job site and thats outrageous and illegal. They also did now complete the job as the left side of the garage around the tread mill and other equipment was left full of mud and the owner conveniently left that out of his final picture but we have proof and took picture of our own. The owner knows he fraudulently over billed and tried to justify this lame excuses of down time and an emergency response that is a lie. The correct bill should have been for 10 hours of labor and thats all. We look forward to the owner correcting his fraudulent billing or we will go to court and counter *** if necessary. I have also filed a complaint with the *********** and ServPro Corp.

  Business Response

  Date: 09/12/2023

  To whom it may concern ****************** has spoke to our management team and resolution was not found. 

  ****************** called Serv Pro Palm Desert's office on the 21st of August after the devastating hurricane *******. His home was in the worst part of the damaged area on Horizon St. in **************. At the time of ****************** neighborhood was NOT accessible. The ************** ***************** had the area shut down and closed to ANYONE who was not a resident. The police department was trying to prioritize emergency services entrance to the neighborhood, but many restoration companies were flocking to help and being turned away. We wanted to prioritize and help ****************** as his garage and a portion of his laundry room were filled with over 12inches of thick, wet mud but we also had residents with the same damage in their living rooms. We told him to better take care of his project we would have our owner personally try to get on property and evaluate his damage. We were hesitant to take on his project as ****************** was demanding and frantic as we understood he was experiencing a significant loss, he was experiencing was very stressful situation and we truly cared. We still felt we could help and wanted to be of assistance to both ****************** but the entire Horizon Neighborhood. In addition to the Horizon Neighborhood's calls all of the rest of the valley we're flooding our phones begging for help as well. By end of business Monday the 21st we had 80+ open and ongoing jobs. Our crew, management and office staff were working overtime daily the next two weeks.

  Per other residents we were attempting to help we knew we still could not get access by vehicle the 22nd or 23rd. By the 24th more and more services were able to get access so we contacted ****************** from out waitlist. This was still not enough for him and he became more and more irate wanting immediate service and very upset. Our management still chose to help *******************

  Our owner walked into ******************** neighborhood on foot on the 24th to meet the owner of the property and assured him we would have team members onsite that day or the following to begin the work that needed to be done. Our team was capable but he had to understand that all mitigation companies were flooded with calls. This wasn't fast enough for him and he wanted more. We told him we were doing the best we could.

  That day crew was on site, the team members were denied access by vehicle and again walked in on foot from down the block with shovels and additional gear to begin removing the mud from his garage. It took a good amount of time to navigate the disaster area find parking and walk into the neighborhood. They worked and yes he is correct the did take a lunch which they were ***********. The billing that was occurred was per Insurance guidelines and not at all fraudulent as ****************** described. When the crew left his property end of business that day he was not updated and for that we apologized in person over the phone, via his corporate his complaint and publicly on yelp. The next morning when office staff arrived he had called multiple times  and when he finally connected with our billing he simply screamed your fired. ****************** was very hostile toward office staff and with as many people we we're helping we could not continue to readdress ****************** outrage. Per his yelp reviews it seems ****************** excels at leaving negative reviews for local businesses and we truly feel his harassment is unwarranted. 

  We pride ourselves on delivering excellent customer service. The experience ****************** had is not representative of who we are as a company.
  We hope he understands the entire Coachella Valley experienced a degree of loss from Hurricane *******, and as a small franchise owned establishment his consistent berating of our office staff, owner and technicians is just unacceptable. We wish him the best and will continue serving the Coachella Valley residences the best we know how.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 09/18/2023

   I am rejecting this response because:
  1. I was never irate or irrational. I am assertive, especially since Im paying them and they couldnt do the job as PROMiSED. If you dont like negative reviews that are honest, maybe you should change your practices. 

  2. I was lied to numerous times when they  would start and they kept changing their story. They called four days in a row asking if I still needed their services. How many times do I need to tell them yes? Then they charged an emergency fee when started days later! Talk about unethical. They even claimed more testing was needed, a stall tactic. When pressured for what test was needed, the office girl couldnt tell me what they were going to test for but they needed a week to figure it out. Its so obvious. 

  3. They failed to start as agreed, breaching the contract, and then came one day, skipped two days and I fired them. 
  

  4. They falsified billing and I dont owe them anything for sitting in traffic thats not under my control. 

  5. If their account is true, how was another restoration company able to start the following day and evaluated my home and found more damage than ServPro even looked for. Talk about inept and their initial assessment was subpar. 

  6. The two workers that came said they had no direction from the owner, didn't know what else to do, and went home at 4pm. They worked for 5 hours not the the 8 they fraudulently billed for.  I have this all on camera. 
  

  7. How can you compare my house to anyone elses? What a ridiculous blanket statement and how ill-informed as everyone had different degrees of damage, mine being far less damaged than my neighbors.  
  

  8. Servpro Palm Desert is dishonest, inept, and a subpar company. 
  

  9. Traffic to my street was blocked by police for cars only unless you lived in the street. People were allowed to walk in from the end of the street which would take less than two minutes to walk. They brought two guys, not the big crew they claimed were on the way. 
  

  10. Its hilarious that ServPro doesnt defend or even mention their fraudulent billing practices, ongoing lies about start dates, and false testing that they couldnt explain.

  11. The owner has a personality disorder and is grandiose. Hes a coward that hides and has his office staff do his deceitful scheduling and billing.