Reviews

Review Details

• Review fromChase P

  Date: 03/30/2023

  5 stars

  Chase P

  Date: 03/30/2023

  Scott and his team are professional, efficient, and precise. I could not be happier to have them taking care of my home and my tenants, who also raved to me about the company's timely cleanup and effectiveness. Thank you!
  

  Lightning Restoration of Tampa Bay

  Date: 03/31/2023

  *****,

  Thank you for taking the time to write us a review. It means a lot that our customers are happy with our service.

• Review fromLois S

  Date: 03/01/2023

  1 star

  Lois S

  Date: 03/01/2023

  Worst company we've ever had the misfortune of dealing with. Lightning was just a big rip off to us and our insurance from start to finish. I signed my name on their e-pad pad was told it was a signature for " work to progress", never said it was a contract ,never received a copy. They wanted $5,000. for 2 weeks of air scrubber machine rentals and 5 hours of HEPA vacuuming. Also, charged $3,000.for their lodging while driving 100 miles from their location. they wanted the most amount of money for the minimum work. When we denied the job continued Lightning sent us a threatening e-mail saying we owed them more by ending the "contract". Hurricane "Ian" was a lot of stress and trouble, this company completely took advantage of our bad situation and made it even worse,
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Lightning Restoration of Tampa Bay

  Date: 03/07/2023

  Fortunately, none of this is factual.  The facts are:

  
  

  - This property owner wanted us to do mold remediation 2 hours from our office. We let her know that we preferred not to do the job, since it would be too expensive for her. We would have to charge travel time and the cost to rent a house for our crews for a week. She stated, "I don't care. I don't have a choice".  

  
  

  - She signed the contract and was immediately sent a copy to her email. It is automatic, so it goes out as soon as it is signed. It clearly states what it is, and our staff explained what she was signing.

  
  

  - We let her know that we could not start the job until mid-January. We were too backed up from the hurricane damage. She asked if we could drive down, perform a quick "once-over" cleaning and leave equipment running until we could do the entire job. We agreed, letting her know that we would have to charge for travel time, cleaning time on site by the hour and equipment charges per day. She agreed, again stating, "I don't have a choice."

  
  

  - We were only supposed to be on site for a few hours. She kept taking our crew to other areas of the house and kept them for most of the day. In addition, she had us leave the equipment on site for a total of 32 days until we were scheduled to go out and do the entire cleaning.

  
  

  - We only charged for 15 days of the equipment usage, instead of the full 32 days.

  
  

  - The week before our start date, we confirmed that she still wanted us to do the full cleaning. We let her know that we were going to rent the house for a week from VRBO and it was non-refundable. She agreed and asked us to make the arrangements.

  
  

  - The day before our arrival to start the job, she called her insurance carrier who stated that they would not pay her for our housing rental.  She literally waited until the day before the job started to call. Because the insurance refused to pay for the rental, she called and cancelled the job.

  
  

  - We let her know that, per the contract, she owed for both the rental and a cancellation fee. Being the customer friendly company that we are, we let her know that we would only charge her for the rental house and not the cancellation fee.  

  
  

  These are the facts, backed up by copies of our emails to prove that it is all true. We are very customer friendly in our service, but some customers unfortunately try to take advantage of our good nature.  

• Review fromDiane H

  Date: 01/16/2023

  1 star

  Diane H

  Date: 01/16/2023

  Horrible experience.They act like they are there for you, but when it comes time to pay...be ready. Expect problems with your homeowner's insurance here in Florida...which we had. Our insurance refused to pay them for a roof leak and their assistance with that (after Lightning came).They billed our credit card without telling us to the tune of over $6500 even though we hired an attorney to help us and to help pay bills when and if we settle.They did not care, but they eventually refunded the money.It's over a year and a half later and we are still waiting on insurance to help us with this and Lightning, specifically Terri, has called us demanding payment.She has never mailed an invoice to our home nor had I seen a detailed invoice. Regardless, she threatened to send it to her attorney with an additional $2K plus in collection fees if we did not pay in 3 days.They know we still haven't gotten any money from our insurance and claims to have sent all of this via email to my husband who said he did not get it.She insulted me several times in phone calls with comments like "You must not talk to your husband" and "I don't know how your marriage must be like;" when I told her that is not going to help any resolution to this situation nor is helpful.I asked to speak to the owner about my bill and they refused, even though he came to my home at the beginning and spoke to me about some issues (which I feel they failed to catch). I paid the bill but she added over 3% in credit card fees which she failed to tell me over the phone.Their bills don't even make sense as they charged over $1200 to simply uncover and recover my roof for insurance adjusters to look at--and they charged the same to cover it in the first place. Another time it was over $1300 to uncover and recover (why would the price change?).Each time they did that they charged for new sandbags which I know for a fact they did not replace. They refused to listen or adjust the bill. They did not act like they cared.
  

  Lightning Restoration of Tampa Bay

  Date: 01/20/2023

  I would ask that the public see our outstanding reviews in BBB and *******

  Fortunately, nothing in this review is true, except the fact that we waited a year an a half to be paid. I honestly do not know of any business that can sustain by waiting over a year to be paid on a job. We have employee salaries, office rent, vehicles and all of the other company expenses that must be paid. In this case, the property owner wanted us to continue to wait and be paid "if and when the insurance decided to pay".  That is quite ridiculous. The charges for the tarp was for full installations of new tarps on a full roof, since the process of them suing their insurance company was taking so long.  The tarps were deteriorating and had to be replaced.  As a courtesy, we waived all the billing late fees for this property owner, but after 18 months we let them know that we either had to get paid or put the late fees back on the bill.  Also, we did have permission to run the credit card. Otherwise, how would we have gotten the number. This review really doesn't make sense.

  I truly empathize with any property owner who has to fight with their insurance company for rightful payment of their claim. However, in the end we performed work in their home and they are ultimately responsible for the bill.  Just like whenever I have anyone work in my home.  All of this was explained in length to these property owners. It wasn't an issue until the bill came due.  This is simply someone who wanted service but did not want any financial responsibility. 
  

  

  Lightning Restoration of Tampa Bay

  Date: 01/20/2023

  In looking over our file with this customer, a survey was filled out with the following statements:

  "They did an excellent job & you should pay them ASAP"

  "The staff were very nice, explained issues very wall and offered support with all questions and concerns. They were exceptional all-around"