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Business Profile

Fire and Water Damage Restoration

Servicemaster of Salem, Inc.

This business is NOT BBB Accredited.

Find BBB Accredited Businesses in Fire and Water Damage Restoration.

Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Servicemaster of Salem, Inc.'s headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see

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Servicemaster of Salem, Inc. has 3 locations, listed below.

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    Customer Complaints Summary

    • 2 total complaints in the last 3 years.
    • 1 complaint closed in the last 12 months.

    If you've experienced an issue

    Submit a Complaint

    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.

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    Complaint status

    Complaint type

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:03/19/2025

      Type:Service or Repair 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.
      Overcharging, Unapproved Services, Poor Communication, Unethical Practices ServiceMaster convinced us to use their services for water mitigation and repairs, but the experience has been unacceptable. Communication was awful. We were charged for services we did not agree to, and our concerns were ignored. ***** treated my husband differently than me, making the experience even more ***************** we explained to *****, we would not have moved forward if we were being charged for a porta potty that was dropped off before any work beganbefore we even determined what was needed. ***** explicitly told us the charge would be removed. Despite this, we are being charged for it.Additionally, the final bill includes an extra $160 beyond the quoted amount with no change order. We did not approve additional work or the porta potty rental. We only agreed to one hour of work in the crawl space under the condition that the porta potty fee would be waived.ServiceMasters practices are deceptive and unethical. They ignored what we said, gave incorrect information, and failed to communicate plans or timelines. They only contacted us on the day of work, 30 minutes prior, with no prior updates. They also continued billing us without an itemized receipt.We refuse to be scammed into paying for unapproved charges. We will pay only for the agreed-upon work. Due to their lack of transparency, we are filing this complaint with the Better Business Bureau and reaching out to ServiceMasters corporate office.Billing ************************ Crawl space repair and insulation ($309.52)Being Charged: $694.50 -Crawl space: $309.52 -Porta potty (not approved): $223.41 -Unknown extra charge (no change order): $160 We approved only one hour of work. We will not pay for a month-long porta potty rental, which was made clear before work began. ServiceMasters failure to communicate and their unethical billing practices have made this an incredibly frustrating and stressful experience.

      Business Response

      Date: 03/19/2025

      We have reached out to the customer and have agreed to credit the disputed balance. The customer indicated that they were happy with that resolution and would remove the dispute.
    • Initial Complaint

      Date:08/01/2023

      Type:Service or Repair Issues
      Status:
      ResolvedMore 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.
      Due to water damage discovered on 7/30/22, our insurance adjuster recommended ServiceMaster of Salem for damage mitigation and repairs. We contacted them on 8-10-22, with the project finally completing 4/24/23.For the purposes of keeping this complaint succinct, I will only provide details on a single instance of fraudulent billing practices. There is much more to say about this company that I would like on the record however, including:Taking longer than necessary to complete the project, due to constant scheduling issues and other errors.Lack of follow through and failing to keep appointments.Failures in communication between ServiceMaster and us, and between their own internal teams.Catching mistakes/oversights/errors, several of which would have cost us thousands if we were not watching them closely at all times.Left off large portions of covered work from the estimate submitted to insurance. The missing packing and moving expenses alone was a $5300 mistake.Etc...That out of the way, here are the details of the instance of fraudulent billing in question:On 7/29/23 I started working on replacing our dishwasher. On removal I was surprised to see the 25 year-old flooring and piles of dirt underneath. Since I had already caught so many errors by ServiceMaster, I had become familiar with their invoice, I distinctly remembered the "Dishwasher - Detach and reset" line item. Taking a look at the included photos, it's clear that the work and materials we were invoiced for never actually happened.I am requesting the following as a resolution:Full refund of the line item underlined in red on the attached invoice page:"20 .Dishwasher - Detach and reset"Partial refund of the square footage for service or materials we were charged for but did not receive, line items including:"12. Remove Vinyl floor covering""13. Vinyl floor covering""16. Underlayment""17. Floor preparation for resilient flooring""18. Additional charge for s******* down underlayment"

      Business Response

      Date: 08/11/2023

      ServiceMaster did not perform the packout services for ************. *********************, Construction Estimator, was contacted by ************ through email asking about getting those line items in the estimate. We only estimate for the work we do. ***** forwarded the email to **************** insurance adjuster and let ************ know that he would need to contact his adjuster directly.

      ***** revised the estimate to reflect the work was done and updating line items to reflect that. A total discount of $317.41. ***************************** at ServiceMaster spoke to ************ and apologized for the missed items on the bill. She let him know that she would send him a copy fo the revised billing along with a check for the $317.41. She asked if that was the only issue and he said "yes". She also asked that if she were able to respond to the BBB and let them know that he is happy and they can close the file and he said "yes, thank you". Nicholle is mailing ************ certified. 

      Customer Answer

      Date: 08/24/2023

      I did receive the call from ServiceMaster where they agreed to refund for the work that was not completed. However it has now been a couple weeks and it has not been received. I was waiting on actually receiving a check before commenting on this case, as they have a habit of not delivering.

      ***********************

      Customer Answer

      Date: 08/29/2023

      Hello, this matter needs to be reopened as ServiceMaster has not followed through with the resolution that was agreed. It has been several weeks and I still have not received anything from them. 

      ***********************

      Business Response

      Date: 09/06/2023

      Good morning I do apologize I am not sure what happened to the first check. I have issued another check and sent this certified mail. Please see the attachments of the check and the receipt for the certified mail.

      Business Response

      Date: 09/06/2023

      Good morning. I apologize I do not know what happened to the first check. I have issued a new check and mailed it certified. Please see attachments of the check and the certified mail. Thank you

      Business Response

      Date: 09/07/2023

      Good morning, I had responded to this yesterday and uploaded documents. I also call the ******* and let him know so I am not sure why we are receiving this message again. If you can confirm you received this I would appreciate it. Thank you

      Customer Answer

      Date: 09/10/2023

       
      Better Business Bureau:

      I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

      Sincerely,

      ***********************

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