My husband and I bought an older home earlier this year and when springtime came, we found out that our basement had some moisture problems. The first problem occurred when our sump pump broke and the basement flooded. After we replaced the sump pump and got the water out, water was still getting in whenever it rained... Not to the point of flooding by any means, but wet enough to cause concern.
We called Everdry for an estimate. They came at night because I work days and they insisted that my husband and I both be there when the rep came. The salesman was extremely unprofessional. He was loud, rude, pushy, and used scare tactics to rope us into a contract.
I was in tears because he convinced me that my house could collapse at any time. He said that the three metal poles helping hold up the floor were a sign of a falling house (which I later found out that metal poles are pretty standard in unfinished basements). He shone his flashlight into the crawlspace and told me there was black mold everywhere. He then proceeded to tell us that we could sue the previous homeowner for the mold/moisture problems even though moisture was disclosed to us.
So now I had a sales rep in my house giving legal advice without a license and basically bullying us into hiring them. They wanted $20,000 to fix our basement and my basement is 450 square feet. I told him that was way too much money but he continued his high pressure sales tactics to convince us to do it. He kept saying it was an investment and he guaranteed we would get our money back after suing the previous homeowner. We gave him a $500 deposit. It almost felt like I was paying him to leave my house. I could no longer take him using profanity in front of my children. I just wanted him to go away.
I couldn't sleep that night. I was confused and angry. I thought our home inspector had messed up big time and that we'd bought a money pit. After speaking to friends and family I started to realize that we'd been taken advantage of. I had 3 independent contractors come out and give an opinion. Not one of them said that our basement was in such horrid condition and they said it was very solid and not in danger of collapsing. The most expensive estimate I got was $4,000 and two of those contractors provided hundreds of names of satisfied customers with addresses and phone numbers.
And the so-called black mold turned out to just be moisture on the walls. There isn't any mold in my basement.
I had missed the 3 day deadline to cancel my contract so I contacted an attorney. My attorney wrote them a letter outlining the many areas of fraud that they could be sued for. Within a week we had our money back. They just sent a check with no letter of explanation.
I ended up hiring Nova Basement Systems who did an awesome job at a fraction of the cost and I haven't had any more water problems.
I don't know how many areas that Everdry covers, but homeowners in at least northeast indiana should steer clear.
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