While cleaning our home a Markatos employee broke a glass votive cup. Moments after the cleaning crew left it was discovered that the tulip shaped votive left several holes in the top of an expensive piece of furniture. The damage was on both the top of a dresser and the mirror topper where it obviously rolled before hitting the carpet below.
The cleaning service was notified immediately. The promised "prompt response" to this event came twenty days later in the form of a phone call to a phone we no longer use. The service was due to come again the next day so I feel it safe to assume this prompted the response.
The service then requested we have our own furniture repair expert give us the cost of repair. This we were able to do on September 9. The owner of this business spoke with Susan Markatos directly from our home and explained the extent of the damage, the process necessary for repair and the cost of that repair.
Within seconds Mrs. Markatos called us back and claimed that her insurance company wanted her to get another estimate. We will not agree to anyone but Solano's Furniture doing this repair. We have done business with them for years and trust them with our most valued possessions. Given the quality of care we recieved from Markatos Services we do not trust them or anyone they might recommend.
The cost of the damage to the furniture is $400.00 and this has been stated numerous times to the cleaning service.
Several letters have gone back in forth via the BBB and Markatos have made excuse after excuse for not taking responsibility for the damage they caused and writing a check to us for the amount owed for the damage to our bedroom furniture.
The dresser that was damaged by Markatos is a piece from the Cherryvale collection by Sumter of North Carolina. It is of good enough quality that we want it treated with expert care.
Several weeks later and several conversations later this service continues to find excuses not to pay the amount owed for the damage to our property.
The latest being that we need to "send them the bill." We gave them the amount owed the day our expert was at our home to access the damage. The bill is $400.00.
When we hired this service to clean our home they promised 100% customer satisfaction. They do not deliver on that promise.
They also promise that if there is a problem it will be dealt with promptly. The first contact they made was twenty days after the damage was done and the story details progress from there to one stall tactic after another.
We have had bad service before, but this is probably the worst we have ever experienced. This company makes many claims they do not adhere to.
They were not careful in our home. After we dismissed them we found several other areas of damage. An antique chest in our guest room, our china cabinet in the dining room and the same dresser damaged by the points of the glass votive all have nicks from the cheap vacuum cleaners this service uses as they race around eager to finish so as to get to the next job.
They have shown nothing but contempt for our earnest complaint and it would seem the way the deal with a dissatisfied customer is simply to find another customer.
Most people probably would just dismiss them and find another service, but in our case I waited all my life for nice furniture and I can not sit still and allow someone careless and inconsiderate to do damage to it without at least trying to get them to pay for that damage.
In additions to the $400.00 they owe us for the damage to the dresser we would like the candle stick and broken votive back that was given to Mrs. Markatos daughter on the day of the accident.
The daughter took these items promising to find an acceptable replacement for the no longer available frosted glass votive made by Party Lite decades past. The crystal and brass candle stick was not damaged in the fall and I would like that returned in the same flawless condition it was in when given to the woman that promised to find a suitable votive that would fit.
My husband and I have both tried to deal with this service. I lost patience with them after the first month and asked that he step in. He too has had enough of them and together we contacted the BBB.
Every response they have made via the BBB has been past the required time limit and they have still not paid the amount owed. $400.00 for the damage to the dresser would resolve the issue if the payment were made promptly.
After discovering so much more damage in our home due to this careless service if we are forced to take legal action that cost will certainly have to be added to the bill.
From the promise of fresh flowers to the promise of prompt solutions and customer satisfaction, this company is a serious disappointment. Every dealing we have had with this company has been the opposite of the claims they make.
Every communication has been another stall tactic. The latest being their claim we have not "sent them a bill." We told them the cost. That is the bill. Just as they told us how much they would charge to clean our home each time they were here. We paid even though they did damage and actually owed us! Now it is time for them to pay.
Please advise how we can resolve this quickly?
Sincerely,
Katrina R. Freed
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