My basement flooded and, in desperation, I called Service Master. They promised to be out by 9am the next morning - arrived at 1pm. They gave no contract, just scribbled some figures on a legal pad. They said nothing about removing baseboard or dry wall so I was shocked to see, after they left, they had torn out and busted up all the baseboard and cut 18" of dry wall out all around the basement above the baseboard. The house was rehabbed a year before I bought it - everything was new. A The baseboard could have been dried and salvaged and the dry wall didn't needd to be cut. When they returned to retreive their fans the first question was, " who is repairing the dry wall and baseboard - Service Master?" I knew they had created another contract for themselves. When they were done they collected their check and had me sign some papers - I asked for copies and a contract - they said it would be e-mailed to me - still waiting for that. They threw out tennis shoes and a new pair of bowling shoes without asking, broke the arm off of an antique gossip bench ($175 to repair). They charged $3,000 to remove the carpeting/padding which took about 3 hours. Home Depot replaced the carpeting/padding for less than $1500 and took 2 days - what is wrong with this picture? A neighbor used to work for Service Master and he quit because of their unscrupulous practices - he repaired the baeboard and dry wall for $1300 - I'm sure Service Master would have charged at least $3,000. They said I needed 11 fans/dryers and charged $105 each for a minimum of 3 days. You can buy those fans on e-bay for $40-$60 each. What a scam.
By comparison, the plumber/sewer people had to excravate all the way out to the street to install new sewer lines - they showed me x-rays of the problem gave me a proposal of what they were going to do, how much it would cost and when it would be done. For FREE - they also installed 2 outlets for the sumppumps, installed a slop sink I had purchased, spread top soil over the torn up lawn and had his landscaper reseed the lawn for me. And then, having compassion for a 72 year old widow, he took $2500 off of his bill. Serivce Master takes advantage of people in dire situations - my plumber was a true American and did all he could to help me out - what any decent person would have done. Service Master has of today 62,200 fraud listings and 435,000 complaints listed against them. I rest my case.
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