BASEMENT FLOOD advised by Insurance to use these HACKS
COST : $40,000.00 +
DO NOT USE, DO NOT EVEN CONSIDER, DO NOT TAKE REFFERAL FROM TD INS, DO NOT ANSWER THE DOOR OR PHONE, DO NOT LET THEM ON YOUR PROPERTY, DO NOT ALLOW INS CO TO TWIST YOUR ARM, DO NOT LET THEM DO ANY EMERGENCY WORK
Just remember when it comes to FOS the first 2 words are DO NOT!
In all my years (30+), FirstonSite has catapulted to the Number One spot for the Very Worst Contractor EVER! The stunts, li*s, attitude, theft, and many more adjectives that these guys pulled are going to be hard to believe, but I can assure you they are true & accurate.It also involves my Insurance company, ** INSURANCE but I will deal with them under separate cover, even though they recommended using FirstonSite as Their "Preferred" Contractor. Here is a letter I sent to the manager;
Dear Mr.*****,
My recent experience with FirstonSite and the individuals who represented the same was truly unbelievable. I have never
been treated in such a manner in all my life. The events and details between my initial claim in late September 2012 and late January 2014 are too numerous to mention but I will provide a few of
the highlights. After a minor flood from the first floor laundry tub, I called ** Insurance and they sent out the FOS crew. The major portion of the damage was in the basement and the crew was able to access it from an outside stairwell. Now normally one would gain entrance to my backyard and the stairwell from the west gate on my house,as the other side was for access to utility meters, ac unit and storage. It was also where I had installed a steel tubular barrier attached perpendicular to the house running about 5 feet and secured to the good neighbour fence. This was to provide the required safety to prevent anyone from falling into the stairwell. Unbeknownst to me and NO PERMISSION, the crew removed that barrier to provide a shorter distance to haul the debris.Well in doing so they damaged the fence ; this was brought to my attention by my neighbour, and did not replace the barrier when they were finished. Notagoodfirstimpression. It was a few weeks later that I called Mr.**** and told him that my basement floor was still wet where they had not removed the laminate flr and they would have to return and dispose of the remainder of the flooring. He hesitated a brief moment and said his meters and equipment had shown the basement was dry. I replied that I was in the basement and my hand was under the edge of the laminate and it was definitely wet. He responded by saying he would take care of it.I can't remember how quickly they came out, Mr.**** would have that information, but I do remember that they did not bring any drying fans or dehumidifiers. I did not complain. I just used my own house fan and dehumidifier knowing it would not be adequate but the furnace would soon be going on and I would run it without any humidification. Being one who is extremely concerned about indoor air quality and the possibility of mould growth or any other foreign matter, I continued without humidity until well into the new year. During this period I advised my family as to the situation and that visits would have to be put on hold for the short term. I have one family member who has a terminal disease, two others that have allergies and they all have kids. I had to be sure. In and around the first of March, the TD claims adjuster, Mr. ******, and I had a meeting on site to discuss the quotation that I had previously been provided with. I wanted to bring to their attention that numerous items had been missed and that this was Mr.******'s opportunity to revise his quote to reflect the missing items. Well after going through over a dozen items the ** adjuster wanted me to handle one of the items, namely the lights not working in the pantry, and Mr.**** was going to leave his quotation as is. I found this to be somewhat troubling because in my estimate there was well over $5,000.00 of extra work, but thought that FOS, being a preferred contractor for the Ins company, must have preferred treatment when it came time for extras and they would submit for those when the time came. Areas still of concern I wanted included were; 230sf of epoxy floor paint..........END OF PART ONE!
Part 2 continued..
duct cleaning at the conclusion of the job. - inspection & clearance of the panel box by a qualified electrician(it was right below the flooded tub) drywall to be replaced in areas that I knew had been exposed to water as evidenced by the dripping out of the light fixtures and others. Upon completion of our mtg Mr **** requested a cheque. As I had been given a cheque form the insurance company I was more than willing to give him deposit of 50% or so, however Mr **** insisted on the whole amount. I was shocked and quite hesitant. I have never in my life done this or had I heard of anyone else having to do so. My adjuster advised me that it was alright to release the full amount. I reluctantly did so. It was weeks before anyone showed up to start the work. My adjuster, after the transaction had concluded, gave assurances as to integrity, honesty, quality of work.In his quotation it referenced the time frame to be 3 to 4 weeks. I thought that was reasonable and I would be able to have my house back before the first of May at the latest and definitely have that area rented and occupied by June 1. I can confidently say there was not 1 FULL WEEK that they were ever on the job and probably not even 4 DAYS IN A ROW right up to time they "*QUIT*" which was at some point in late July. You see, I don't know because they never told or phoned me, sent me a letter telling me of their **QUITTING** They hadn't even come close to finishing the job. Besides finishing in the basement, there was till the main floor to complete. The laundry room was to be done and their was painting in the open concept dining/kitchen/family room and about 700 s.f. of hardwood floor to be repaired. I found out from the Insurance company in early August. And then I heard about the alledged $returned,not to me, but to **, I was furious! Not only because he had not sent the cheque to me but the amount was infuriating. He had not honestly earned near what he was claiming. He returned $3,800. That's what TD said. The main floor was going to be close to $8,000 alone.After putting up with constantly calling and pushing people to get out here and do some work,even calling the sub-trades, FOS losing my custom workbench, a sub-trade ruining MY SHOPVAC sucking up over 20 LBS of drywall dust; I gave FOS 15LBS of it, the rest was in the hose,housing & motor, extremely poor workmanship; insome areas they had to go over them 3 TIMES and some sections are still NOT RIGHT!,a subtrade, that was doing some extra work, while his people were working on the main portion, misaligned two glass panels & a door on the shower pan andthen went one better put a screw into a glass panel and it shattered into a thousand little pieces but he wasn't finished yet, he left and did noteven clean up all the broken glass and has never been seen again even though FOS assured me, he was coming as soon as the panel came into install it. There's more just as unprofessional incidents and this email is longer than I wanted it to, but I wanted to make sure you got the idea. I feel like I've been though a war. Being under this constant stress and pressure has left me quite fatigued. I know that my health has been affected and really FOS quitting was a relief in a sense. However that brought a whole new set of challenges.I still have an incomplete basement, a main floor that lookslike a tornado hit it and a garage that crammedwith all sorts of items and there is no room to park my car. No one should ever have to go through what I have endured. I am
DISGUSTED. Sincerely,
p.s.i I was overcharged for flooring by100 sf the baseboard was installed before the flooring so there is a larger gap requiring thicker baseboard installed, not quoted storage for main flr belongings & labour when floors are repaired, there was no mention that I would need to vacate the house for part of the time to repair floors-FUMES,there was never an electrician from FOS on the job, LIVE power wire just left hanging
NEVER AGAIN NEVER AGAIN
Please take note : The flooring in the photos that has been done ( gray epoxy paint with multi-coloured flakes was NOT done by FOS. It was done by a professional company who were in and out within 1 long day. They were an absolute pleasure to deal with, a refreshing change from what I had been experiencing.
