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04-14-2021, 07:49 PM
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#21
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Southern California
Posts: 3,999
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ProspectiveBum
The conversation didn’t go particularly well. The owner agreed to drop the price to $475, but no further, based on his “employees’ assessment of the damage”. Ultimately, I agreed to pay the lower price to be done with it, and told him that I think his business practices are unethical.
In thinking about it more, I think they must offer plumbers a kick-back for referring clients to them. Our plumber should have known this wasn’t a “gut the bathroom” situation, so I plan to give him an earful, too.
All told, an expensive life lesson.
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You got off cheap. Servpro charged our insurance company $5,000. These companies make their money by placing fans and dehumidifiers in the house and charging daily rental fees. It’s a rip off considering I’ve probably paid for the cost of the equipment in full from the one job.
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04-14-2021, 08:01 PM
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#22
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: SoCal
Posts: 927
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ready
You got off cheap.
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You’re right, of course. It’s just that NONE of their interventions were warranted in our situation. So $475 paid for zero benefit.
I suppose I should consider the $475 tuition for a couple of life lessons:
If a contractor (my plumber) is eager to refer another contractor, be suspicious.
Remediation companies in general are not to be trusted. In a true emergency, use the insurance company’s provider.
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04-16-2021, 06:34 PM
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#23
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Leeward Oahu
Posts: 17,892
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ProspectiveBum
You’re right, of course. It’s just that NONE of their interventions were warranted in our situation. So $475 paid for zero benefit.
I suppose I should consider the $475 tuition for a couple of life lessons:
If a contractor (my plumber) is eager to refer another contractor, be suspicious.
Remediation companies in general are not to be trusted. In a true emergency, use the insurance company’s provider.
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Heh, heh, years ago, we had a minor plumbing flood. I went out and bought a $40 shop vac that was suitable for sucking up water. I had (but rarely used) a dehumidifier that I picked up at a neighbor's "high end" yard sale (you know, electronics and appliances rather than jelly jars and chipped china) for IIRC $40. Worked like a charm. Dried out 350SF of carpet for the cost of electricity - all in about 30 hours from incident. Not suggesting being so "prepared" but confirming that the big companies will charge you whatever you will pay for a rather easy fix (most cases.) Oh, and they use YOUR electricity!! YMMV
__________________
Ko'olau's Law -
Anything which can be used can be misused. Anything which can be misused will be.
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04-17-2021, 07:36 AM
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#24
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: northern Michigan
Posts: 2,215
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Quote:
Originally Posted by freedomatlast
Clean what you can with bleach, run the dehumidifier for several days, reinstall the toilet with a new thicker wax ring and you're done. The fact that the remediation company was able to show up so quickly tells you that they are not busy, are short on work and are trying to get as many billable hours out of your job as they possibly can.
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+1, this is what I would do.
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Mold and Remediation companies
04-17-2021, 08:15 AM
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#25
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Punta del Este
Posts: 643
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Mold and Remediation companies
My career was in high end construction and towards the end mostly consulting and Owners rep work. Have seen and heard it all. Client’s who found some mildew and called a remediation and mold inspection firm. They did dozens of wipe tests, and set up air monitoring throughout the house. And of course all came back positive for mold. Because it is Everywhere! They got sold on a huge package of work but then called me.
I found that they didn’t differentiate between the kinds of molds found and there are countless varieties and that they didn’t sample the air outside or in the crawl space. When we did we found the level of mold in the air outside was much higher than inside. House was surrounded by beautiful gardens and had a lot of powdery mildew on the leaves. So all the remediation in the world was not going to reduce the airborn mold.
None of the mold found was toxic or in such quantities that a simple cleaning by the housekeeper wouldn’t take care of it. But did suggest a better cleaning protocol. Did suggest that they buy a humidistat and on excessively humid days run the AC and to actually turn on the bath exhaust fans after showering and use the kitchen hood when pots are steaming on the stove and to install better filters on the Forced air system.
Funghi can be good or bad, delicious mushrooms in a cream sauce, crazy expensive truffles, annoying mildew in your shower or psychedelic or poisonous and kill you. But like anything can be used by the less than honest to separate you from your money. These companies are not fiduciaries and no where is it stated that they are putting your best interests above theirs. Therein lies the rub..
__________________
Retired @age 53 with and moved to Uruguay 2013.
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04-17-2021, 12:02 PM
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#26
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 881
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MrsHaloFIRE
Overkill. Very common to have a little water damage around toilet. Patch it and move on. I would not have let the first knife go into drywall. Turned this into a huge inconvenient PITA
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Agree. I think, you were taken advantaged of. Been in similar situation.
Plumber's use the "scare" technique, to get your approval.
My best advice for future issues. Sleep on it for a couple of days. And
ask for advice. This forum, friends, etc. To avoid being taken to the cleaners.
Good luck. I think you said, your toilet on 1st floor, concrete. So damage
should have been minimal.
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04-17-2021, 02:55 PM
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#27
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Leeward Oahu
Posts: 17,892
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wolf
Agree. I think, you were taken advantaged of. Been in similar situation.
Plumber's use the "scare" technique, to get your approval.
My best advice for future issues. Sleep on it for a couple of days. And
ask for advice. This forum, friends, etc. To avoid being taken to the cleaners.
Good luck. I think you said, your toilet on 1st floor, concrete. So damage
should have been minimal.
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I think we may have "stumbled" upon a good plumber. I mentioned our leak which we'll end up paying for the damage to the apt. below. I called a couple of places who went to voice mail and they never called back over a week. Called these folks and got a person! I mentioned that I was facing surgery the next day and had this problem of the unusable toilet. It was also holding up repair for our downstairs neighbor's ceiling. They said they'd rework their schedule and send someone out THAT afternoon. The kid (maybe 30?) came right when they said. He mentioned my surgery and he said he would pray for me! He installed the new toilet we had purchased elsewhere. Installed new guts in the other toilet. Cleaned up and was ready to go in less than 2 hours (including his travel time which he had to charge for.) The bill with all parts and labor AND removal of old toilet was about $300. Hope we don't need them again for a while, but I know who to call. YMMV
__________________
Ko'olau's Law -
Anything which can be used can be misused. Anything which can be misused will be.
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