Steamatic of the Inland Northwest

Review: My family had a "Fish Tank Problem"( June of 2013). We hired Steamatic to remove the water , Dry the effected area, and dry the water soaked personal property. They were very prompt at getting to my home and setting up their equipment. Personal property was taken to be dried and "Supposed to be " returned. It took 4 months for us to get our Business files back, And they were only returned after threats of a law suit. The rest of our personal belongings are still not returned, it is now the end of October. We found rotting moldy bins of clothes and other personal belongings stuffed in corners of my basement(we were not informed that they were left). The ones I was informed of were taken care of. We have had a horrible experience with this company. And to make matters worse, I had to listen to the "FOWL" MOUTHED ranting's of the manager when he accidentally pocket called me while talking very badly about me and my family. ( NOT knowing that I was on the line listening to the whole thing). We lost hundreds of dollars in personal belongings that were left to rot, as well as the belongings that they took ,NEVER GAVE AN INVENTORY LIST OF , and now I have no proof of all that they took in the first place. They sure were PROMPT IN THIER BUGGING ME FOR PAYMENT, and SITTING IN MY OFFICE FOR OVER AN HOUR TO COLLECT THE CHECK. They also drilled wholes in my furnace and have refused to come back out to repair the problem, There was insulation ripped out of the walls in my basement and left laying on a ledge(I was told I didn't pay for the replacement so it wasn't getting put back) They are unwilling to return the rest of my belongings, and basically I have been left to hangout to dry by a hard blowing wind!Desired Settlement: We would like our furnace fixed by another contractor at Steamatic's expense. We would like our belongings back, And any that are claimed to be a complete loss I would like financial compensation for. There was never any photographic proof or evidence of complete loss. I would also like my money back. The job was not completed, and still isn't. I was treated very poorly, and feel that my family was over charged for a job that wasn't done professionally.

Business

Response:

To whom it may concern,

This letter is in response to the complaint number [redacted] filed by [redacted] against Steamatic. We are disappointed that Mrs. [redacted] felt it was necessary to file such a complaint. Steamatic always strives to deliver excellent customer service as well as go above and beyond for each one of our clients. In regards to the work performed at the [redacted]'s home I have provided the following documentation.

1. A copy of Safeco ins. Co scope of work showing what work was authorized and paid for by the [redacted]'s insurance carrier.

2. A copy of Steamatic's actual invoice

3. An explanation of charges from Steamatic to the [redacted]'s on the summary page of Safecos scope

In an attempt to help the [redacted]'s with their out of pocket costs ($500.00 deductible) due to the water damage they experienced Steamatic did the following things. We omitted work in the Safeco scope of work, particularly line items 1,2,4 totaling a dollar value of $387.00 plus tax. Steamatic did not complete this work nor did we receive payment for this work. Furthermore to help make up the remainder of the [redacted]'s deductible Steamatic discounted our services another $133.13, so that the [redacted]'s would have zero out of pocket due to Steamatic. The [redacted]'s own and operate a contracting business and could easily make the necessary repairs themselves at a far reduced cost from what we would charge. Finally concerning their personal property, Safeco insurance did not provide any compensation for personal property lost due to their water-ioss. Apparently their policy had no coverage for personal property under this type of loss. Steamatic removed from the house 2 banker boxes of business documents that were water damaged and took them to be freeze dried, treated for microbial growth and re- boxed. There was other personal property that Steamatic Technicians informed Mrs. [redacted] were wet and would need attention(ie. old clothing in bags), to my knowledge no other property other than the documents were taken from the house. Industry standard pricing for freeze drying documents is $75.00 per cubic foot, this is a labor intensive process which involves freezing and separating wet documents with minimal damage to the documents. The total charges for the [redacted]'s documents was $225.00 plus sales tax. Since Safeco provided no coverage for the [redacted]'s personal property Steamatic absorbed all of these costs to benefit the [redacted]'s. Steamatic was very untimely in returning these documents to the [redacted]'s a fact for which I take responsibility for and have apologized to Mrs. [redacted] for. Since we provided that service at no cost to the [redacted]'s I was hoping they would be understanding of our delay in returning the documents. Again my apologies. In regards to the furnace at the [redacted]'s home. In order to drain the water from their ductwork some small holes were made in the ductwork. The repair Mrs. [redacted] is describing in her letter is to cover these holes with a small piece of aluminum foil tape which we would be happy to do. If Mrs. [redacted] would like us to do this she can call our office and request an appointment time to have a tech go to her home and properly plug the holes. I apologize again, I assumed that the [redacted]'s would handle that when they did the rest of the repairs. In summary Steamatic did everything we billed and collected for, in addition we discounted the work we did do as well as did not charge for some work altogether. I regret that there has been a disconnect in exactly what we did or did not agree to do, but as my documentation shows Steamatic has gone above and beyond in servicing our client. As far as Mrs. [redacted]'s statement that she was overcharged, Steamatic in fact charged less than what her insurance provider compensated her for. Please contact me with any further questions in this matter our Revdex.com A rating is important to us.

Thank you,

[redacted]

Owner Steamatic