Moving Forward and Looking Back

When ServiceMaster (SM) first arrived to help us with our sewage flood in our basement, they were helpful, attentive, and hard-working. Morris, the guy we initially dealt with, talked all about the benefits of having a bin brought in to store our stuff in while the reclamation project proceeded. He and "the girls" were quick to sort through everything, box up what could be salvaged and pile up and discard what couldn't.

SM then proceeded with the recovery phase. They were quick to get the wallboard cut out, the damp, moldy fiberglass removed, and the industrial-strength HEPA and dehumidifiers working. Morris talked about the process and the project as it moved forward. Then Morris left.

We were left calling Lynn at the main SM office. She was helpful and we told her what we needed and what SM had done. What we didn't know until about a week and half into talking with Lynn was that she was just relaying these messages to someone called Mike, who was our actual project manager (PM) for the project. But still, things were moving forward; we had new wallboard put in, new insulation installed. The painter came and started the mudding of the wallboard.

But then the painter said he and his wife were going on vacation for a week and was that okay? Not realizing the effect this would have on the project, I said it was okay. When he came back, he got busy right away (well, on Tuesday; Monday was a holiday). He had the whole thing painted in a couple of days and ... the project came to a screeching halt.

TD Insurance sent an appraiser out to review the work done to-date and ask me how I felt about SM's performance so far. I said it was very good, but I lamented the lack of communication with SM.

All of sudden, I get a phone call from Mike. He wants to come over and review the project and get it moving again. Great, I'm thinking, that's what I want to. So I met my PM about 4 weeks into the project. He makes a lot of promises about calling me, getting things moving again. And, for about three days, he was great about that. "The girls" came back to remove stuff from the bin and clean up after the painter.

More little bits of work were needed. I'd call SM and would leave messages, but never get phone calls back or, if I did, they were from Lynn. "The girls" missed a room when cleaning, so they came back after almost a week of back and forths. The lawn was damaged from the bin sitting on it and then the removal process (the truck gouged and scraped up pieces of lawn). All of a sudden, SM was claiming that we would have to pay for the bin and the lawn damage ourselves; they claimed we told them to put it where they did, when no one asked us.

For the last three weeks, starting September 9th, I have called SM each Monday or Tuesday, asking about the lawn project. Each time, Lynn said she'd talk with Mike or email him and have him contact us. Finally, after having my wife call today, Mike finally called her back. He finally admitted that he doesn't know anything about the lawn and was having to contact another company, Taylor's Landscaping, for advice. My wife has had bad dealings with Taylor's and doesn't trust them to shovel manure much less fix our lawn. So red flags went up. More red flags when Mike continued to insist the lawn damage wasn't really their (SM's) fault and they were doing us a favor repairing it. He then said that he was going to send "some guys" over to rake some fertilizer into place and that would be that. Huge red flag. After this conversation, I called SM and asked to speak with Chris, Mike's boss. He wasn't in, but they would give him the message.

We immediately contacted TD Insurance and told them that the SM was not going to provide the services they quoted to us (to the tune of $900!). TD took a dim view of that and canceled the check. I called Lynn at SM and explained that we had the check canceled and that we felt it was in everyone's best interests to move on and get our usual lawn care people, Garden Pro, to do the work. She apologized. I was quite clear with her that we liked dealing with her, and liked SM's overall handling of the process, but that the miscommunication and lack of contact continued to be a big issue for us.

If Mike had managed the project from the get-go, this probably wouldn't have happened. We should have met him the first day or two, and been given his cell phone number to contact him with questions, rather than dealing with a half-dozen other intermediaries. If Mike had been more responsive to our messages, if he had told us that he needed to subcontract the lawn care out, we could have had this all resolved three weeks ago, most likely. It is the constant lack of communication, poor communication, or downright incorrect communication that has caused all this ire.

In the end, I think we left things on decent terms with SM. I'm still irritated with Mike, and I want to speak to Chris about some ways that SM could improve the lines of communication (I will try to remain civil). I already made a phone call to our lawn care guy to give come out and give us an estimate. We're moving forward and putting this behind us.