We had a leak from our refrigerator valve that caused significant damage to our kitchen walls and cabinets. We decided to pursue a claim with our insurance, but we also planned to upgrade our kitchen since we were already going to be doing renovations in our 20-year-old home.
When the contractor came out, we were upfront with him that we only needed a quote for our insurance claim. We explained that we planned to do the renovations ourselves and needed help determining the cost of the repairs and communicating with our insurance company. At that time, he told us his fee would be 15-20% of the bid.
We told him we wanted to wait to hear the next steps from our insurance before moving forward. A few weeks later, we reached back out and asked if he would still be willing to help us. At that point, we were not told that the price or terms had changed.
The staff we worked with were extremely helpful and communicated efficiently with our insurance company. They ultimately helped get a significant amount of additional money approved for our remodel, and we were very pleased with that part of the service.
The problem came when the contractor reached back out wanting to schedule a time to start the actual renovation work. We were confused because we had been very clear from the beginning that we intended to do the renovation ourselves and were only looking for help with the quote and insurance claim. When we reminded him of this, we were told that the fee was actually 30% and that I had signed a contract.
I acknowledge that I made a mistake by signing the contract without reading every provision carefully. However, the contract's 30% provision is listed under the section regarding early termination, and I did not understand that to mean that I would owe 30% simply for having them prepare a quote and handle negotiations with my insurance company.
When I spoke with the contractor about the discrepancy, he explained that the 15-20% price we had discussed was a discount and that the discount had expired. The problem is that this was never communicated to us when we reached back out or before I signed the contract. Had we been told that the fee had changed from what we originally discussed, we would have had the opportunity to make an informed decision about whether to proceed.
Overall, we were initially very pleased with the service we received from the staff and the work they did communicating with our insurance company. Unfortunately, the way the fee and contract terms were handled by the contractor completely changed our experience and left us feeling very disappointed and misled. read more
