| The Basement Doctor |
| The Basement Doctor J&D Basement Systems Tried to get more money after contract had already been signed and insurance claim paid Reynoldsburg, Ohio |
| 1st of Sep, 2011 by User429747 |
| I think it’s important for anyone needing repairs done in their basement that’s considering J&D Basement Systems, also known as the Basement Doctor, as their contractor to read this story. My home was built in 2005. A serious construction defect caused by the basement sub-contractor has left me with a major water problem in my basement. I have a poured wall foundation, which requires weep holes at the bottom of the walls to drain the outside of the foundation. My sub-contractor poured my basement floor too low (right on top of the footer), blocking all of the weep holes in my walls. This prevented the drainage of any water outside my foundation. I now have 15+ cracks around the foundation and water seepage. I hired an engineer and personally opened up the floor in three places to confirm the problem. I initiated discussions with my insurance company. After a year they finally conceded that they were responsible for my problem. When we started the process of determining the costs involved, I contacted J&D Basement Systems/The Basement Doctor. They gave me a proposal to fix the problem in my basement. During a six month process of negotiating a settlement amount with the insurance company, I met with Wes Martin of J&D Basement Systems on a few occasions and traded several emails and phone calls. I was concerned that in order to get a settlement payment, the insurance company was asking me to sign a release, indemnifying them from further responsibility. I spent a great deal of time making sure I had all the costs covered before I signed the release. Wes Martin gave me every assurance that he had all the work I needed included in my bid. As I said, I met with him to discuss this specifically. We proceeded to sign a contract for the work and scheduled a date to start. Approximately two weeks later I got a letter in the mail stating that J&D Basement Systems was terminating my contract. There was no explanation included. When I inquired about why they wished to terminate the agreement, I was told that the amount of work anticipated was not covered in their contract amount. Specifically, Wes Martin told me that he wasn’t sure how many cracks were in my walls that would require repairs, and he couldn’t verify the amount of my existing drainage system under the floor that would need to be replaced. Both of these are items we specifically discussed. Not only did he assure me that any cracks they found would be repaired, but he also stated that most or all of the existing drainage system would be replaced. These were not items that were overlooked during the process. We specifically discussed them. I was then told that the job could be completed for a possible up charge of $4,400, depending on what they found when they started the job. Needless to say, I can no longer go back to the insurance company and ask for an additional $4,400, and J&D Basement Systems claims no responsibility in their apparent miscalculation. In my opinion, because all of their reasons for requesting additional money for this job were specifically discussed prior to them preparing the estimate, I believe this is a deceptive effort to get more money out of a client. I’m sure J&D Basement Systems and Wes Martin would disagree, but either I am correct, or they are incredibly incompetent. In either case, I can’t imagine why anyone would choose to hire this company for their basement repairs. This explanation is based entirely on facts. I am not an angry customer that’s fabricating the truth to try and get back at my contractor. Because of the tactics of J&D Basement Systems (aka The Basement Doctor), I simply believe anyone considering them deserves to know what type of people they are dealing with and what to watch out for. Better yet, I would recommend that you look to someone else for your basement repair needs. |
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