ComplaintsforFreddie D, LLC

• Initial Complaint

  02/12/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On 8/30/23 Hurricane flooded my home in ***,**. I hired this GC to help me dry out & rebuild.He tore out & dried out home. Flood Insurance paid. *********** meet him at the house discussed the repair and paid him $39,350. Which he said he need to start work. There have been delays and poor workmanship. I repeatedly asked him for an estimate for my kitchen, bathroom, laundry as the $39,350 was paying for the sheetrock, paint texture, baseboard and dry out. He would not provide me with one. when I told him that the remaining $21,000.00 I had would be nowhere near enough to pay for the kitchen, ****************** room he texted me he still had $13,500.00 left of the money I paid him. He kept telling me in texts that he would do my house for what insurance paid. Since he would not provide estimate and I was told I had $13,500. let I asked them to stop working and obtained estimates from other contractors. I decided to use someone else who was transparent with charges. I called the City of NPR permitting & discussed my issue about the permit. I explained that I was going to use someone else for kitchen & how do I expedite this? GC should send notarized letter stating I owe them nothing and they release me. I talked to Freddie & asked for their bill with labor, material, etc, He asked for insurance estimate. Highlighted what insurance paid for & then told me that he was charging me "ES services(dry out/ mitigation) $16000.00" when flood only paid $2.769.36. Also adding in other charges that were never discussed or agreed to.( " you reply that you agree with this i will email release of permit to ***************************** no later than the following business day of receipt" ) I went from having $13,500 & promises of what insurance paid will cover repairs to this. Basically, holding the permit hostage. I want my money & the building permit released ASAP as I lost rental income since 8/30/23

  Business response

  03/11/2024

  we were contacted to dry out a hurricane flood damaged home and sent work authorization (attached) to begin work which all items were marked as agreed and signed by homeowner. including homeowner is responsible for any amount not paid by insurance. This is for the dry out ES services. We submitted an invoice (attached and highlighted what we did do) to homeowner's public adjustor who had it approved by homeowner before submitting to insurance. The amount from that invoice for what we did is what was owed to us per the signed work authorization total $17407.22. Check was received from homeowner to start work and permit was applied for. Permit was issued and work commenced 2 days later.  Homeowner decided she didn't like the new 6 panel doors we installed so we changed 2 before we were told to stop $400.00 for those doors installed. Also, homeowner wanted a glued-on mirror removed from wall after paint and drywall were complete $150.00. homeowner wanted wall section in kitchen to be built to go to ceiling with drywall and paint $300.00. Back room we only charged $800.00 to install new paneling and trim vs the drywall insurance paid out for. This contract was terminated without cause. Insurance estimate (attached and highlighted with what we did complete) gives the prices to be paid to contractor. Due to job being terminated without cause there is also a fee for permit and administrative fees $2500.00 as there was not enough overhead and profit money to cover these and other costs of doing business. As far as **** telling you there was money left that was because you were so worried that there wasn't enough money left to finish the job. We agreed to do the rebuild for what insurance paid and that is all that has been billed $20214.14 for other than homeowners extra things to be done and permitting administrative fees which also included responding to all your requests after termination and the dry out invoice. Total invoices: $41777.36 ammount paid: $39350.00 Leaves a balance due of $2421.33 which again i am willing to release the permit and call it square all you had to do is agree.

  Customer response

  03/13/2024

   
  Complaint: 21279180
  
  I am rejecting this response for many reasons:

  1. The supporting document from Water Damage Repair Tech that Freddie presented is a fake document. I contacted ***** at the number listed on the document.  He never heard of me or my property. He told me he has not worked in ******* for several years. ***** did say that he Freddie was a friend of his & he hoped that this was not done maliciously. ***** contacted Freddie and asked him about this document. Freddie's response was "**** accidentally used the header on the invoice." Whatever that means.  ***** urged Freddie to work it out.  I contacted Freddie and asked him why he was presenting pretend invoices using the ******************** software. I explained to him I felt that by doing this it would violate the software companies terms.  I also tried to work it out with him again. He told me if I removed my complaint with the BBB & agree to his overcharges (my words) on his invoice and send him an email he would release my permit & send final affidavit of all paid.  I explained that was not going to happen. 

  2.On the issue of the signed work authorization total $17407.22 Attached please find the "work authorization" NOTE: It does NOT have any dollar amount listed on it. **** told me that they use the same software as the insurance companies use. He said on several occasions that they could not charge me anymore or any less than insurance paid. I did get a public adjuster upon ****'s recommendation. They did not get me any additional monies. Attached are text's reflecting what **** told me.

  3. Check was paid to Freddie on 11/20/23. ***************************** did not receive the permit request until 12/08/23. Permit was issued 12/23/23. Work started in January. Freddie stated in his response: "Permit was issued and work commenced 2 days later." ***************************** informed me that Freddie stated on the permit the value of work being done was $10K. I did pay $38,350 on 11/20/23.

  4. "This contract was terminated without cause." There was NO contract other than a work order to dry-out/tear-out Customer/Communication/Work Authorization (attached document) I asked from day one for an estimate. I explained I had never dealt with a natural disaster before. I was never given an estimate. Asked multiple times. In an email exchange with Freddie he responds a few different things to me: ( We use Xactimate which is the same program most insurers use to bill/ estimate for ES services and rebuild No physical copy of contract. ******* is an Oral Contract state.) (email attached) Is ******* a verbal contract state for $39350.00? Insurance did not pay $17407.22 for ES Services. I did the math and realized that there was no way the remainder of proceeds left for the damage to the entire house was going to cover the 3 majors areas in the house that will be the most expensive. I told **** to finish the projects that he was working on because I needed an estimate. I informed him I was getting other quotes. He told me that he had $13,500.00 left from original payment. (documentation attached) He then went on to say we can do the job for what insurance paid. I did not get my estimate. I told him I was going with someone else. Personally, if I a customer asks for an estimate over and over gain and does not receive it and I realize that $21,000K will not be enough to do a complete kitchen with appliances, bathroom with vanity, laundry room with appliances cabinets, countertop. I saved money on other aspects of the project. There should have been a surplus to use to upgrade counter tops. That is a good reason to terminate.  I started thinking where did the money go?? 

  6.Why would **** tell me there was $13,500.00 left when he is now billing me $2421.33? He repeatedly told me: "We can only bill what insurance pays no more no less" (text attached) Also, Freddie said in the attached email "We use Xactimate which is the same program most insurers use to bill/ estimate for ES services and rebuild" **** said the same thing in our original contact.  (attached part of email)

  7. The amount of of $61,385.09 is the entire pay out for all the work. Insurance paid no where near this as you can see in the attached estimate. There was no work order for these changes. **** took it upon himself to rip out doors.  I never agreed to it. I told him I did not like the doors. When we meet **** at the house. We told him we were likely going to sell the house after the repairs and he assured us it would be move in ready.  We told him no curtain rods or pictures, etc on the wall. He agreed.  When I came to see the progress at the end of January 2024 I found that they had left wall hangings on the wall & painted around them. I found the mirror still on the wall that they had textured. I voiced my unhappiness! Again...no work order **** just tore it down. Panel in back room.  There was a gapping hole in the wall.  You were putting panels in the room.  Why on earth would you leave a temporary piece in the gapping hole?? Now you are trying to charge additional monies to complete the work that should have been covered by insurance.

  8 Upon final inspection of their work I found several problems:

  1. They did not cover any of the electrical outlets or light switches when they applied texture. Many outlets are damaged because they are completely covered with texture. Some of the light switches are in the same shape,

  2. They put keyed door k**** on the bedroom doors. There are no door k**** on the bathroom, linen closet and HVAC closet.

  3. The Bi-fold door in the front bedroom does not operate properly.

  4. They took down window coverings that were in good shape. They now have broken & missing pieces.

  5. The house was left with garbage/trash construction debris in the entire house.

  I am getting estimates to correct all the above issues. Please tell me how you arrived with these administrative charges. We don't have a contract. We don't have work change authorizations. We have a work order for dry out with no dollar amount & Your's and Bills texts and emails saying you use the insurance software & charge what they do.

   

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

  Business response

  03/18/2024

  Invoice for ES services was done on an Xactimate program that belongs to me. ***** uses it on occasion as well. **** inadvertently did not change the name at the top but that does not change the fact that it was written and done for the ******* property. This was sent to your public adjustor who forwarded it to you for approval prior to submitting to your insurer maybe then would have been the time to have found an issue with it. As for the $13500 that was in referenced by **** that was monies that were from our ES bill and as i have told you we would have used monies from that if needed to complete your job it is not your money it is ours. Permit was applied for in the time frames allowed by law, and we did commence work a couple days after issuance, but we were also waiting on the Notice of Commencement from you. Also, there is a review period where the city building department looks at what we have submitted. As for the extras that you wanted done do you expect us to do these things for free? We cannot use insurance monies to do anything other than what they approved. Work deficiencies: outlets and switches would have been cleaned or replace by electrician when the covers went back on, but you stopped us from working so how were we to do this. Doorknobs we did not bill for, ****** doors worked fine when we left but would have been adjusted as part of the punch list. Blinds, as far as i know were fine but we haven't been there in over a month so who knows what may or may not have happened to them, but again had we finished the job and there was something wrong with them we would have repaired or replaced them. Trash would have been cleaned when we did the next site clean-up. Doors were taken out and disposed of as they were soaking wet and swelling from the water. ******* is an oral contract state and also ******* law allows billing for jobs you ask us to do. As far as no dollar amount on the work authorization it clearly states under pricing that you understand that it is impractical to give an accurate quote for services before completion and you checked this box and signed agreement before we started ES services. you also checked the box that states you fully understand and agree that you are personally responsible for any and all costs not covered by insurance This is not the part of the job we said we would only do for what insurance pays. That only applies to the rebuild. Otherwise, why have you sign the form. Also, your insurance paid more than the $2769.36 that amount is only for the drying equipment (dehumidifiers and air movers) and water extraction.

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