- Report: #1092511
Complaint Review: The Butler Group - Wichita Kansas
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The Butler Group
7707 E Osie St Ste 404 Wichita, 67207 Kansas, USA
Phone:
316.682.4034
Web:
thebutlerofwichita.com
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The Butler Group Butler Restoration Over charged, taking advantage! Wichita Kansas
I was over charged for work by The Butler Group-they thought it would be an insurance claim and failed to provide me with any pricing or an estimate even though I asked often. I had sump pump failure at my home and as a result had an inch of water in my basement. I am renting the house out while my spouse is in Korea for a year. I contacted my insurance company as I did not know what else to do and an insurance adjuster came out and gave me a high estimate and informed me there was a cap on what they would cover. The tenants in the home used their wet-vac and sucked up the water on the tile and linoleum. They started pulling up the carpet, but did call The Butler Group to come out and suck up the water in the carpet and to see if it could be salvaged as per the insurance adjuster. The Butler Group told the tenants they could bill the insurance company directly and began setting up fans and dehumidifiers in the basement. We already had a dehumidifier in the basement which they unplugged.
The tenants and I asked for information regarding costs immediately; The Butler Group did not reply regarding costs except to tell us they would work with the insurance adjuster My phone calls went unanswered. I am disputing the amount of time they said my basement was damp and the charges per day per the total of fans and dehumidifiers they brought. They continued to tell us the basement was wet and still provided NO estimate of costs or the cost of the equipment. It began raining more after they were about complete with the work due to the sump pump failure, and even though the workers were told it was NOT covered by insurance they left fans at the property and continued to wrack up charges. They acted as if they had a blank check!
I was told for the next two weeks that the work order wasn't there, the bill needed to be reviewed, they were busy. No managers called me back as requested. I had to threaten to go to legal services on McConnell Air Base to get anyone to give me my estimate. I was finally faxed a bill for $6100. I received no mention of the emergency service call fee (during business hours $122.67) Equipment set up charges at $43.12 per hour, I was charged for two hours even though it took them less than thirty minutes to set up their equipment. They charged me for two dehumidifiers at $73.17 per day each! They started out with six fans in my basement at $29.89 each per day then added a few more every couple of days until I had nine in my basement. The tenants even complained that the increased equipment blew the power in the basement. They insisted when they came out for a few minutes a day (charging me for a full hour at $43.12) that my basement wasn't dry and any and all of our questions to the workmen regarding cost were brushed off.
The tenants and myself went over the invoice once it was received and discovered some discrepancies in the billing to include charging me for drying the carpet (never attempted), moving furniture in a bedroom and office (no they didn't, the tenants used a handy man I connected them with), pulling up carpet from the office and disposing of it (I never had carpet in my office), and they charged me for a total of nine fans for a total of ten days even though I did not have nine fans for ten whole days. I sought advice from the base attorney, who sent an email to The Butler Group on my behalf. They then sent the bill again with a few changes totaling $5800. I complained again and received a "settlement invoice" for $5200.
They took advantage of my busy tenants and myself - we were not skilled enough to get this handled short of throwing their equipment out on the lawn! The tenants are upset; they questioned the workers about an increase in their electric bill and were told it wouldn't be an issue. I did not authorize them to try to handle any additional water coming in especially since they would not tell us any type of pricing. I offered to pay for three days but was told that wouldn't happen. I can't even get The Butler Group to send me an invoice directed to me ,as the home owner, and not my tenant.
