Force 1 Restoration Services

Water damage and handyman services to steer clear of!! I had a basement flood last year, 2021 and used these companies I am listing, which turned out to be a huge mistake. To start off with, yes they came at night to pump out the water, which was fine. However they said it was 17" of water which is not true as if had been it would have been over my electrical outlets, and it was clearly well below that. Upon arriving I asked what the cost would be, was told $15,000 to $18,000 depending. This company is FORCE 1 RESTORATION out of South Windsor, CT. Needless to say, the water was pumped out that night. Was told by Stephen Bowers they would be returning the next day to dry and rebox all my items. They did that also, and I was TOLD, not asked that they were bringing all my stuff that had been reboxed to their warehouse. Which there was no need to do, as my basement was completely dry at that point and could have stayed there, but they saw an in to make more money off this job. Plus I had some furniture items also. That was done and days later, possibly a week later, they returned my stuff to me. Upon seeing a vintage cedar chest I had, I remarked that there was more damage on it than when it left my basement. Upon further inspection of it after they left, as I was getting it ready to go to be restored. They pulled the front panel off of it, which were attached when it left here and upon them wheeling it back into my basement, as I saw it. Now the whole thing is totally ruined and that's what I'm left with. The also managed to damage my drop down ceiling. In one room it is hanging down and sagging. The other room some of the tiled are split. They had no concern with the ceiling as it was not damaged by water. They left without finishing some things which I questioned them about and all I heard is 'When we do the rebuild. After a few days of this, I told them they weren't doing the rebuild. A week or so after they left I was sent a bill for 31/2 times what I was told the cost would be. Plus they padded the bill with charges for things that weren't true, i.e. removing insulation, drywall and paneling from inside walls, which only had paneling. Plus for equipment they said their workers had on while working, which was also a lie. Plus charging for more people to do the demolition, as they call it, than how many were actually here. I spoke to the owner of the company regarding this and he just shut me right down. Also upon my ins co receiving their bill they caught some unwarranted charges on the bill and had them change it.

After they were done, I needed to have the walls, insulation, etc put back up, I asked for recommendations on Nextdoor and was told about MIKE'S HANDYMAN SERVICES
in Town Plot. I called, he came, and I hired him. Needless to say, he doesn't do the work himself and has a worker named AJ that does it. That part was done, however I paid for materials that he ordered too much of, mainly drywall, that wasn't used in my basement and upon him leaving he took it with him. His prices are outrageous. In the meantime his worker AJ, who does work on the side for himself gave me a price on some other things that needed to be done, which was cheaper than his bosses price. So I hired him, another mistake. He gave me a price for a few things, however he didn't do a couple of them, for which I paid him for, telling me he would call me and come back to do them. That was a couple of weeks ago and I have not heard from him at all, which I know he is never coming back to do those other things. Plus he left me with stuff he replaced for me, deck door, flooring, etc, as he told me he has no way of getting rid of it, therefore I now have to hire someone to take this stuff out of here. Plus while he was working he supposedly accidentally shut the switch off on my furnace and I had no heat. I called for service, which thankfully that's all it was, however AJ admitted to turning the switch off but never offered to pay the service call or even split it with me, so it cost me another $100.00 for that. So please people, if you need any work done around your homes, steer clear of these people, as they are just rip-off artists. And as for AJ, he is also starting up his own handyman business which is going to be called Cornerstone, something or other. He is out of New Milford, but will travel all over for work, and trust me you will pay an arm and a leg for him to do the work. Also with the water damage company, they totally ruined a vintage dinnerware set I had that has been in my family for years and handed down throughout the generations, having broken pieces to it that they didn't tell me about. I only found out about it when sweeping my basement floor and found pieces of the set smashed on the floor. That wasn't right. In addition to all this, they threw out items of mine that didn't need to be thrown out and I was never asked about throwing them out!!!!!!!!!!