Everdry Waterproofing - www.everdry.com - price to waterproof basement was quoted at $ 15,000 - upset about continued phone calls which stopped after sending certified letter to BBB

Complaints.com received the following consumer message on November 5, 2002:

From: RE: Everdry Waterproofing - www.everdry.com - price to waterproof basement was quoted at $ 15,000 - upset about continued phone calls which stopped after sending certified letter to BBB

After noticing water puddles along my basement wall after heavy rains, I decided to call several basement waterproofers for their opinions. One was Everdry Waterproofing. I do not know if every Everdry branch is as predatory as the one I encountered, but I believe they all follow the same procedures. First, they give an hour-long sales pitch about how bad your foundation is, the dangers of mold, etc. (They did not even address the issue of my specific problem: where the water was coming in, and what the cause could be.) The price tag for their Everdry "solution" was a whopping $15,000. My wife and I of course said, "No thank you." A couple of days later the calls began. During the day, presumable when the husband is at work, they call and say they just had a cancellation in their schedule, and they can do the job for 10% off. At first, my wife would politely say no, but the calls kept coming, and the sales people were very aggressive. They called and spoke to me or my wife SEVEN times and gave us the same sales pitch. In addition, there were several hang-ups on our answering machine, with the caller ID reading EVERDRY. After the first several calls, I had repeatedly told them not to call again.

They ignored this request. I called their office and said I was going to report them to the BBB. The receptionist said, "Go ahead" like she had heard that several times before. I finally sent a certified letter saying that if I received one more call I was going to take them to small claims court in violation of the Telecommunications Act, which fines up to $1500 per call. That got the calls to stop. As for my basement problem, another vendor recommended putting some fill dirt next to the house to grade the lawn away from the foundation, a coat of dry-lock paint on the walls, and putting a dehumidifier in that

area of the basement. The total cost was about $200, and we haven't had any water since.

Comment On This

Aggressive sales tactics, used to scare the customer. They will give you a price. When you say no the price will go down due to a â??stand-byâ?? schedule. Our first quote was $10,000.00, the stand-by quote was $8,000.00. We bought. So far the company has been back 14 times to patch the floor and dig up broken pipes. Their insurance company paid $3,000.00 to repair the damages. A total of 4 pipes leaving the house have been broken. The sump pump filled with waste and was pumped to the street. A year ago the entire project was redone due to improper drainage pipes used on the outside of the house. When the â??Durasheildâ?? was cut down I needed to scrape and bleach mold from the walls. We now have more mold growing and a damp, smelly basement. D. Schaffer Springdale, PA