HydroForce Cleaning & RestorationMold Remediation in Chicago, IL

This company is a scam. The sales man came out and gave us a quote to dry out a small flood in our house. The sales man explained what services would be done and we were told that the house would be repaired afterwards. No copy of the contract was provided to us at that time. When coming to pick up the equipment, we were then told by the staff that the hole in the ceiling would be left and that we would now be responsible for the repair of the hole in the ceiling on our own. When in contact with Joe, the manager, he said we couldn’t have possibly thought that the job would be completed for the quoted price. As new homeowners who have never dealt with this before, I’m not sure how he expected us to know what the cost would be. Be very careful to go through the contract if you choose to go through this company.

Wednesday's storm devastated the Norwood Park neighborhood of Chicago. I never thought I would see the day when I would have 8 inches of sewage water and my basement everything was destroyed. I called Hydro Force at 10:00 a.m. the next morning and Joe came to give us an estimate by noon. He said sir don't worry we can be here as early tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. and it was a man of his word two guys showed up and they cleaned the basement and sanitized. I am very happy and satisfied with the work they have done.

I am not typically the kind of person to write or leave bad reviews about businesses, but my particular experience with Hydroforce left such a bad taste in my mouth that it is still bothering me a couple of months after the fact. When our upstairs neighbors' washing machine overflowed, we found Hydroforce. We were very happy with the mitigation service that they provided. One of the papers they had me sign stated that if my insurance was not going to cover all of the services they provided that I would pay for the remaining balance out of pocket. This seemed standard, and I was verbally assured that insurance would HAVE to cover everything that they were doing in my home. Surprise surprise, when it came time for my insurance company (State Farm) to pay the bill, they did pay most of it but had questions about certain services that Hydroforce had provided, such as use of antimicrobials and HEPA vacuuming. State Farm did not outright deny paying for those services, but they were refuting them and needed more explanation from Hydroforce about why those services were rendered. Meanwhile, while I was trying to understand and sort this out with State Farm, Hydroforce was sending me harsh emails every Monday and Thursday, demanding that we pay the remaining outstanding balance of $539. I responded to Hydroforce via e-mail explaining that I was trying to sort it out with my insurance company so that I could understand who owed what. Then a Hydroforce employee called me and explained that if I just paid the remaining balance to them that I could submit my receipt to State Farm and that State Farm would have to reimburse me. State Farm, however, said this was not an appropriate solution and that they would still not be able to reimburse me for those line items of the bill until they had further information from Hydroforce. There was also confusion about which line items constituted the outstanding balance, because the totals for those services were not adding up to the stated $539. Then, for a couple of weeks, State Farm was telling me that they were trying to call Hyrdroforce, but that Hydroforce was stonewalling them. My agent informed me that she would call Hyrdoforce, the answering person would ask for her name and the claim that she was calling about, and then they would immediately hang up on her. She had another agent try to call, and same thing happened. The agents told me they have never experienced anything like this. When I asked Hydroforce why they were no longer willing to communicate with State Farm, I was told, “We have already provided everything they need.” I got zero response to my last couple of phone calls and emails to Hydroforce. I still had questions about the balance… what made up the $539? Was there mold found during the inspection? What was the justification for using antimicrobials and HEPA vacuuming? But Hydroforce stone-walled me too! I couldn’t believe it. We never got those answers.. And then the final kick while we were down… Hydroforce filed an intent to place a lien on our property. After only 30 days!!! It said we had 10 days to pay the balance of $539, or a lien would be placed on our property. So out of fear, we shelled out this $539, which could have potentially been covered by insurance. We were manipulated, bullied, and strong-armed into paying this money. Hydroforce took advantage of us and our situation, implementing services in our home that were not warranted, and then forced us into paying this sum when our insurance company called them out on it. Their business practices are totally unethical. We had already paid a $500 deductible… so to add $539 on top of that, to a company treating us like such garbage, was a tough pill to swallow. I hope that extra $539 really means a lot to Hydroforce, because losing it meant a lot to our family of four (a nurse, a teacher, and two young children), especially right before the holidays. If you need water mitigation services, GO WITH SOMEONE ELSE!! There are many other companies out there, and they all surely operate with more integrity than this.