House Fire Victims Left Paying For Restoration Company Delays
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (CBS4) - Ten months have passed since Brian Wynne and his wife were last in their Colorado Springs home.
"I was taking a nap, and then the alarm started going off," he said.
On Jan. 19, a fire in his basement spread throughout the house.
"When I opened the door all I could see was black smoke," Wynne said.
He and his dog made it outside just before fire crews arrived. Immediately his mind started racing.
"What are we going to do? What's going to happen now?" he thought.
Before firefighters were finished putting out the flames, he says a representative with Statewide Restoration was by his side promising to take care of everything -- ensuring Wynne, they would be back in their home before they knew it.
"At the time it felt like a blessing from the heavens, it just didn't turn out to be that way," he said.
Initially he says the company was on top of things, moving quickly on the cleanout and demolition even painting the outside of their home. But after just a few months, work seemed to stop.
"I would drive by, there would be no vehicles out here. The house is locked up, I stopped in, nobody, nothing. I called the people, and they say they were having trouble because of the COVID," he said.
CBS4 talked with about a half a dozen other Statewide customers dating back to November of 2019, who claim their projects were also delayed and they were given the same reasoning.
We spoke with a Statewide employee who asked not to be identified. He says that was not the issue he experienced.
"It comes down to getting a check from our corporate office to pay for that, and just recently it's been taking months," he said.
He says instead of simply firing the company, customers worry about money already spent and potential repercussions of breaking ties with the company that many signed up with during a crisis.
"Walking up to a couple where their house is still smoldering sing this and we will take care of it and that's what they are doing," he said.
A regional representative for Statewide, which is based out of California, has recently taken over the Aurora branch.
He says claims by the employee about payments are completely unfounded and instead blames the delayed projects on the staff running their Colorado office, many of whom have now been let go.
He says they were simply not applying for the necessary permits or hiring reliable contractors in a timely fashion. Statewide Restoration CEO Gary Liardon also provided a statement in response saying:
"Our responsibility to our valued customers is our highest priority, and our most solemn charge. Although we make every effort to carry out this responsibility without error, we are an organization of people and sometimes, with even the best of intentions, challenges will arise. It is the willingness to meet these challenges with honesty and integrity that defines our character."
At the end of the day, it's homeowners who are caught in the middle and many are now paying for it.
"We were trying to look at it like it's a vacation, but it hasn't really worked out like that," Wynne said.
