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CASE STUDY

“Standing Up To The Bullies”

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Ray

Potomac, MD

Overview

Ray was a senior citizen with a multi-story home in Potomac, MD. His mold story begins when he called his HVAC company to have the heating pump in his HVAC system replaced.

The HVAC company came out, replaced the pump… and told him his HVAC system was full of mold. They then pitched Ray an $800 UV light to “fix” the problem. 

Being in a wheelchair, Ray couldn’t go down to his basement to see the mold himself. Instead of buying the UV light, he contacted a mold testing company to verify the HVAC contractor’s findings. (Smart move!)

The mold tester said there was not only mold in the HVAC system… there was mold everywhere in the basement! The tester then quoted Ray $16,000 to remediate his mold problem. 

Ray decided to get a quote from another mold company—us. (Smart move!) While we found mold in one of the basement bedrooms, what we discovered in the HVAC system was shocking… 

Not a single speck of mold.

The Case Of The Missing Mold

When Valor owner David Myrick told Ray there was no mold in the HVAC system, Ray was wary. Two companies had said he had mold in his system—and here was David brazenly refuting both of them.

But David has been around the block a time or ten. He knows the classic sales tactics of unethical “bait and switch” HVAC and air-duct cleaning companies. 

They get their foot in the door by advertising a cheap price. While they’re inspecting your system, they find “other problems” that will cost you an arm and a leg to fix.

Still, Ray was skeptical of David’s findings. So David offered Ray a deal… 

If Ray had the HVAC company come back and take actual photos of mold in the HVAC system, David would do Ray’s remediation for free. 

So Ray called the HVAC company back and left a message. 

They never returned his call.

One Bully Down, One To Go

One scamming company was out of the way. But that still left the $16K remediator that “found” mold in the HVAC system and in the basement. 

In truth, there was substantial mold in Ray’s basement bedroom. But the remediator went along with the HVAC company’s tall tale about mold in the HVAC system. 

This allowed the remediator to claim mold was all over the entire basement and inflate the bid by thousands of dollars. And since Ray couldn’t check the HVAC system himself, he had to take the remediator’s word for it.

We’d heard stories of this particular mold company overcharging and underdelivering on their services before. So we took copious photos of Ray’s basement and HVAC system to give him proof of the true extent of his problem.

We showed these photos to Ray and explained why $16K was a ridiculously low price to remediate an entire basement that size. Our goal was to show Ray that even though the company apparently quoted a dirt-cheap price, it was actually WAY TOO MUCH for the amount of mold Ray had. 

Remediating the whole basement of a single-family home starts at $10,000, and a basement Ray’s size would’ve been at least $20,000. It also takes about two weeks to do it the right way… a far cry from the two days the company promised Ray they could do it in.

Bottom line: The company tried to trick Ray into thinking he was getting a deal. In reality, he was getting stiffed. 

After we provided irrefutable proof of the TRUE extent of Ray’s mold problem, we quoted $5,598 to perform the remediation. This price was what it would take to perform proper remediation within the actual scope of his mold problem (one medium-sized bedroom, not the entire basement). 

Our diligence and honesty finally won Ray’s trust. He chose us to remove his mold, and the project went silky smooth.

We Fight For Homeowners Like You

The mold industry is home to a lot of bullies, shysters, and predators. That’s why we are so adamant about honesty, integrity, and doing what’s right.  

You probably don’t know much about mold and what it costs to remove the correct way. So you need a company that’s willing to place your needs ahead of its own profits.

That’s the kind of company we are.

Just ask Ray.

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