Ohio State Waterproofing Ohio State Home Services Waterproofing services caused damage and detiorating living conditions in my mother's home. Macedonia Ohio

I am writing this letter to you on behalf of my 67-year-old mother regarding an

irresponsible, predatory business that claims to provide “waterproofing” services to

paying customers: Ohio State Waterproofing (which is a wholly-controlled subsidiary of

Ohio State Home Services, Inc.). As proof that citizens should steer clear of OSW, I offer

the damage that their repeated carelessness caused to my mom’s home:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXIp9Ttpwjk.

In August 2006, my mom noticed some minor drainage issues in the lower-level family

room of her house in Mayfield Heights, Ohio, where she lives with several other family

members, including my nephew (her grandson) who is developmentally disabled and who

she cares for. She got an estimate from OSW to fix the drainage issue and hired them to

do the necessary work, paying $2,400.00 altogether. As part of the deal, OSW guaranteed

that it would return to make repairs for free if my mom ever observed problems with their

work. Unfortunately, she noticed problems almost right away—after OSW’s

“waterproofing” job, her water entry issues became much worse. In fact, since OSW’s

work, water entered my mom’s lower-level family room in torrents in rainy weather or

whenever snow thawed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q_i3SYt7ng.

OSW returned to my mom’s house around a dozen times since their first attempt to

“waterproof” her lower-level family room. It performed numerous repairs, all without

required permits, and none of these visits fixed the problem.  Further, for the past several

years, she has been trapped in a house with unsanitary conditions. These conditions

include serious mold problems caused by constant water infiltration, an open drainage pit

that they dug right into my mother’s lower-level family room, and electrical wires that

OSW installed right next to the pit, causing an electrocution hazard where water regularly

Cleveland Better Business Bureau

November 9, 2015

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infiltrates the room. My mom, her grandson, and their other family members have lived

in fear of electrocution because of OSW’s shoddy workmanship.

After my mom retained an attorney, OSW fixed some of the problems, but has refused to

perform any mold remediation, move the open pit from the family room to the utility

room, fix the fire hazard, or otherwise place the home into its pre-OSW condition.  In

addition to being unsafe, my mom’s house has now been rendered totally unmarketable.

OSW has also admitted on tape that it performed substandard work that was not up to

code and that it failed to obtain required city permits.

We thought we had a resolution but OSW had reneged on it.  Basically, the lawyers for

both parties exchanged an agreement, and agreed on every word of it, in which OSW

promised to pay my mother $10,000 for remodeling necessitated by their damage, and

move the drainage pump into the utility room, if my mom agreed not to sue. However,

OSW soon decided to recant and now will not sign their own agreement.

This left her with no choice but to file suit.  When she did so, OSW found language in a

contract that they had forced her to sign that required her to arbitrate.  Her lawyer then

dismissed the case and they are now going to arbitration.

After all the stress this has caused us, I could not sit idly by while other families may be

suffering from the same “waterproofing” treatment that trapped my mom in her house

and also had her fighting in court. None of these many problems existed before my mom

attempted to purchase waterproofing services from OSW. The sad truth is that her

attempt to have a minor drainage problem fixed ultimately rendered her house

unmarketable and has left her and her family trapped in these grim conditions.

Thank you very much for your time and attention regarding this matter. Please let me

know if you need any additional information. Please also investigate OSW and provide

any assistance you can provide.