GEF Construction Geoff Jones Ray Czumaj price gouge families and use scare tactics to run up the bill Arizona

After having a toilet leak in my upstairs bathroom, I found the webpage for these guys on the internet and had them come over to look at the damage. Geoff Jones came over and was very friendly. He said he could have some people come over in the evening to put fans in to start drying things out. He seemed trustworthy, so I agreed to let him bring his crew in. Two workers came in later that evening, installed some fans and filters, removed the toilet, and cut some holes in the drywall.

The next day, his partner Ray Czumaj came over and started causing all sorts of drama. He talked about how the house was infested with mold and that the damage could be very extensive. He was very frantic and high strung. My wife and I have a baby, and he talked about how much danger our child was in. He began filling the house with more fans and equipment, and collected a $2,000 deposit. At one point I told him that if all this extra equipment was going to cost more than I didn't want it. He went on about how my family was in danger and that my insurance company would probably pay for it anyway. The prices and scope of the project continued to go while he was in the house.

My wife and I left the house, and after being given an opportunity to calm down, I started calling around for second opinions. I had a different person come in to look at it, and his quoted price to fix everything was a quarter of what was alreay quoted. I called Ray Czumaj and told him to come get his equipment out of the house and that I would be going with a different company. He talked about how expensive all his filters and equipment is and that he'd have to calculate how much I owe for the services rendered.

The next morning Geoff came to collect the equipment and gave me an invoice for the outstanding balance. It was full of very creative charges such as over $200 for removing a toilet and emergency after hours service. They offered to come in the evening and never told me that it would cost extra. I talked to Geoff about the bill and told him that $2,000 seemed more than enough for what turning on some fans and cutting some holes in the wall. I was able to convince him to write of the remaining balance and he left.

After asking other restoration companies about what they charged me, they were appalled by what had taken place. They said that they normally charge half of what I was charged. I called Geoff multiple times about it, but he told me that Ray was in charge of pricing and that it was industry pricing. He offered to get me a price list, but has never done so. I let them know that was extremely dissatisfied, but they stand by their pricing and service.

I'm glad I kicked them out of my house and I'm glad I only ended up paying them $2,000. I am confident that if I had allowed them to continue the work, they would have expanded the job to milk as much money from me as they could.