Perma-Seal Basement Systems

This Spring, Permaseal did some basement waterproofing for me. In May, I discovered that some of the pipes in the basement were leaking so I called my plumber. He discovered that the leakig was due to the fact that the Permaseal employee connected the sump pump drain to the kitchen sink drain in violation of the Plumbing Code. I had to pay the plumber $1,835.00 to fix the problem. I have sent a letter to the company and have made calls to the company but I have received no reponse at all.

This company put in their product in November . We had a leak under where they applied it. They sent a technician who said it wasn't the product's fault; there was another reason for the leak. I've tried contacting the President, the head of customer service, and their 22-year veteran who handles all the problems. Nobody has called to answer my question or follow up on this complaint. The customer service from this company is terrible. They just don't care.

Permaseal installed a Basement Defender system to a sump pump that was workin with no issues. They seem to have broke the existing pump on installation since their backup pump is the only one that works. The system is always in a state of alarm and it rings throughout the house day and night until we unplug it and reset the system. I have contacted them to cancel the contract and remove their product. They sent someone out who looked at it and wanted to charge us to install a new pump for the one they broke. I would like this to get resolved. They also repaired a foundation crack and seem to have fixed it. Their workmanship was shoddy and unprofessional. They cut a jagged hole in the drywall and wood which cost us extra money to fix and left the worksite messy with material splattered on the opposite wall, sawdust and drywall dust all over and the pieces that they removed stacked in a corner. I thought our sales rep did a nice job but can't recommend this company based on the work they did.

On December 14, a representative from Perma-Seal Basement Systems arrived at my home to give me a free estimate for fixing my kitchen floor. He explained that to level the floor, it required additional support in the basement. I agreed to the smart jacks installation. Work began on December 22, with a crew cutting out sections of my basement floor and pouring concrete pads for the smart jacks. A week later, they attempted to lift my home, but the weight caused the cement to crack and damaged my support beam. They also removed all existing support columns, broke a floor joist, and left without resolving the issue. Perma-Seal sent inspectors to photograph the damage, but despite my weekly calls, they have yet to offer a satisfactory resolution.

On 12/19/22, I hired Perma-Seal 'cause my basement was all flooded and stuff. I gave 'em a deposit of $606.74 to book a date for 4/3/23. The salesperson, who goes by ***, told me they couldn't do the work 'til spring 'cause the ground was all hard and stuff. They gave me a contract that was like 2 pages long. So, my living room carpet got all wet 'cause water was seeping in from outside. The carpet's only 2 years old, man. So, I called the installer, ***, ***, and told him what was up. He gave me the name of this waterproofing company called *** Waterproofing and told me to call ***, so I did. The next day, *** came over to my place and said that what Perma-Seal said I needed wasn't right and that he could do the work on 1/2/23 instead of waiting for 4 months like Perma-Seal said. So, on 1/2/23, *** and his crew came over and did the job. On 12/29, I called Perma-Seal to cancel my contract and talked to this lady named ***. She told me to sign the "Right to Cancel" page of the contract. But I only got 2 pages, man. So, she emailed me the whole contract, and I printed it out, signed the "Right to Cancel" page, and emailed it back to her. I called *** again to make sure she got it, and she did. She said she'd send it over to the *** and that I'd get a call the next day (12/30/22). But I didn't get no call, man. It was like New Year's Eve and a Friday, so I waited. On 1/2/23, I called again and talked to ***, and she said I'd get a call that day. But nope, no call. So, I called a third time on 1/3/23 and talked to ***, and she said she'd personally deliver my form and that I'd definitely get a call that day. But nope, still no call. On 1/4/23, I called again and talked to ***, and I asked for her manager. This lady named *** (not the same one as before) said she was the account manager and that it was too late for a refund, but I could get a credit. I said no thanks to that offer. I didn't even get the "Right to Cancel" form 'til 12/29/22 when *** emailed it to me, and then the holidays happened and nobody returned my calls. I think I deserve my full deposit of $606.74, man. Thanks, ***.

WARNING: Read the contract very carefully. The final clause in the contract is an Arbitration Clause that dictates any and all disputes must be handled through a mandatory arbitration. This means if and when they perform their shoddy work on your basement or crawlspace, YOU CANNOT SEEK LEGAL ACTION AGAINST THEM in a court of law. I tried and failed. The cost of this mandatory arbitration is currently $775 for any claim between $0 and $10, 000, plus another $200 final fee for any case that proceeds to a hearing. How many consumers can afford to spend another $1000 when they've already spent several thousand? Especially when you can t expect to recoup all of your money, even if you were to resolve your dispute through arbitration.

Do your homework on this company. Reading reviews such as this is a good step. I foolishly relied on their A+ Better Business Bureau rating, but have since learned that Roy Spencer, president of Perma-Seal, is also the chairman of the board of the BBB of Northern Illinois and Chicago. Feel free to draw your own conclusions on that. The overwhelming majority of reviews of Perma-Seal on sites such as this are negative. It is a rarity to find a 4 or 5 star review.

Briefly, our experience with this company was that their salesman lied to us about them leveling out the uneven dirt floor in our crawlspace. We were later told they don't do that. It also wasn't until after the work had been done that we were informed that the base of the concrete support pillars in our crawl being uneven with the ground wouldn't allow them to tighten the plastic they had laid and that we d be stuck with a floor that looks like an unmade bed. Perma-Seal performed service calls on two occasions to attempt to address our complaints and both times we were told that there was nothing more they could do. Instead, we were told that our crawlspace looked good "for a dirt crawl". Yet when we were sold on this system, there was never any qualifier that it would only look good for a dirt crawl. I paid $4500 for it to look good. Period. The dirt crawl displayed in their promotional materials looks good. It's not unreasonable that I expect mine to look comparable.

If our crawlspace were in good shape to begin with, we would've had no need for a company such as Perma-Seal. We were never informed that our uneven floor would be an issue before signing on the dotted line. Silly me, I figured a company that specializes in sealing crawlspaces would have some sort of system for dealing with these situations. Something more palatable than draping the plastic between support pillars like a circus tent.

We feel that we were mislead, if not lied to by these people. Don't make the same mistake we did. Look into any and all other options. In my opinion, when you deal with Perma-Seal you deal with nothing but aggravation.

In March of this year I contracted with Perma-Seal Basement Systems to find a water problem in my basement. At first we thought it was a water leak but when the village and a plumber said it was not we contacted Perma-Seal to install a drainage system. From the beginning, we discussed with them the possibility that it was a water leak and the salesperson agreed that they would dig around the water pipe first and then dig the rest of the trench. When the workers arrived to do the job I discussed this with him and I thought that he agreed to do this (dig around the water pipe first). He then proceeded to trench the entire job and ended at the fresh water pipe. He told me wife there was a water leak and that it would need to be fixed. He already had all the trenching done--which destroyed a part of my finished basement--so I had no choice but to let him finish the job. A plumber came and fixed the leak and I now had a nearly $3, 000 drainage system that I did not need. I agreed to split the cost of the job with Perma-Seal but they refused. The contract specifies any dispute must go to arbitration that is administered by the American Arbitration Association. When I contacted them (after several attempts to deal with Perma-Seal and my credit card company stopping the hold I had on the payment to Perma-Seal) and the person at the Arbitration Association informed me that I would have to pay another $775 to get the process started. (This seems like a great way to stifle any complaints that there might be!) Even he (the arbitration service representative) thought this was unreasonable and he put me in contact with a consumer mediation service that does not charge consumers for helping them. Perma-Seal (of course) refused to work with them. They have no incentive since they have my money. I am exploring every option to get a refund.