Quality Plus Restoration of Houston agrees to cancel Fla. liens, repay overcharged customers

An agreement has been reached between Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist and Quality Plus Restoration, a Houston, Texas-based water extraction company, settles allegations of fraudulent business practices, including price gouging, following Hurricane Ivan in 2004. The settlement will remove liens from homeowners’ property, provide restitution through their insurance companies and pay $50,000 to the State to cover costs of the investigation.

The investigation into Quality’s business practices was prompted by consumer complaints filed with the attorney general. Investigators discovered 42 notices of lien filed by Quality Plus against north Florida homeowners for water extraction work. The liens were fraudulent and violated Quality’s contracts, which called for Quality to only bill the consumer’s insurance company. The settlement requires the company to remove all liens for the 42 homeowners and reimburse for any overcharges paid by consumers.

In addition to removing the liens, allegations of price gouging were also resolved. Under the settlement, Quality agreed to eliminate an “emergency service” charge of $125 imposed on the grounds that a Texas-based company would not perform routine service calls in Florida. The settlement also requires Quality to reduce their charge from $550 to $250 for the use of an infra-red camera to detect moisture, the average cost of such a service. Finally, the settlement reduces an overhead surcharge from 35 percent of the final bill to 20 percent. All invoices were changed to reflect these prices and any invoices paid prior to the agreement will be adjusted and the difference remitted to the consumer.

Topics Florida