Gold Coast Kitchens & Baths in Wantagh, NY Closed now

Reviews about Gold Coast Kitchens & Baths

• ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

  September 27, 2019, by Tom York
  We hired Gold Coast Kitchen & Baths immediately after our property flooded during Hurricane Sandy on October 29, 2012. We hired them to perform demolition to flooded areas of our property (removing drywall and insulation which was flooded and ruined in order to prevent mold growth). Gold Coast charged us nearly $9,000 to remove the flooded drywall and insulation in two small rooms. This job should have cost between $2,000 to $3,000. Unfortunately, because of the emergency situation, I had no choice but to hire them even though I knew I was being ripped off. I could not leave the wet drywall and insulation for very long because mold would quickly start to grow, so I had to act quickly. It had already taken too much time after the flood to hire Gold Coast, and when I attempted to call other businesses, everyone else was booked and unavailable because of the high demand (everyone had been flooded during the storm, everyone in the community had the same problems). Gold Coast took advantage of this natural disaster and charged abnormally high prices because of the service shortage and the high demand. I would also like to point out that NY General Business Law § 396-r, which makes it illegal to charge an "unconscionably excessive price" during an "abnormal disruption of the market." It is not ethical to engage in price gouging during a natural disaster and that is exactly what Gold Coast did. I would never have hired them if I had not been in a desperate situation which they saw and took advantage of. The contractor even seemed to be aware of the abnormally high price he was charging for this work. He mocked me when I questioned him about it, and then he attempted to reassure me by saying, "don't worry, the insurance will pay for everything." I actually think he was attempting to reassure his own conscience by saying this because he knew he was doing the wrong thing. Unfortunately, his belief was wrong, and our flood insurance did not pay to repair all of the damages. Even after recovering as much reimbursement as possible, we were short by thousands of dollars in necessary repair costs which were never reimbursed. Living through a natural disaster is terrible, but it's made even worse when you are taken advantage of by the very people you seek help from.