Bay Area Restoration

Bay Area Restoration (BAR) in Moss Beach, CA was sent to our home after filing a claim through our relocation company. The insurance company in Texas made the arrangements. I did not research or choose the restoration company, and I sincerely regret that.
The owner and his assistant who does work came to my house to look at the items I claimed: My bicycle and white Eames chairs. The handlebars on the bike were scratched up and the chairs had small nicks in the seat.
The gentleman said he wasn’t sure if they could fix the nicks, but that they wanted to try and it might take a few weeks. I honestly didn’t think they could fix the nicks because the chairs are plastic, but I figured they were professional and if they couldn’t fix them they would let the insurance company know so that we could get compensation.
After two weeks I heard nothing from BAR, so I called for a status update. The owner called me back and said that so far they had not been able to fix it, but they would call me back. Fine. A week or so later the owner called again and said he wanted to make an appointment to drop the chairs off. Strangely, he said he was not able to tell me if my chairs were fixed or not. How does the owner not know the status of my furniture? He was also brusk on the phone.
One of the men who came originally arrived with my chairs, sans owner. He explained that he was unable to fix my chairs. He also said that the day they removed them from my home, he told the owner that he didn’t feel he could fix them – effectively throwing the business under the bus. I appreciated his honesty, but I knew I would have to tell this to the insurance company. Before he left he polished the handlebars on my bike, but it wasn’t 100% fixed and since he didn’t have his glasses I had to keep checking and showing him where the scratch was. Before he left, he had me sign a page with minimal text on it. He said it was for me to sign off on what he had done, but there was nothing on the page explaining the work done – all very shady.
The most painful part is that not only did they not fix the nicks, they caused additional damage by experimenting on one. I found an ugly, dark line on a patched area on one chair that I was unable to remove.
I called the insurance company immediately after finding the damage and the agent said she was confused because BAR charged them for fixing the chairs! In a later conversation, the insurance company stated that BAR admitted to not fixing the chairs as well as causing additional damage.
I’m getting a check from the insurance company, but I wish I didn’t have to give BAR my chairs for over a month only to have them come back worse off. I have learned my lesson and will only turn over my property to a company of my choosing.