After a Costco-hired installation crew installed their new refrigerator incorrectly, a Florida family alleges they sustained over $700,000 in house damages; the wholesaler is not paying for the repairs.
Since the installation failed on Dec. 2, 2024, Bradley Byrd claims he has spent more than $300,000 to move his family and pay for improvements to their Jacksonville house.
A group of outside professionals from RXO delivered and installed the KitchenAid refrigerator that the family had bought from Costco in late November.
When his daughter found out that their house was “underwater,” Byrd, who had been at home for the installation before leaving for work, hurried home.
“She Facetimes me and says, ‘Dad, the house is underwater,’” Byrd stated.
According to a website he created to chronicle the disaster, Costcowaterdamage.com, the astonished parent estimated that 1.5 to 2 inches of water from their just installed refrigerator filled his house.
Byrd also funded three months of advertisements in Jacksonville and Ballantyne, North Carolina, criticizing Costco and RXO, “out of spite.”
According to Byrd, the water pipe was not installed in a safe location by the workers.
“So what happened is, during installation, most of the extra water line is wrapped into a coil and taped on the back of the refrigerator like it is now,” Byrd stated. “But the installers didn’t do that. They allowed it to go underneath the refrigerator, and they allowed the refrigerator’s wheels to sit on a line, which caused a crack that grew larger and larger.”
In addition to creating an undesired indoor pool and ruining furniture, rugs, instruments, electronics, and structural elements, water seeped out of the gap and covered the Byrds’ house.
The harm was already done when experts were contacted to drain the water from the house.
The family had to leave the house and move into an Airbnb just before the holidays since the water, along with the Florida weather, had already caused mold and excessive moisture levels.
“We got the tree up, Christmas presents wrapped. Everything was great. And then all of a sudden, a couple of days later, we had to leave,” according to the homeowner.
According to Byrd, he emailed Costco CEO Ron Vachris as a last resort and filed a claim with the company. He claims that an hour later, he received a message from Vachris informing him that his staff would be keeping an eye on the family’s circumstances.
After the first day, Byrd’s cries for assistance were mostly ignored. The cost of the damage and repairs was assessed by a loss adjuster to be $703,355.88.
A total of $175,000 was offered to the family by Costco and the outside installers.
“So far, I have spent about $300,000 on repairs, mitigation, third-party charges for reports and testing, and to get our belongings moved out and into storage,” Byrd stated.
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The store offered the family $38,000 with no conditions attached to cover the cost of his family’s short-term move.
According to Byrd’s website, the family has not agreed to a settlement and intends to sue both Costco and RXO.
Byrd has kept track of everything that has happened since December 4 and gives credit to every company he has worked for. He has also included a list of the outrageous expenses incurred since the accident:
| Category | Approximate Cost |
| Damage to House | $360,000 |
| Personal Property Damage | $76,000 |
| Alternative Housing & Living Expenses | $78,000 |
| Mitigation, Moving & Storage | $117,000 |
| Professional Services (Recovery from RXO) | $72,000 |
| Total Estimated Cost | $703,000 |
Byrd claims that in addition to the costs, the home catastrophe has consumed a large portion of his time.
While his family was relocated for 87 days, went 91 days without a kitchen to cook in, and expects their claim to be entirely handled in more than 170 days, he has missed almost 20 days of work “dealing with all facets.”
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Byrd blasted RXO and Costco for not protecting its customers.
“They drop the ball and are hoping that I foot the bill with my life savings for their bottom line,” Byrd stated.
Even with the repairs made, he likened his house to an incomplete building site.
Sitting on lawn chairs by a folding plastic table in his kitchen, Byrd told the source, “It looks like an unfinished home, because it is an unfinished home.”
“This furniture is courtesy of that refrigerator,” he jokingly said.
