In the meantime, Litvin said, he received the replacement washing machine, which is now connected but sitting in the middle of the floor away from the damaged walls.

Still with no further word from XPO, Litvin called a remediation company for an estimate to repair the damage.

It would take more than $21,000 to put the basement back together again, the estimate said.

The walls soaked up the water as high as two feet, the report said. There was damage to the wood floor, to the walls, trim and closet doors, and a cedar closet that Litvin said held “some fur coats, shearlings and other expensive clothing items.”

Litvin said he spent the next month-and-a-half trying to get answers from Sears or XPO Logistics, and he even tried to find the company’s liability insurer so he could make a claim on his own. He talked to several reps and they all said the same thing, Litvin said: “Your issue is escalated and you will hear from us in 48 hours.”

By July 22, still nothing.

“In the meantime, my basement got mold infestation which in turn presents a health hazard for my entire family,” said Litvin, who has two children ages 17 and 13.

That’s when he reached out to Bamboozled.

We reached out to Sears and XPO.

On the same day, Sears said it would investigate. A week later we heard from the XPO rep. She had been on vacation, she said, but the company would look into it.

A few days later, Litvin said, he was contacted by an outside claims management firm that he was told was hired by Sears to manage the case.

“They are doing a good job communicating with me so things are moving along – slowly,” Litvin said.

The new rep said Litvin should hear from the delivery company’s insurance adjuster, but after more than three weeks, he hadn’t received a call. So while the new rep was communicative, Litvin was no closer to a resolution.

“Sears subcontracts all the delivery and installation work out and refuses to take any responsibility/liability for any of the actions although all of the contracts are signed with Sears,” Litvin said. “I never signed anything with XPO Logistics or anyone else.”

We checked in once again with Sears and XPO to see what was taking so long.

Sears didn’t respond to any of our email or voice messages.

A spokeswoman for XPO did respond, saying on Sept. 4 that she would get an update.

Perhaps that lit a fire. Litvin reported an insurance adjuster came to inspect the damage on Sept. 6 – more than three months after the flooded basement was first discovered.

“I’m now waiting to hear back from him,” Litvin said of the adjuster a week later.

On Sept. 19, finally, the homeowner got a call. He said XPO said Litvin’s claim would be settled for the amount provided in the estimate Litvin had received.

That was good news.

We went back to XPO to ask what took so long.

“This claim took longer than normal to resolve because the insurance company had to investigate preexisting damage in Mr. Litvin’s home from a flood in 2012,” a spokeswoman said. “We’re pleased the contractor on this job and his insurance company were able to resolve this case.”

So is Litvin. He confirmed he had a basement water claim from Superstorm Sandy. His insurance company paid for all the repairs, he said, and the basement was just fine until this new flood.

But boy, that was an awfully long time to wait.