Hurricane Ian
Don't take it personally... But yes, I have had bad experiences with insurance companies:
My brother has been an insurance adjuster for 20 years... And worked in body shops for 12 years before that... I don't hate adjusters...
He helped me with a claim against a 'substandard' insurance company that was incompetent... After the company sent a contracted adjuster to look at my car, my brother pointed out over half a dozen items that they missed from just looking at a picture... They sent another adjuster to look at it again and missed even more... Then after we questioned them about that one, they finally sent their own adjuster who finally declared the car a total loss...
I kept pushing the company to get the claim settled after a couple of weeks and asked if they were going to cover my rental car when they kept delaying past the one month of rental coverage in my policy and they kept saying that they will see... They kept dragging it on and on... It took them two months to come to the conclusion that my car was totaled and give me a check for the loss... Not to mention that they would only pay half of the standard local labor rate of a body shop in their claim... I decided to keep the car and they told me that the salvage value was $450 when my brother looked it up at $250... The insurance company said that they threw me a bone by not deducting the salvage value from my claim and then stiffed me on the extra month of rental car that cost me $850... This is after the adjuster admitted that they were not happy with the contracted adjusters, basically admitting that they were incompetent...
They thought that this made us 'even'... :wtf:
After that I went back to my regular company as the difference in the policy cost would have offset my loss on that claim...
My brother worked for a top tier insurance company and settled his claims in 3 - 5 days max... He also could transfer the settlement $$$ to the customer's bank account within 5 minutes from his lap top, which is much faster and easier than having a check cut...
I learned my lesson the hard way, not to go with a cut-rate insurance company...
Let's not mention the name of the insurance company involved, but let's just say that I will never go with Stonegate again... :icon_fU:
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When I moved back to Chicago from Detroit 15 years ago, I gradually moved my stuff with many trips back and forth over many months...
I made a trip back to Detroit during Christmas break to find that thieves had broken into my house, ransacked it, stole my toolbox from the basement loaded with $10,000 worth of tools, removed all of the new copper pipe that cost me $13,500 to have done, cut the heat exchanger out of my brand new one year old two stage furnace, and stole my whole A/C unit from outside the house...
I contacted the Detroit police they were 'too busy' to come out and make out a report... However when I went back in spring, I called them again and they sent out an officer to make out the report...
When I submitted the theft report to my insurance company they questioned why it took so long to get a police report... I pointed out to them that I was dealing with the Detroit police department who didn't feel it was a priority when I first contacted them... They tried to accuse me of fraud and asked for way too much information that was not related to the claim, some of which was a list and balance of all of my bank accounts with account numbers and any investments etc... Way to much information that was not related to my claim and none of their business... I lost over $35,000 in that deal... I spoke to a few lawyers about that and they were not willing to pursue the case...
I was too busy to keep searching for other attorneys two states away as I was a single dad with full custody of my two kids which were in school... I dropped them off and picked them up for school every day (and they went to different schools), while also taking care of my disabled mother who was going through back surgery and then fighting cancer after that...
I was the only one she told about her cancer as she did not want anyone else in the family to know until the end... The cancer went away after the first round of chemo and radiation, but returned six months later and we went through round two but she didn't survive through that... I had to take her to all of her doctor appointments, take her grocery shopping, and help her with any other needs and errands, and take care of my kids at the same time... I was running two households by myself that were 45 minutes apart...
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I did not mean to offend you, but I am skeptical when dealing with insurance companies after those experiences...
Most IA’s (independent adjuster) are more of a turn and burn claim handler and don’t care about no one but themselves!!!
I owned my own body shop up until early 2000’s and got out of it because dealing people who didn’t want to pay or bitched about the price given and could get it done cheaper somewhere else!!
Most internal adjusters have never been in the field, much less handle claims for more than a few years. So most of the time they are believing what the adjuster is telling them and not questioning anything further.
I was taught to handle claims as if were you house or car… I’ve told Insurance companies before when they ask me to do something unethical… I tell them, I’m not lying for nobody… if I lose my license over something stupid… they could care less… they have deeper pockets and they will just pay the fines and move on and move on to another sucker adjuster.
At the end of the day, I also have to follow policy.
Most people don’t know what kind of policy they have until it’s too late. I blame the insurance agent for not explaining coverage as to what’s covered and what’s not.
Policies were written by lawyers, so what does that tell you! Loop holes after loop holes!! I’ve had lawyers tell me they can take the policy language and use to their advantage or to your disadvantage, all while using what is written in black and white.
Heaven forbid it happens again, but if it does and you get no satisfaction with a police report, make sure you notify your agent and that way it’s on record that you are having difficulties obtaining a report. Fraud is rampant and easy to do. I’ve had fire losses that I know were started by the homeowner, but at the end of the day, if I can’t prove it, I have to pay it!
Not offended, I just don’t like being lumped into the same a category as most of the adjusters who are out there and don’t know what they’re doing or just Blatantly don’t care!
I tell people all the time…
“You are NOT in good hands with them”
They will nickel and dime you to death over A claim… I’ve had discussions with them about that and they don’t care! So now I won’t work for them because of their ethics and mentality towards the insured and the handling of their claims!!!
On another note…
Sorry for the loss of your Mom!