Working with Adjuster

Insurance
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By the way, I’m glad you brought the insurance forum back.

I filed a claim over the phone for my roof (wind damage) last week, and talked to the adjuster Thursday. I wish I hadn’t filed yet. He wanted to come out Friday, and I explained that I wanted the contractor to be there but that I hadn’t made a final decision on the contractor yet. He started blabbering about having to see the roof within 48 hours and file with the company with 72 or something. But I pushed him, and he finally chilled out and said we could wait til next week (this week) and to have the contractor call him directly to set up appt.

So today I get up and find a notice from the adjuster in my mail slot, stating he’d been out here this morning. He didn’t call ahead of time, and he didn’t ring the chime cause that would have woken me up, so he made no attempt to even have ME here. He attached a note stating he’d write up an estimate and send that and the check in a couple of days.

I’m pretty T’d off. I didn’t expect an adjuster to be exactly fun to work with, but not sure I expected him to be so blatantly a jerk. The worst part is just saying he’ll send a check. Without even talking to me? Not to mention that if this gets covered for anything over my (high) deductible, it may not be by much and I might just cancel the claim.

I only just decided on a contractor (but nothing signed yet so can still change my mind), emailed him late last night and haven’t heard back yet.

Can I just get some kind of advice as to how to proceed, what to maybe expect, how to handle this, would it be useful to talk to my agent, should I call immediately and tell him not to send a check, etc.? Just want to make sure I’m prepared and don’t do something stupid that’ll make things worse. (Cause what I really want to do is call the guy up and cuss him out… er…)

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I see no value in declining the check. If someone wants to give you money, take it. Accepting the check and cashing the check do not signify the policy holder’s agreement to the scope of loss or indicate any agreement to close the claim unless they sign something to that affect.

Were I a homeowner and this guy did this to me, I would contact his manager and raise all kinds of hell. He essentially (and I would guess illegally) trespassed on your property. I would tell the manager that you are now choosing a Contractor and that you demand someone other than this Adjuster come to your property to review your Contractor’s estimate and reconcile any difference. You would not be out of place to threaten to file trespassing charges against the Adjuster.

I am also unaware of any requirement to see the roof within 48 or 72 hours. How ridiculous is that? So what happens when there is a large storm and they don’t have the personnel to handle all the claims, and it takes 2 weeks or more to make it out? So right there he told a blatant lie, something I’d also tell his Manager about when you call him.

Let your Agent know. Call his Manager. Write a letter to the Director of the State Department of Insurance, the State Attorney General and the Vice President of Claims for your insurance company. That’s how this kind of behavior is deterred and this kind of behavior should be not only deterred, it should be grievously penalized. I would be shocked if you aren’t taken care of very well and with kid’s gloves if you proceed this way.

1 Like
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I would suggest that you find an independent contractor, preferably HAAG certified. Most legitimate roofing contractors offer free estimates. So, as a homeowner you have second opinion just in case there are glaring omissions in the insurance quote. Not to be mean, but I have worked with adjusters who eye-balled roofs from the ground and made their reports based upon what they considered to be the percentage of damage in the general area affected by the weather. The other good thing is that any decent contractor will help you submit their estimate and get it approved on you behalf. Hope this helps. I’m not slagging adjusters, most of whom are very conscientious, but like anything in life, there are exceptions.

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I would accept the check he has offered, call a licensed roofing contractor, have the contractor either measure your roof or a satellite roof measure and compare the estimates. Then see what the difference is with squares if any, address it with the adjuster. If the adjuster starts being defensive, he knows he is wrong and hasn’t given you a fair assessment. A good roofing contractor will catch this right away and nail his ass. I have done more than I care to tell , don’t take any nonsense from adjusters , its not like it used to be where you can trust them anymore , they are told by some supervisors to chump you and contractors as much as possible , I have found that some adjusters go by exactimate when its beneficial to them not you. BEWARE !!!

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Thanks for all the responses. If nothing else, I have reassurance that I have a right to be this upset. And I did wonder if I could legally call this trespassing. And trust me, I don’t really put up with crap from people - as long as I know what is normal, fair, right, legal, etc., so it makes it difficult in an area I don’t know too well.

I do have a contractor well-known in this area. I talked to the lady in his office - very nice. She already warned me that my particular insurance doesn’t have very reasonable adjusters, and did advise calling my agent first. She already told me what they’ll probably turn down and then ways they try to get it covered. (We had a whole discussion just about flashing.) She was able to calm me down quite a bit. :slight_smile: She did mention we could request a different adjuster.

I’ll call the agent first just to see what he says. But I might also take that advice about contacting all those other people as well. (The attorney general is from the county where I grew up and I knew who he was back in his “nobody” days - maybe I should remind how many elections I’ve voted for him. LOL.)

I’ve also been reading on the “people in the business” forum, like helping the contractors with how to deal with insurance. It’s been informative and interesting.

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Please don’t just " might also take that advice about contact …", please take that step. It’s when people just move on, accepting this horrible unprofessional and intimidating behavior, that the insurance companies will continue to get by with their low handed business practices. The State Government Officials and high level management in the insurance companies need to be made aware of the crap their field adjusters pull on a daily basis.

Please also contact your local County Sheriff and inquire about trespassing charges. If I understand it correctly, you clearly directed the Adjuster to stay away from your property until you had chosen your Contractor. He came onto your property after instructions to do otherwise. Where I’m from, that’s trespassing. If you just turn your back on all this, shame on you.

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I can’t say as I appreciate the “shame on you” attitude. I simply wanted to talk to my agent first, and didn’t know what steps he may or may not take. I’m not really the kind of person who likes to let people get away with stuff, trust me. But if I spent my days writing/calling places about bad business practices, I wouldn’t have a life at all, cause I see crappy business practices on almost a daily basis. A pretty huge chunk of my time has already been spent on this whole blasted thing, but most people wouldn’t even consider doing anything at all, let alone actually following through. And a lot of people are very easily intimidated by things, so don’t be so quick to judge a person if they don’t do things exactly how you would. I am a lot more gutsy and pushy about stuff than most people. And when I run across someone who doesn’t want to try to solve a situation, I might say please, and point out that nothing gets solved if you ignore it, but I never say “shame on you.”

Since most people probably don’t do anything about it, it feels a bit like you want to dump the entire responsibility, effort and time on me due to what sounds like your own personal vendetta against the insurance companies.

I came for advice on how to move forward, you gave that, I appreciate it, and I could totally understand asking me “to please follow through” on this. But I don’t appreciate the attitude you just dumped on me. Sorry, but you sound like you care more about your own anger than mine. I feel like I’m supposed to be King Arthur going on your quest.

Now that you’ve hopefully seen I really am not someone to just put up with crap from people…

From the conversation I had with my agent, I’m not really quite convinced that anyone is going to care a whole lot about this. This was not because he was being some kind of jerk or anything, but because he said it’s the first time anyone has complained about an adjuster being “too fast,” or for coming into anyone’s property. That’s what he’s ultimately supposed to do, and most people complain it’s not fast enough. There’s a lot more to the conversation, but I’m coming away with this impression that I’m the oddball one. He’s going to talk to the adjuster and understands about him circumventing my wishes to have the contractor there, but his attitude is fairly low-key. He didn’t even think being told he’d just send a check was odd cause that can still be negotiated.

This conversation did two things. One, it just made me realize there’s going to be people just thinking I’m the one oddball person in the bunch and not take it too seriously. (Which would not be unusual.) But two, it also armed me a bit with what the argument against me will be so that I can address that before-the-fact, and concentrate on the things that might be taken more seriously, like that I consider the guy saying he’d send a check adds to his blatant disregard for dealing with my contractor.

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Get a thicker skin would be my recommendation. I took the time to give you professional advice and you spend a long post dissing on me. You should have spent that time writing a letter to the people I suggested instead of busting on me. I’m not the one that trespassed. Save your angst for the adjuster who deserved it.

I get it though. All you really care about is getting your roof taken care of and the heck with all those who come behind you. You provided a very clear picture of your character. Have a nice day.

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And you provided a very clear picture of yourself - expecting people to do everything in life your way. Writing formal persuasive letters is not exactly my forte and it would take me 20 times longer to pull that off than just posting on here, so seriously, you need to stop judging things you know nothing about. And might I remind you that my first post said “might” - you’re the one who chose to be presumptuous.

“… and the heck with all those who come behind you…” ?? Yeah, I do care about other people, which just shows more of your presumptuous ignorance… But it’s also not fair to try to dump that entire responsibility on some single person - I’m now responsible for everyone who comes after me. Wow.

You’re the one who dumped all that on me first, my fine friend. I so appreciate your “shame on you” warm welcome to the forums.

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I requested two things from you. Both requests were prefaced with a please. Regardless, while I regret offering any professional advice to someone of your character, I have gotten several chuckles out of your pompous and silly responses. Be assured, I’m not your fine friend or any kind of friend at all. I maintain standards for friends you clearly would never come close to meeting.