Insurance Claim-Adjuster estimate

[Huskie]

Had an appliance malfunction in the basement around Christmas time, caught it before any damage to the walls and sheetrock. Once it is said and done, bills for service master, removal, disposal and replacement of the pad and carpet, there looks like there will be about $500 difference between adjustment and actual cost, in addition to the deductible. This is mostly due to the diffeence beween the cost of the carpet and pad. They've only allowed $2.17 a sq. yd. for pad(can't get pad for that in small town America, don't want it on concrete basement anyway) and and the gap for carpet is $18.88-$21.99, plus more carpet was needed by the installer than they figured. I sent in all of the bills, if they don't close the $500 gap, is there a way to appeal this? Been with them for 30 years with some type of coverage. Anyone been there before, any advice?

[Tom7227]

Talk to your agent and ask her/him to intervene for you. That's why you go with an agent rather than some on-line foolishness.

[pike doctor]

you should have sent in estimates before the work was done. They may consider whatever you did as an upgrade to what you had originally. In that case they are paying replacement cost, and you are responsible to pay for the upgrade.

Then again, the adjuster may have screwed up and you will be able to get the extra cash out of them.

ONe of the first pages of the claim should have info for you about a contractor being more or less expensive than the adjustor. I would think that you will end up getting the money, but you never know. They dont care how long you have been with them at the corp office. Like Tom said. If you need to get the agent involved.

[Huskie]

pike doctor: Down here, when you get the people to do the work, you get it done, can't wait another 2 weeks for the insurance comapny to get here again and check it out. Two months already before we got it put back together again.

[pike doctor]

Getting the work done has nothing to do with how the ins. company handles your loss. Their estimate is based off of what people in your area charge to make the repairs for what you "HAD". There are different types and prices for carpet. If you wreck your geo metro they arent going to buy you a BMW. They are going to get you another metro. The adjuster my have missed something that your contractor charged you for. In that instance they will probably pay without much fuss cause it would be the adjusters fault. If you "upgraded" carpet, you need to pay for that.

I do hail restoration and it can be a real headache dealing with insurace. Some companies really drag their feet and hope that you just go away. It can take up to a year to resolve a claim. Your just lucky that you didnt have to deal with a mortgage company too. Then you would really have something to complain about.

You need to read the claims report again. There are specific clauses in there that tell you what to do when the repairs are going to cost more than they gave you. You should really have your contractor talking directly with them to get it resolved.

[Huskie]

I think Pike Doctors analogy is a little extreme, more like going from a malibu to another malibu. The price of the product goes up after 6 years and we are talking replacement costs here. However, I get the point, all I think I'm entitled to are replacement costs with a similar product minus the deductible. Shaw does not make the same carpet anymore. I did talk with the agent and he is working on it as well. My business might mean more to him than some suit sitting at a desk in Irving Texas.

[Scott K]

Just remember he gave you an estimate, not a price quote, they are usually close, but if they arent, just call your agent, if it was there fault, they will correct it. Atleast if they value your business with them they will.

[Huskie]

Just a follow up, the insurance company paid me in full for all of the bills that I sent in minus my deductible. It took a while but the end result was very fair and I will stay with the company, thanks for the opinions on the matter.