Home was destroyed by massive tree in 80mph wind. Insurance has been like pulling teeth to make claim. Is this normal?

[hollywoodbowles]

The incident happened at 5:31am on 6/16/23 and was reported by 7:00 am. I got a call back from small claims at 7:30 that morning and I described what happened and he said oh fuck I’m small claims this is big claims. Let me put you in the queue. I asked for immediate housing from him for my family and pets, no go. The next day(Saturday) we get a single phone call that I missed by the last ring saying who my adjuster is and she is on vacation. I immediately return and get no response. I call about five times that Monday and finally get in touch with a human and we’re set up with short term ALE in a hotel. The next day(6/20) I get hold of an adjuster who works with on my case because the person who is assigned to me is on vacation. She sets up an adjuster to come to my house to look at it. Adjuster says “on a 1-10 this is a 10 in damage in so sorry. I’m gonna make sure you’re made whole.” Cool. My claims person continued to be on vacation until 6/23 and I didn’t get any additional talking until then. Only then was I allowed to send in photos of the incident. She said she was going to get me set up in long term ALE so we don’t burn it in hotel pricing. Cool. Not only has that not happened by now, but we’ve had four people come to the house and say this is going to need a complete rebuild. And, the person we’re assigned to finally admitted after the 10th time of me asking(6/29) small claims. Which is why we aren’t in long term yet. Today is day 14. When I finally got them to return my call yesterday she “against her managers wishes, applied for me to be moved to large claims as this is outside her scope.” Insurance has been wholly unhelpful throughout this whole process and while I understand I am in crisis and biased here, trying to get a sanity check. People are advising we get a PA and report this to the DOI. What is considered a smart point of no return if we don’t get movement? We’re so tired dealing with this and only at the beginning of a long process but nothing is moving and it only progresses when I say the right line to move this forward. The house is more than 70% destroyed by the tree and the rest of the 30% has structural damage and the home is shifting getting ready to fall

https://imgur.com/fPTSUf3

for a front facing photo of the house as of 6/29

 

[stormcat95]

@hollywoodbowles This is unfortunate and I’m sorry your experience has been less than desirable. I think your barrier is the sheer amount of claims we are seeing right now. I would call the 800 number and ask for a supervisor. I don’t think anyone did anything wrong. I think you are a victim of the volume of claims and you need immediate assistance. Just my two cents.

 

[hollywoodbowles]

@stormcat95 I have asked for a supervisor every call this week and at this point my number goes straight to the call center instead of the adjuster. I’m with progressive subcontracted to homesite

 

[stormcat95]

@hollywoodbowles Can you ask your agent for assistance? I’d go the PA route as a last resort. I’m a staff adjuster and PAs normally complicate things more than necessary. Their fee is a % of your claim total so you can see the incentive to inflate the claim as much as possible.

 

[resjudicata]

@stormcat95 There is no agent with Homesite.

 

[stormcat95]

@resjudicata Curious what others input will be. I work for a smaller carrier and when you ask for a sup, you get a sup.

 

[resjudicata]

@stormcat95 Homesite being part of AmFam means that all claims from AF companies go through AFICS. Adjusters can be assigned an AmFam claim, then a Homesite one, etc. They’ve centralized it all. Oh, and those adjusters definitely have more claims than they can handle.

That being said, American Family insurance companies are not known for having stellar claims handling.

 

[jul1a]

@stormcat95 Which carrier ? I need to be with a more responsive insurance company

 

[hollywoodbowles]

@stormcat95 I have asked every single call for 14 days now for assistance and I’m being told trust the process and it’s moving but every time I call(once a day) I get a different roadblock to the point that now they have my number forwarded to help desks. I have had tree removal people come out and say hell no because if they take the tree off a destroyed home insurance won’t pay because the tree is considered trash and part of the demo

 

[oddman]

@hollywoodbowles Stop calling now and start emailing!! Calls are worthless and emails start a trail. Find out your states fair claims act rules. Add those to the email. Read your policy. If you don’t have a copy as one to be mailed to you or emailed to you. Verify your coverage limits. Start cataloging hall your damaged items for your personal property.

 

[doubtfulsalvation]

@oddman Right, get that bad faith claim ready.

 

[dtn1234]

@hollywoodbowles Doesn’t matter the company, just look up the president of claims and email them. It will set off a chain reaction and the adjusters leader will get involved quickly.

The comment before was right, carriers are understaffed and under trained. You need a large loss, complex adjuster assigned to come out and resolve this for you.

Don’t waste time with a PA, seek attorney representation if that doesn’t move the ball forward.

 

[heartthaw]

@hollywoodbowles I’m sorry. Home site is fucking awful. I have them.
They tried to claim a tree hitting my roof was caused by ‘vandalism’ after a storm with 66mph winds.

 

[dtn1234]

@heartthaw Unless you have a basic policy, vandalism is covered.

 

[jul1a]

@stormcat95 Asking for a supervisor did nothing. The supervisor took a new role immediately after being assigned. Comical if it was not so frustrating

 

[lliner]

@hollywoodbowles The DOI is not going to help you at this point since it's only been 2 weeks. Your company is likely still within all timeline regulations you have in your state.

Realistically what's going to happen next is your claim will be assigned to some type of large loss adjuster (this may be delayed due to the holiday next week) and at that point you will start to see more movement. Large loss guys make it rain to close claims.

Regarding hiring a PA, there are pros and cons at this point.

Pros: less communication on your side with your insurance, negotiations between your contractor/insurance/PA will only need your final sign off, and the PA may have a contractor that can do repairs sooner.

Cons: PAs are expensive. They will probably take ~10% of the value of your estimate which you will be responsible for on top of your deductible. On a 400k rebuild job this is 40k.

(Note - I'd be wary of any PA that promises you little to no payment, as this means they are going to pad an estimate to make your insurance pay out which is fraud.)

PAs always present unnecessary items on their estimate which will delay your claim and may force you into arbitration, meaning more delays and expense for you down the road. PAs also have a bit of a reputation for just being straight up scam artists and taking your first big check and skipping town.

I generally recommend avoiding PAs because more often than not they try to defraud your insurance to enrich themselves. That being said they are best suited for large total losses which you definitely have. If this were my house I'd take the risk and get one.

But most importantly I recommend patience. It's been two weeks, your insurance had some problems at intake but they are working with you. You will cause more delays for yourself if you are rude or hostile to your adjuster.

 

[dtn1234]

@lliner DOI is also pretty worthless IMO. Generally complaints are routed back to the leader on the file, which has usually already been involved if escalated to DOI. My answer won’t change just because the DOI asked for a breakdown…

 

[wie27non]

@lliner The irony is that this scenario is true for the insurance adjuster as well. People get consistently lowballed by claim settlements, and a customer has much less information to go off to fight back. The only real way to get on level ground is to seek legal representation, and that is going to be difficult unless the case is big $$.

PAs wouldn't exist if the insurance company wasn't screwing the customer as well.

 

[bfastpool]

@hollywoodbowles So, a few pieces of advice.

First, what specific thing are you trying to do right now? Your post isnt super clear. Going forward, when dealing with anyone in this claim, make your call to action is in the first sentence of any message you send. Then you can add the supporting details. I know it's alot, but you'll get better responses that way.

For example, if you email your claim handler say:
"How can we switch from a hotel to longer term housing?" Then follow up with details and Yada Yada Yada.

Second, to you it probably seems like nothing has happened, but I hear that a desk adjuster was assigned, an independent field adjuster was already dispatched, and your set up in housing. That's a lot of moving parts already.

After you get set up with longer term housing, the next step I expect is debris removal to take out the tree and temp tarping to keep out water. Then a structural engineer will have to do an inspection and report about the integrity of the structure and whether it can be repaired. That's about 2 to 3 weeks of work, if not longer. Then it will be time for contractors and estimating the scope of work. It will have to be reviewed and approved by the insurance company. Again 30 to 60 days.

You'll need to start realizing that it might be 180 days before any repairs start and possibly double that before the whole claim is over. This is not going to be a fast process. That's not anyone's fault. It's just how these things work. Claims take way longer than most people think.

Just remember, it will all be okay. It sucks, so stay positive and your family will get through this hard time.

 

[hollywoodbowles]

@bfastpool Thanks. This was very helpful. Our main goal right now is to move to long term housing, currently homesite is denying it. After the 4th of July weekend I’m hoping this gets resolved. Once we’re in long term housing a lot of our stress will go away. The rest I very much understand will take a long time and I’m okay with that.