State Farm and my $0.02

[bfastpool]

@dixiegypsy31 If they sent out a claim payment letter and adjusters estimate, they are locked in at that number. Those aren't supposed to be sent until they are approved. Look up the term estoppel.

If it was a field adjuster that sent you a copy of their estimate that wasn't approved by a desk adjuster, that another story. Field adjuster write up the estimates but they often have to be reviewed/approved by a supervisor in the office. If that step was skipped, it makes sense why the adjuster is no longer there.

 

[dixiegypsy31]

@bfastpool SUPER insightful. I appreciate your comment. I feel awful for the customer. She’s (rightly so) in complete panic mode. Your supposition may be on the mark. Oh well. I guess we’ll navigate this situation (as we have others) and see where it takes us. Just leaves me not very keen on working insurance claims.

 

[resjudicata]

@bfastpool Correct me if im wrong, but yes, i feel like since work began, and contracts signed based off the updated estimate, this would be estoppel.

If work had not begun, or anything purchased, theb likely corrections/adjustments can be made?

 

[mlshelton1975]

@dixiegypsy31 The car insurance and license issue is entirely your fault not SF. Did you turn in your plates and cancel the registration when you scraped the car? I'm suspecting not. It was your responsibility, not your insurance, to notify the DMV that your car was disposed of and no longer on the road and so no longer needed to be insured. State law likely required SF to notify the state of your insurance cancelation and it was possibly an automated system that sent out the info to the state. What SF was likely referring to was that you should've gotten a non owner policy to preserve your continuous insurance status.

 

[dixiegypsy31]

@mlshelton1975 Def don’t remember what I did with the plates or registration since it was so long ago. But since I was young I’ll concede you are right and I most likely didn’t do all the steps necessary to get the car fully out of my name. In which case, that make sense about SF pushing the non-owner policy. Thanks so much for detailing things out like this. I’d always been so bothered by how everything in that particular situation unfolded and never understood why that stance was taken with me.

So, a nominal amount of my previous bitterness has been assuaged. Thank you!

 

[melinda007]

@dixiegypsy31 We're dealing with a huge fire loss right now and everyone connected with their company has been good outside of our first (new to SF) adjuster who messed a couple things up and caused some insure stress. Oh, and HIS preferred vendor he hasn't vetted.

We had a check large enough to provide a couple weeks survival within 12 hours of fire from our agents office. By day 3 first adjuster was here and communicating. Day 4 my car that burned was settled with a very fair amount. By day 5 the car was gone. Fire investigator finished by the end of the week. Fire adjuster arrived week two and spent an entire day here. Three weeks in they bought us a travel trailer so we could stay on our land. They've accommodated our requests this far, six weeks post claim. It might help we're saving them a ton of $$ by not utilizing LOU to it's fullest potential.

Today we called our fire adjuster and she answered the phone even when we just wanted an informal update. That's immediately major points. She's always returned messages promptly.

I'll update if that changes.

And I'm not sure if it's our agent or dumb luck but our policy has fantastic coverage with opt ins. We are pretty low income so we normally pick and choose. We're very grateful because we had a lot of nice things and beautiful home from before we cut our income. There's no way we could get it back ourselves. Our agent will be the one getting thanks no matter.

Any agents have ideas of a gift they'd happily accept let me know!

 

[dixiegypsy31]

@melinda007 This is beautiful. I need more stories like this one.

I don’t want to say where I am, but we def must have issues in the pool of who’s available to us. Our family members lost their house in a fire last year and still don’t have it resolved. A small portion of that problem/delay: their adjuster ghosted them for 3 months. When he came back he told them (the story goes) he’d warned his superior that he was burnt out and needed support, and when the superior didn’t add/offer help, dude basically had a mental breakdown and disappeared for 3 months. It was a mess. (The rest of the delays are related to the type of coverage they had and affordability to move forward, so not SF’s fault). But man. Between that and some issues we’ve encountered recently on behalf of our clients, it’s not been as smooth sailing in my neck of the woods.

Thank you SO much for sharing your story with me. I’m so very sorry you lost your home and precious possessions. But I’m encouraged that you are being so well take care of.