In general, threatening an insurance adjuster is about the last thing you want to do. It seriously slows down claims, same with involving a lawyer.
This is not out of spite, but a byproduct of the concerns. As soon as a lawyer is involved, the claim time will double if not triple. There are a lot more i's to dot and t's to cross. Insurance companies will also send everything through their legal department. They have to protect themselves.
My recommendation above was that there was no need to get a lawyer involved. Why? I knew it would slow the claim down.
Now, you are threatening them with a DOI complaint, after the lawyer thing. Now, they need to not only dot i's and cross t's, but make sure the placement of the dot is correct and the slant of the cross is perfect. Hence, they now need a letter rather than a verbal statement.
At this point, you have made the situation worse for yourself. There is no good way to back out of this. You'll have to get the letter from the lawyer. You'll have to apologize to the adjuster, explain you are under some stress to get back into business, but don't expect him to budge much. You have been pegged as a bit of a hothead that can cause trouble (tell me I'm wrong on this).
It will get resolved, but you need to start working with the process, not fighting it. Also, understand that if it is approaching 30 days (or over 30 days), they have already filed with the DOI that the claim is being delayed. A complaint at this point, without a resolution offer, will fall in pretty deaf ears.
You have ran into a lot of very standard stuff. A lawyer should tell you up front that a claim will be slower if they are involved, but they never do. Threatening someone about a complaint for not following procedure (effectively what you complain to the DOi about) makes them follow procedure to the letter.
So, my advice:
- Get the letter from your lawyer.
- Don't threaten a complaint to the DOI. If you want to send one, just send it. Don't do this till you have a settlement offer or 90 days into the process. Doing it before this will bring everything to a complete stop. This is not an effective way to expedite anything, but can change the outcome of things.
- Cooperate with the adjuster.
- If they make a settlement offer and you are not happy with it and they are unwilling to negotiate, then hire your attorney again.
- Don't feel threatened by the process. Let it runs its course.
Basically, having a claim referred to special investigations is no big deal. It happens all the time. Having special investigations refer a claim to the legal department (i.e., getting a lawyer involved) is a bummer. You are close to being there.
I don't want to imply having a lawyer is a bad thing. Its usually an unnessecary thing. It always slows claims down (with some exceptions, but they are rare) and it almost always has claims run through the insurance companies attorneys, rather than through the normal process.
Unfortunately, not much I can do for you at this point.
Dan
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I meant to add, your agent should have walked you through all of this already. Doing so is why I get paid the mediocre bucks!
Dan
This is not out of spite, but a byproduct of the concerns. As soon as a lawyer is involved, the claim time will double if not triple. There are a lot more i's to dot and t's to cross. Insurance companies will also send everything through their legal department. They have to protect themselves.
My recommendation above was that there was no need to get a lawyer involved. Why? I knew it would slow the claim down.
Now, you are threatening them with a DOI complaint, after the lawyer thing. Now, they need to not only dot i's and cross t's, but make sure the placement of the dot is correct and the slant of the cross is perfect. Hence, they now need a letter rather than a verbal statement.
At this point, you have made the situation worse for yourself. There is no good way to back out of this. You'll have to get the letter from the lawyer. You'll have to apologize to the adjuster, explain you are under some stress to get back into business, but don't expect him to budge much. You have been pegged as a bit of a hothead that can cause trouble (tell me I'm wrong on this).
It will get resolved, but you need to start working with the process, not fighting it. Also, understand that if it is approaching 30 days (or over 30 days), they have already filed with the DOI that the claim is being delayed. A complaint at this point, without a resolution offer, will fall in pretty deaf ears.
You have ran into a lot of very standard stuff. A lawyer should tell you up front that a claim will be slower if they are involved, but they never do. Threatening someone about a complaint for not following procedure (effectively what you complain to the DOi about) makes them follow procedure to the letter.
So, my advice:
- Get the letter from your lawyer.
- Don't threaten a complaint to the DOI. If you want to send one, just send it. Don't do this till you have a settlement offer or 90 days into the process. Doing it before this will bring everything to a complete stop. This is not an effective way to expedite anything, but can change the outcome of things.
- Cooperate with the adjuster.
- If they make a settlement offer and you are not happy with it and they are unwilling to negotiate, then hire your attorney again.
- Don't feel threatened by the process. Let it runs its course.
Basically, having a claim referred to special investigations is no big deal. It happens all the time. Having special investigations refer a claim to the legal department (i.e., getting a lawyer involved) is a bummer. You are close to being there.
I don't want to imply having a lawyer is a bad thing. Its usually an unnessecary thing. It always slows claims down (with some exceptions, but they are rare) and it almost always has claims run through the insurance companies attorneys, rather than through the normal process.
Unfortunately, not much I can do for you at this point.
Dan
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I meant to add, your agent should have walked you through all of this already. Doing so is why I get paid the mediocre bucks!
Dan
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