Should It Take 6 Weeks to Get an Adjuster Out?

Mark EE

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We had a pipe give under our concrete foundation (not a basement - our home.) Our insurance company has already told us that we are covered and has paid for their part of our plumbing fix. The problem is with the damage done when their preferred water mitigation company came out in the beginning. Half of our flooring and a lot of our drywall has been removed. That company was a nightmare to deal with, BTW. When calling our insurance "field rep" about looking at our damages, his advice was to just let the mitigation company come in and assess the loss. Three weeks of no returned phone calls from the mitigation company and an email to my (then) assigned adjuster and the field rep asking why the mitigation/restoration was doing the adjuster's job, especially since I had no intention of letting this company work on my home. Within hours I got a call from the field rep who just happened to be in the neighborhood. It took 6 weeks. I have had contractors refuse to bid on our job because they won't work with insurance company. Replies to my emailed questions take a week. I can't get insurance to give me a ballpark estimate of what they'll pay. We sent in 40 photos and detailed descriptions, including copies of the original receipts for everything damaged and have had no replies. Do I really have to complain to the state to get a reasonably small claim settled in a timely manner?
 
Do I really have to complain to the state to get a reasonably small claim settled in a timely manner?

It would appear so. I would also write a scathing letter to the corporate executives at the insurance company.

There is no excuse for it.

If I'd have handled anything that way my manager would have been on my ass for it.
 
Thank you. Is it relatively easy to find out who the executives are? I can't ask my insurance adjuster. I'm on my third one so far this month and have received a total of two replies to my dozen emails.
 
Curiosity question..... How does a pipe give out UNDER the concrete foundation, causes damage to the flooring and drywall and you call it a minor repair?

While the adjuster should be more proactive, I'm wondering if they are waiting for something from you? Also, AdjusterJack and speak to this more authoritively, but I highly doubt they will adjust something from pictures when its this level of damage.
 
djs, maybe this will help: One copper pipe under the foundation. The rest is PEX running through attic and walls. I spotted a small puddle growing next to my house on a very hot day that turned out to be fresh water trickling from the slab. No way that could be good, right? Called insurance. A field rep DID come and look at the puddle outdoors and recommended a leak detection company, even called them for me. The leak detection company put my system under pressure in order to hear air hissing and pin down a source. My previously dry house suddenly had water gushing up through some floors and out from a couple of walls. Called insurance again and they sent their a preferred water mitigation/restoration company out, who proceeded to rip out flooring and any drywall that that was even suspected of being wet.

I'm not actually sure what "adjusting" is. But I'm pretty sure that it is supposed to be practiced by adjusters rather than contractors? Like you, djs, I fully realize that someone from my insurance company should have come to look at the damage, say about 5 weeks ago. Until I complained this week, nobody from the insurance company. That is why my spouse and I went to the trouble of photographing and sending in a 3 paged, notarized letter documenting what was ripped out. We did this even thought we were told by one phone rep, "nope, don't need anything from you." We were hoping that someone would take notice and get their you-know-out to have a look so that we could move this process forward another step.
 
djusterJack and speak to this more authoritively, but I highly doubt they will adjust something from pictures when its this level of damage.

I've done that quite often, and not just on small claims either. So, it could happen, I just don't know what kind of fiasco is going on with Mark's insurance company.

I'm not actually sure what "adjusting" is. But I'm pretty sure that it is supposed to be practiced by adjusters rather than contractors?

It can be done a variety of ways:

A company claim rep can adjust claims without ever leaving the office.

Employee adjuster can be sent out to assess the damage and write repair estimates.

Independent adjusters can be used.

It can often be appropriate to rely on contractors. The big advantage to using restoration companies is that they can go out on an emergency basis and, on day one, can stop continuing damage from happening.

Again, I have no idea what's going on with your claim. Unfortunately, how I would have handled things has no bearing on how anybody else handles things.
 
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