by imkennasmommy » Sat Jan 21, 2012 02:50 am
If an insured submits a claim for damage to their home due to a storm, and the insurance company is so busy that they have the insured submit 2 estimates and them cut the insured a check for the lesser amount and never send anyone out to even assess the damage. Can the insurance company then come back to the insured 2 months later and ask for the money back??
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 05:13 pm Post Subject:
Why would they ask for the money back to begin with? Did you submit a false claim? I have never been across such a situation where the insurance company didn’t send an adjuster over to assess the cost of repairs required after an accident. They should essentially send someone over to verify the claim before they compensate you for the damage.
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 05:47 pm Post Subject:
That's just the thing. No one ever came out after I placed the claim. I called our insurance company and explained what happened to our house, I explained that there was damage due to the storm - that there was damage to our roof. I asked what I do ?!? The adjuster/claim rep ( who was out-of-state ) said to get him 2 estimates and fax them to him. After receiving the estimate he called me and said everything looks fine he was sending us a check for the amount of the lesser estimate. I asked if anything else was needed or if anyone was coming out and he said they were so inundated with work in our area because of the hurricane and since it wasn't over $10,000 he wasn't sending anyone. he asked if there was any other damage I told him yes there was damage to our siding... he said do the same thing same me the estimates and if it's reasonable I will just send you a check . We received the check in November for the roof, so we told our contractor to get us on the schedule for the first opportunity in spring and now, within the last 2-3 weeks we've been getting calls and people have been coming to our house checking the siding and climbing up on the roof investigating the claim.
I don't care if they're not going to repair all of the siding and only pro rated and pay us for the pieces that are damaged that's fine but regards to the roof
What I'm trying to figure out is if they can take that money back now?!?!
Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 01:50 pm Post Subject:
No, they cannot take back money for the roof. If you have filed a claim and they have sent you a check as compensation, the claim should technically be closed. The adjusters climbing up to the roof and investigating the damage might be doing so simply to supplement the information in their claim file. What exactly have they been telling you over the phone?
Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 05:07 pm Post Subject:
At one point they said that they were not sure if the claim for the roof should have been paid. Maybe this sounds disrespectful but I told him that that's too bad they paid it and we made arrangements to have our roof replaced. I totally expected someone to come out and it's not my fault if no one did prior to them cutting the check. He then preceded to explain to me that our insurance doesn't cover matching and that they would not replace all of the siding just for certain areas which had holes. he said he was sending someone out to see the siding, I said that's fine. When the contractor from a separate company contacted me about coming out he kept saying about the roof about the roof about the roof... I then told him that the roof was a done deal however he was more than welcome to come out and look at the siding. Then we got a 'pop in' from a senior investigator who would not speak to only my husband he told my husband that he would come back again when he could sit down and talk to my husband and I both together. Then then two days later we got another visit from the contractor who needed to get back on the roof. Within the past week I've left two messages for this senior investigator guy and haven't received any calls back.
Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2012 02:21 pm Post Subject:
Yes, most insurance policies wouldn’t compensate you for matching sidings, only the parts which need to be repaired. You were right in asking the contractor to come over and take a look at the siding instead of the roof which had already been fixed. What was this contractor doing on the roof? Was he trying to figure out if the roof had been damaged and the extent of the repair work? Maybe the insurance company is sending out investigators since people have been using the hurricane as an excuse to file false claims. As I said before, in my opinion this is just a routine checkup on every policy holder who made a claim after the hurricane. Keep the bills for the roof repair work ready, the investigator might ask you to produce them. There is nothing to get worried about.
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