Have I ever told you that I HATE insurance companies? ...

[1StrongBlackMan]

Who ever came up with the concept was an evil genius. "Psst! Hey buddy. Here's the deal. You pay me a fee, every month, just in case your plumbing springs a leak, then I'll give you the money to fix it. But, when your plumbing does spring a leak, I'm gonna give every possible reason why I'm not going to give you the money to fix it. Deal?"

I'm four weeks into arguing with the insurance company and have got them up to $533, after the deductible ($1,000) ... up from $70. Apparently, they think the water logged (particle board based) vanity is salvageable and it's good enough to just patch the two 18" holes in the dry-wall made to find and repair the leak. And, I guess I'm supposed to be okay with them just painting the one wall and replacing one stretch of the base board ... Who cares if it matches? But hey, they will pay to have the mirror re-hung!

Here's the scam-ish part ... after the plumber came out, found and repaired to leak (none if which is compensable), the insurance company had a water remediation company come out. They removed the vanity (damaging it) and countertop, and put in air movers (running on full blast) in the bath room, the adjacent hallway and, surprisingly, the room with the common wall. Three noisy days, and unknown kilowatts, later, the remediation company was done. I signed off on the papers, indicating that the remediation company would be paid directly by the insurance company. Good, right?

Nope. The insurance company claims that the $1,700 to be paid to the remediation company is not applied against the deductible. They apply only the cost of the "build-back" against the deductible, not the full cost of putting the bathroom back into "pre-condition loss" {sic is that Freudian, or what?).

Let me put this in a different context:

You write a $20 check, a $30 check and a $51 check. You have $50 in the account. Now the bank could let the first two checks go through and bounce the $51 check; or, the bank could send the $51 check through first, and bounce all three.

That's what the insurance company is doing ... they are holding off costing the remediation work, even though it is a part of returning me to "pre-condition loss" {sic}, because applying the remediation cost work blow through the deductible, and leave them paying the full cost of the build-back.

[elleng]

1. OH FFS!!!

WON'T ask which company, as I no longer own a house.

[TexasTowelie]

3. I have a guess,

if 1StrongBlackMan wants to send me a PM I'd be interested to know.

[1StrongBlackMan]

6. I have no problem disclosing ...

Who. It's Liberty Mutual.

[TexasTowelie]

7. I was going to guess Farmers,

but I'm not surprised about it being Liberty Mutual either. To be honest, I'm not surprised by any of them anymore.

[TexasTowelie]

2. The worst part of the deal

is that it sounds like nothing was done for mold remediation which could cause severe depreciation of your home. It might cost some money to get an inspection done, but if you don't know how long the pipes were leaking before you noticed then you might have a problem.

Battling insurance companies is always a hassle and I know since I used to work for one. Good luck to you.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

4. They're pure shit, pure evil

They are completely screwing my 94 year old mom right now over a policy my deceased father had 12 years ago. They charged her premiums after his death and are not returning them, claiming she was a policy holder. They sent her a form asking her to sign as a policy holder (she never signed anything or even knew of my dad's policy). They're trying to trick her into admitting she was an insured under the policy so they can keep the back premiums. The insurance commissioner's office in Maryland where the company is headquartered said to go ahead and file a complaint against them. People should not let themselves get pushed around by the parasitic scavengers of the world.

[mnhtnbb]

5. You are not alone.

When our house burned down 7 years ago, our insurance company tried to buy us off for 2/3 of the cost
of our mortgage--and we were insured for full replacement cost. That's right. They wanted to leave
us owing more than $165,000. on a burned down house to the mortgage company. We had to hire a public
adjuster--giving them a percentage--to negotiate with the insurance company. They finally agreed
to pay us an amount that allowed us to pay off the mortgage, BUT left us having to pay out of pocket
$23,000. to demolish the house and clear the lot. We were fortunate the insurance company made
no attempt to screw us on contents: that's where the money came from to demolish the house.

I hope you are able to eventually work this out. It's a nightmare dealing with insurance companies.

[1StrongBlackMan]

8. The worst part is ...

they have never, even been out to the house to inspect the damage. They are "relying on" the remediation company's report. ... the same remediation company that they recommended.

Oh, did I mention the remediation company, upon removing the vanity, told me that they weren't going to try and dry the vanity because it was trashed.

Gee, what changed?

And then there's the adjuster's "My job is to get you as much as I can" comments. No, dear ... your job is to screw me.

Looks like I'm going to have to lawyer up!

[NV Whino]

9. Ah, and then they will cancel your policy

And trying to get another policy, from anyone, will be impossible or cost you three or four times the premium.

Fucking leeches.

[HeiressofBickworth]

10. Working in the legal field, I've heard lots of insurance stories.

So when the water heater sprang a leak and flooded the finished basement in what was essentially my rental house (I wasn't living there but a family member was), I did not report it to the insurance company, but paid for clean-up and replacement on my own. It was much easier and probably cost the same anyway (after deductibles, exclusions, refusals to pay, etc.).

[1StrongBlackMan]

11. I know ...

It'll probably be easier and far less aggravating to pay out of pocket; but, dammit ... that's why I have insurance!

[HeiressofBickworth]

12. I think of insurance only for the big things

like total distruction by fire (earthquake and floods are insured separately). If one has a total loss, perhaps insurance will pay for at least a part of it. It's important to remember just what the insurance companies are in business for. They are in the business of collecting premiums, using that money to invest in the stock market or bonds or other commercial ventures to make an even greater profit for themselves. Paying claims is done very reluctantly and not at all if they can finagle a way out of it.

[lastlib]

13. Insurance companies are in the business of collecting premiums.....

...and avoiding paying claims. When I was fighting with one over a claim on my car, my most effective weapon was when I threatened to comlain to the state insurance commissioner (who happened to be an old college buddy of mine). When I pulled that out of my hat, they paid up pronto.