crazymomof4
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2003
- Messages
- 5,389
More info in answer to all who feel the Public Adjuster and Plumber were in "cahoots" and I got rooked.
I first contacted the original public adjuster (I'll call her Jane), who the plumber had an ongoing relationship with. She informed me that she had recently retired due to illness and referred me to a firm.... not another individual. The plumber didn't even know that Jane had retired and only said, "that's a shame. she's good at what she does". I investigated this firm before I called them. I spoke with friends and neighbors who have had large homeowners claims and had them tell me about their experiences... both ones who went through public adjuster and those who filed the claim on their own. I won't go into explaining all their stories but it was based on this info that I decided to go with the Public Adjuster. The firm then randomly assigned me an adjuster (they have many who work for them). One who's "territory" the property is in.
I'm glad you all had great experiences filing your homeowner's claims privately through your insurance but that wasn't the case for several of my friends and family. While the ones who used a PA, were all happy with the settlement.
Honestly though...... My question was not, "Would you use a public adjuster or not?" That's water under the bridge at this point and I really just want advice on which direction to move forward with this.
I have his $14778 estimate that he submitted to the insurance company. That details a TON of work that he never did because it was not necessary, after he opened the wall and saw that he could access the leaking part of the stack from that small section opened up. No need for removing tub (which would also require taking out toilet and vanity, due to narrow width of the bathroom) No need to open up the wall from the outside, removing siding, etc. These were all possibilities that the plumber, my public adjuster AND the insurance company's public adjuster discussed.
*I have pix of the open wall which clearly show the work that was done to the main stack (what materials were used).
*I have one plumber so far that valued the job at $1200 and I can get him to put that in writing. I can get 2 more plumbers to come look at the job and do the same. 3 affidavits from licensed professionals should be enough to establish industry standards.
*I have my plumber who told me on the phone (reading off of what he called "chicken scratch form" - so he couldn't send it to me that day) that he worked xxx day and billed me 16 hrs (2 guys x 8 hrs). I have my phone records showing that I received calls from him on that same day at 10am and 1:37pm.
*I have my tenant who was working from home and is witness to what hours the plumber was there on which days. I live next door to the property worked on and also remember the days and hours just exactly as my tenant does.
The plumber is adding hours to try to keep money that he should be refunding. He can only add hours (fictitious ones) to justify keeping the bulk of the money because the materials are what they are and with the wall still open, easy to estimate cost of those.
Hopefully the plumber will be willing to avoid me filing a dispute ANYWHERE and will negotiate down to something reasonable and fair. I don't know that I'll be rechecking further posts here because, quite frankly most of the posts here are adding to my anxiety rather than giving me direction. Belittling how I handled the start of this claim is of no help at this point. Telling me how wonderfully you handled your claims in the past is of no help to me. I've got to focus on the from here on, not look back at how things could have been done differently.
I first contacted the original public adjuster (I'll call her Jane), who the plumber had an ongoing relationship with. She informed me that she had recently retired due to illness and referred me to a firm.... not another individual. The plumber didn't even know that Jane had retired and only said, "that's a shame. she's good at what she does". I investigated this firm before I called them. I spoke with friends and neighbors who have had large homeowners claims and had them tell me about their experiences... both ones who went through public adjuster and those who filed the claim on their own. I won't go into explaining all their stories but it was based on this info that I decided to go with the Public Adjuster. The firm then randomly assigned me an adjuster (they have many who work for them). One who's "territory" the property is in.
I'm glad you all had great experiences filing your homeowner's claims privately through your insurance but that wasn't the case for several of my friends and family. While the ones who used a PA, were all happy with the settlement.
Honestly though...... My question was not, "Would you use a public adjuster or not?" That's water under the bridge at this point and I really just want advice on which direction to move forward with this.
I have his $14778 estimate that he submitted to the insurance company. That details a TON of work that he never did because it was not necessary, after he opened the wall and saw that he could access the leaking part of the stack from that small section opened up. No need for removing tub (which would also require taking out toilet and vanity, due to narrow width of the bathroom) No need to open up the wall from the outside, removing siding, etc. These were all possibilities that the plumber, my public adjuster AND the insurance company's public adjuster discussed.
*I have pix of the open wall which clearly show the work that was done to the main stack (what materials were used).
*I have one plumber so far that valued the job at $1200 and I can get him to put that in writing. I can get 2 more plumbers to come look at the job and do the same. 3 affidavits from licensed professionals should be enough to establish industry standards.
*I have my plumber who told me on the phone (reading off of what he called "chicken scratch form" - so he couldn't send it to me that day) that he worked xxx day and billed me 16 hrs (2 guys x 8 hrs). I have my phone records showing that I received calls from him on that same day at 10am and 1:37pm.
*I have my tenant who was working from home and is witness to what hours the plumber was there on which days. I live next door to the property worked on and also remember the days and hours just exactly as my tenant does.
The plumber is adding hours to try to keep money that he should be refunding. He can only add hours (fictitious ones) to justify keeping the bulk of the money because the materials are what they are and with the wall still open, easy to estimate cost of those.
Hopefully the plumber will be willing to avoid me filing a dispute ANYWHERE and will negotiate down to something reasonable and fair. I don't know that I'll be rechecking further posts here because, quite frankly most of the posts here are adding to my anxiety rather than giving me direction. Belittling how I handled the start of this claim is of no help at this point. Telling me how wonderfully you handled your claims in the past is of no help to me. I've got to focus on the from here on, not look back at how things could have been done differently.
Here if you’re eligible for insurance coverage the company does all the inspection and adjustment; including quotes from their source contractors. Then you either let them handle all the repairs or take whatever lump-sum amount they have deemed the claim to be worth and deal with it yourself however you choose, with no further recourse.
