posted on October 21, 2005 06:01:43 PM new
If it were me, I'd either file another request or an appeal. Many that apply for government aid of any sort are denied the on the first request. I personally believe they do that just to eliminate those that won't bother to re-apply or file an appeal.
Seen it happen with too many I know.
But...other than your deductable you shouldn't have had any additional cost....IF you had full insurance coverage. That would have also included motels/hotels/food when away from home, etc. in addition to repairing your home.
posted on October 21, 2005 07:06:15 PM new
Well....I don't know how much energy you're willing to expend on this maggie, but if it were me, again, I'd be speaking/filing an appeal with your insurance adjustors immediately.
All policies have some maximun limits on some specific items [like your trees maybe] but I think the insurance companies are just going to be denying things MUCH TOO quickly....to see what they can get away with. They're losing big bucks and like most insurance carriers love collecting your premiums but HATE paying out.
I sure would take it to the next level and fight them since you say you did have full coverage. Especially on the nonsense that you COULD have lived in a house with no electricity or water. BS....pure and simple. Ask them where it says you're required to do just that in your policy. Don't let them get away with that one.
posted on October 21, 2005 07:11:48 PM new
Oh Maggie Dahling! Doncha know, old dear, that FEMA officials play follow the leader and are crooked as hell....already been caught taking bribes
posted on October 21, 2005 07:39:25 PM new
Dash off a quick letter to your congressman and senator. Check with the others in your area as to a class action filing. Sometimes you have to really bug the hell out of them.
amen,
Reverend Colin http://www.reverendcolin.com
posted on October 21, 2005 08:07:03 PM new
Maggie,
I am very sorry to hear of your problem with insurance and FEMA. Its just not right.
I am hearing more and more about how FEMA and the Insurance companies are passing the ball from one to the other and back again.
Your right it seems that the people that do the right things take a beating for their efforts.
I know my Son's problem is no where near as big or costly as your families problem but its another example of what is happening.
My kid got sick over a year ago. Took a ambulance ride to a hospital 15 miles away. The bill was over $1100 his blue cross/blue shield insurance paid $400 saying $1100 was over the National Average.
He took this bill and his case to court and loss. Judge said in his opinion the Ambulance ride was an over charge but unfortunately the laws favor the Ambulance Company.
My kid was in college at the time without income. If my wife and I didn't try to do the right thing and pay for his health insurance if he didn't have insurance. His ride to the Hospital would have been free.
posted on October 21, 2005 08:21:05 PM new
Newspaper: At least 30 FEMA inspectors had criminal records
an Associated Press report 04/25/05
FORT LAUDERDALE - At least 30 inspectors who visited disaster victims' homes or verified damage claims for federal aid had criminal records for offenses such as embezzlement, drug possession, robbery and drunken driving, a newspaper reported Sunday.
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel could not determine the total number of people with criminal records out of the thousands of contract workers who do or supervise inspections. The Federal Emergency Management Agency does not have the names of contract workers, an agency spokeswoman said.
FEMA requires the companies that hire the workers to "conduct a complete background check" that includes local, state and national criminal searches for "both felony and misdemeanor charges," the agency said in a statement.
The Sun-Sentinel has sued FEMA and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, seeking the identities of inspectors and aid recipients.
The newspaper found 30 inspectors or managers with criminal records out of 133 it was able to identify. The count includes those with at least one misdemeanor offense, such as drunken driving, but excludes traffic citations.
Of the 30, 17 had criminal histories when they were hired, the newspaper reported. At least four lost their jobs for arrests after they were hired, including one scheduled for sentencing May 6 in California for child molestation, and two convicted of federal bribery charges for promising higher FEMA payments in exchange for money. Seven inspectors had records for marijuana or cocaine possession.
Almost all the inspectors worked for a subsidiary of Parsons Brinckerhoff of Virginia, which has a $150 million, five-year contract with FEMA. Another Virginia company, PaRR Inspections, also has a FEMA contract.
posted on October 21, 2005 09:57:19 PM new
Maggie,
First, Take all your documentation from your insurance company and FEMA to a lawyer.
Second, file a complaint against your insurance company with George Dale(I think that is his name?) the Mississippi Insurance Commissioner. He has been making grumblings about the Insurance companies trying to rip off the hurricane victims.
Sorry to hear all this bad news. The insurance industry is a game and you have to learn how to play it. We get car insurance, but then are afraid to use it because our rates will go up. The insurance companies count on that fact. They know damned well that most people won't use their car insurance and they make a lot of money off of that fact. The same goes for homeowner's insurance. They will look for the flimsiest of reasons not to pay your claim or to give you the least amount possible.
I worked for an insurance company out of high school and had to quit. I couldn't stomach the games they played and expected me to play. It was a health insurance company. I don't know if they do the same thing today or are even allowed to, but we used to have to analyze how often people were using their health insurance. If they used it too much, they were dropped.
posted on October 22, 2005 07:10:40 AM new
BIGPEEPA,
My kid was in college at the time without income. If my wife and I didn't try to do the right thing and pay for his health insurance if he didn't have insurance. His ride to the Hospital would have been free./////////////////////////////////
Is it really free or they will try to collect from him??
posted on October 22, 2005 07:15:16 AM new
Maggie,
did you go thru your insurance policy and see what it has to say about 'living condition' and expenses of living elsewhere??
I know a couple whose house was flooded,while waiting for a new house to be built,they stayed with their brother in law and get 'reimbursed' for 16 months!!
the brother in law charged them nothing but got disgusted after playing host to two adults,3 cats and 2 dogs.He received not a dime from them,he has to replace the carpet after they left.
posted on October 22, 2005 07:41:10 AM new
From Houston Chronicle-
Oct. 21, 2005, 9:08PM
Allstate loses ruling on Rita
Judge says those displaced can get living costs even if homes undamaged
By PURVA PATEL
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
Allstate must pay living expenses for customers displaced by Hurricane Rita, even if their homes weren't damaged, an Austin judge ruled Friday.
ADVERTISEMENT
The judge issued the temporary injunction after granting a temporary restraining order two weeks ago that forced Allstate to stop denying the claims.
The state's second-largest insurer had refused to pay living expenses for the displaced homeowners unless their homes were made uninhabitable by direct damage, a practice the company says it has always followed.
But Friday, state District Judge Stephen Yelenosky said a home can be uninhabitable even if there's no direct physical damage.
Instead, those who suffered power outages for significant periods of time, couldn't get home safely, or were barred from coming home by authorities are considered to have had uninhabitable homes.
A hearing for a permanent injunction is set for December.
"Hurricanes have hit and we've had power outages but never with people out of their homes for a month," said Jim Hurley, spokesman for the Texas Department of Insurance. "That's why we were shocked to hear Allstate lawyers saying these policyholders were simply inconvenienced."
Allstate will appeal the decision, but in the meantime, it will pay the claims as ordered according to the timeline set in state statute, Allstate spokesman Joe McCormick said.
The statute requires companies to pay claims within five days of completing an investigation. "We firmly believe our policy wording is clear and our claims handling is consistent with that," McCormick said. "We believe our policy interpretation is the correct one and will prevail."
If the company wins an appeal or gets a reversal at the hearing, it's unclear how Allstate will recover the payouts.
"It's potentially a difficult situation," he said. "I don't want to speculate at this point. We're hoping that appeal may occur on a time frame that's much closer, in which case it would make it less of an issue."
The injunction has the potential of turning this industry upside down, said Jerry Johns, spokesman for trade group Southewestern Insurance Information Service.
"If insurers in this state are forced to pay claims that are not covered in policies, then people will have absolutely no level of confidence in the contracts insurers have between themselves and their customers," Johns said in an e-mail. "If insurers are required to go back and rewrite these contracts after the fact, we will have a crisis in Texas which will make the mold issue look like child's play."
Insurer Gordy Bunch, president of The Woodlands Financial Group, noted the potential for consumers to profit from the storm.
He said his company has already been contacted by policyholders who received reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and have now applied for living expenses under their insurance policies.
"I feel horrible for everyone who had to go through the hurricane, but at the same time we are supposed to give people actual damages," he said. "But if they're getting paid twice, it's not fair. I can't see why Texas would want to force insurance companies to pay for claims that have already been paid by the federal government."
Consumer groups, however, said the injunction sent a message to all other insurers to not deny legitimate claims.
"The court clearly decided that these claims are covered under the policies, so the companies should have been pricing their policies accordingly all along," said Alex Winslow, director of Texas Watch in Austin. "It seems as though every time the industry is required to pay a claim they didn't want to pay, they claim the sky is falling."
Winslow also urged Allstate consumers affected by Rita to contact their agents and file or follow up on their claims for living expenses immediately to get the process rolling.
posted on October 22, 2005 07:42:29 AM new
Insurance is not a game or a scam to defraud people. It sounds like you have a very poor policy and/or agent. With an HO3 policy, you probably wouldn't even be making this post.
The real killer here is that FEMA won't help considering it was a certified disaster.
Why get a job and work and do the right thing if someone else sits around, does nothing, and gets everything handed to them.
posted on October 22, 2005 08:03:25 AM new
Why get a job and work and do the right thing if someone else sits around, does nothing, and gets everything handed to them.
///////////////////////////////////////////
most of us dont want to sit around and do nothing and expected to have everything handed to us,there is such thing as achievement and satisfaction from working .
It is not that easy and simple to have something handed to,the welfare line is awfully long these days,and there is a stigma of being a welfare recipient,you seldom see anyone confessed that he/she is on welfare??
But the gap between rich and poor is widening,the middle class is shrinking and it looks more and more like the middle class is working harder and getting less each day,so the welfare class appears better off,but not for long,as their benefits would be cut too.
posted on October 22, 2005 09:39:16 AM new
1200 sounds like a lot. I pay <1000 for an HO3. My agent is a friend and he tells me he won't sell most people anything less than HO3 unless they insist. HO3 is "replacement value" essentially and adds other coverages. Pipe breaks in the bathroom and floods, it's covered. Tree falls on house, covered. No electricity, it's not livable. Check the endorsements section of the policy, I'll bet it is an HO2. Which means if you have a 5 yr old lawn building, they give you its estimated "value". There are a lot of tricks with adjusters too. I'll ask my friend for things to watch out for.
posted on October 22, 2005 10:51:39 AM new
That's why you use an adjuster. There is not much the agent can do.
State Farm and Allstate were fined billions for hiring guys to pretend they were "structural engineers" after the CA earthquakes. They would tell people the house was structurally OK to reduce costs of temp housing.
They adjuster will eliminate a lot of the hassles for you.
posted on October 22, 2005 11:32:55 AM new
hwahwa,
I was just thinking that people without income could get a break but you are probably right. The Ambulance would have not have given a unemployed college kid a break or look for ways to lessen his bill.
Like the Judge said the Law favors the Ambulance company.
I would be willing to bet laws like this come from Republicans.
Like someone said what's the sense buying insurance?
I turned 62 months ago and never filed for S.S. because I still can work and said why bother. I have rethought next week I am going to file for S.S.
From that point on I will not make a dime. Except for what money I can legally make without that money effecting my S.S. The business is being turned over to my Wife and Son. I am out of business and retired.
posted on October 22, 2005 02:33:38 PM new
if you get ss ,you can still run your business -turn it into a corporation,pay the minimum salary without any ss penalty as a worker of this company,then as a shareholder,get dividend from its retained earnings.
But it sounds like turning over to your wife may be simpler.
posted on October 22, 2005 02:43:06 PM new
maggie,
sounds like they contracted outside adjusters to relieve the workload,it makes no diff if you fight an internal ALPHA adjuster or outside contracted adjuster,the policy guidelines should be the same.
color does not match is not good enough,you would have to prove like it would be structurally unsound.hazardous or illegal or technically impossible to do a partial replacement etc.
I dont know Alpha ,but some small insurance companies which insure mobile homes are still using this year's premium to pay last year claims.
posted on October 22, 2005 04:36:38 PM new
Maggie -- I ran into a problem after Hurricane Andrew. Even though I insured my fence separately, I was told that because I received enough money that State Farm wasn't going to pay for it. My mom was in the insurance industry and told me to file a complaint with the insurance commissioner for the state of Florida. I did. Not even a week later, I was contacted by State Farm and told to come in because they had a check for me for the fence.
File a claim with your state insurance commissioner. I guarantee that they are receiving complaints by leaps and bounds and will do something about it.
The insurance commissioner threatens to pull the license of the insurer who is giving insureds a rough time. If the insurance company wants to continue to do business in that state, they have to comply.
It worked for me and hopefully it will work for you. Don't mess with the insurance company. You can file appeals and it won't get you anywhere. GO STRAIGHT TO THE INSURANCE COMMISSIONER FOR YOUR STATE.
posted on October 23, 2005 05:31:59 AM new
Maggie -- Believe me when I tell you that I know exactly what you are going through. It's like -- where do I start?
I lost everything in Andrew (including a brand new home which was only 3 weeks old, both of my cars and all of the contents). It was hard to figure out where to begin.
First, I contacted the insurance company (which you already did). Is your house liveable? If not, is your city allowing you to stay in a travel trailer on your property? Because I had loss of use in my homeowners policy, State Farm paid for a travel trailer. I had the trailer placed on my parents property for security reasons (my neighborhood was very scary after the storm -- the national guard would sit on my back porch and chase looters away).
Once you have stabilized yourself, you can look into hiring contractors to work on your home. This was tricky! Alot of the contractors were not licensed and there were alot of crooks that were taking the money and running.
I became the contractor on my house. I filed all of the permits and hired each licensed subcontractor on an individual basis. Fortunately, my BIL was a licensed elecrician and knew other subcontractors for plumbing and air conditioning. I hired people to put on my roof. I scheduled all of the inspections (except when a licensed subcontractor was in the picture -- that was his responsibility).
The only thing I focused on, once I had a roof over my head, was rebuilding my house. I didn't put up with any crap from my workers. When one set of workers were constantly on "break", I fired them and hired new ones.
It's not easy, but you can do it. Take it one step at a time. You will rebuild your life again.
