by Guest » Fri Apr 10, 2009 06:14 am
:evil: its no surprise ALLSTATE was number 1. If you have Allstate i would suggest switching now. I posted last month about having 31 wind damaged shingles and the rest looked beat up. 2 adjusters from allstate told my husband it was blisters. Since then we had a home inspector look at it and he said it was hail damage. We also have a metal bulding he looked at and it was dinged up pretty badly. Also we have found dents and cracks in our siding and you can tell where the hail hit our screens. The siding is only about 7yrs and the building is only 3yrs. The inspector said Allstate is notiourus for this. How do i get a settlement or take this to arbitration. I am not giving up.
Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 06:50 am Post Subject:
hey nice way to slash your anger on allstate. i think there will be so many people posting their opinions on 'Worst insurance companies' lets hope some good will come out from this " WORST". :wink:
Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 11:08 am Post Subject:
Hi..
The truth is getting reflected across a number of threads. I'd just present a couple of them for you-
http://www.ampminsure.org/insuranceagents/about3572.html
http://www.ampminsure.org/insuranceagents/agency-cost.html
Thanks, Fatman
Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 02:39 pm Post Subject:
Those threads mention people complaining about Allstate and State Farm. The first thread mentions something important.... that both are larger insurance companies. As such, they are probably going to have more complaints. I agree that both carriers (and most others, though) tend to pay as little as possible. There is nothing wrong with this, though. I hear the same thing about Farmers, GEICO, AIG, Nationwide, etc. It usually comes down to a difference in opinions. Who's to say who is right and wrong in those situations.
In the OPs case it does not appear that Allstate denied the claim, it's just that the damage was limited to 31 shingles and the cost to repair them was probably under the deductible. The OP felt that the entire roof (or at least a much larger section) should be replaced as it would no longer match. This is a grey area.... it's not owed but yes, some carriers will pay to have that done (not the entire roof, but a larger section so that it matches better). The OP is now stating that an home inspector states the entire roof was damaged by hail.
OP, have you submitted the home inspectors report to Allstate? What did they say? Is this home inspector willing to write a letter with his/her findings and also state what his credentials area? There is probably an arbitration clause on the policy that you could use. It would cost some money.
I'd recommend submitting documentation showing that qualified people think more of the roof was damaged by hail (I think Allstate is stating it's wind damage, not hail... and then only to 31 shingles). Ask Allstate to have a manager review the information or come out and meet with your expert to discuss the situation.
Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2009 03:34 am Post Subject:
First, I have heard some horrible things about Allstate, but like the other thread stated just by pure numbers they are bound to get a higher volume of complaints. But they must also be doing something right since people keep purchasing their policies. (And no, I don’t think it is because the guy from the Unit is their pitch man.) For full disclosure, I have Allstate homeowners Insurance, have worked for them but not as an adjuster, have submitted a claim and was mostly thrilled with the handling of the claim. My only problem was that it took an adjuster 1 week to get out to my house, but in all fairness to them this was during hurricane season and there was a shortage of adjusters in the north.
What it comes down to is an individual’s experience with a particular insurance company. I have seen people run to Allstate from State Farm and the other way around, yet have heard the loudest complaints about both. I’ve work for bad carriers where their insured is thrilled with the outcome of a claim and great carriers where there insured is upset and feels wronged. It really depends on the particular claim, the way it is handled by the adjuster (there are good and bad), the outcome of the claim, and the insured’s perception of the outcome.
As far as Debby’s claim, from what I remember she had submitted a claim for wind damage and Allstate addressed what sounds like minimal (31 shingles) damage. Now you say you have had a home inspector inspect the roof. When you say home inspector, did you pay for a home inspector (one that would normally inspect for home sales) or a roof inspector with a roofing company. A roofing company representative has a huge stake in finding hail damage to a roof, where a home inspector should not. I also understand that an insurance company has a vested interest in not finding hail damage to a roof. So yes, you should have them come back out and take a look at the additional damage to the metal and siding, it may change their mind on the “blisters”. In all fairness, I have seen roofing companies call blister hail damage and I have conducted re-inspections where adjusters have call hail damage blisters. The adjuster that was out may not have known what hail damage looks like. There is a question that will come up though, when did your area have hail. At the same time as the wind, 3 years ago, 2 months ago….what is the date of loss.
Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2009 10:49 am Post Subject:
Well tcope, would you share with us more on the responsibilities of a home inspector?
Is this home inspector willing to write a letter with his/her findings and also state what his credentials area?
It's interesting to know whether this gentleman may deny writing a letter to the carrier under such circumstances!
Steven
Posted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 03:32 am Post Subject:
A true home inspector will issue a written report to the homeowner, but a home inspector typically is only hired at the time of a home sale and usually by the buyer. What I suspect is that Debby had a roofing contractor/sales person inspect the roof. They may have taken photos and may produce a professional looking report with technical sounding words. Normally they will not have any credentials (past being a roofing salesman) and their report really holds no water, and yes they are usually supplied to the adjuster or insurance company. Besides having a re-inspection where they change their mind, Debby could hire her own engineer and/or go to appraisal.
Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 06:03 am Post Subject:
Just as an example, here ya go concerning complaints. tcope was right on. It's all in the stats (once again) and here's what I mean.
State Farm has, by far, the largest percentage of autmobile insurance in our state. They have (get this) 24.3% of our market including their subsidiaries. They are followed by Farmers and Allstate, who finish (figuratively speaking) 8 lengths behind. They have more complaints than any carrier in the state (except for Farmers) when speaking in terms of pure numbers of complaints. When adjusted for market share, Their Fire and Casualty company has a compaint ratio of .11, and their mutual company's is .49. 1.00 is considered the median, and lower is better. That's pretty impressive. Statistics can be, as you all know, really misleading when someone wants to put a spin on them. Check out the following URL- it has info on every carrier for all major lines:
http://www.cbs.state.or.us/external/ins/publications/consumer/annual_complaintreports/2007/complaint_stats-2007.pdf
BTW- they do stats every 2 years here. Just fuel for the fire... :twisted:
InsTeacher 8)
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