by ashleys1221 » Sun Dec 20, 2009 08:23 pm
Our dishwasher broke and has leaked water under the house in the crawl space. We found this out when we noticed our kitchen floor buckling. There is mold in the crawl space and it has spread to our kitchen cabinets (which we have been told can happen in less than a week's time). Our claim is being denied because it excludes seepage and they are saying the water leak has been going on for too long but can't give me a time frame for "too long". Why isn't this covered - we reported the problem right away.
Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 10:50 pm Post Subject:
You probably have an exclusion against gradual deterioration claims, which is what this essentially is. first step for you is to get a formal decline letter from the insurer stating the specific reason for their decline of the claim. Once you have this you can look at challenging the decision
Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 03:03 am Post Subject:
Just to be clear: You say that within a "week" of the dishwasher "breaking", you noticed the cabinets and floor? Or that you finally noticed the leak. How old is the dishwasher and was the cause of the malfunstion ever determined? Take heidrek's advice and get the reason. I had a case last winter where a dishwasher leaked and caused some similar damage. Originally, the insurer denied coverage, but the manufacturer covered the damage because of the applicance failed.
Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 04:00 am Post Subject:
I've had companies cover these all of the time...as long as the damage was hidden until like in this case the floors started to buckle. Now if the major damage or problem should have been found then they usually were denied. It really is a carrier based choice of how they handle.
Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 01:43 pm Post Subject:
A seal on the dishwasher pump broke and caused water to leak under the house. Not sure when it started but we noticed the problem when our floor was buckling and mold was in our cabinets. I have a cake business and cook dinner every night for my family, so the mold obviously was spreading fast because I would have noticed it in my cabinets and drawers right away. So basically, the cause of all this was the pump on the dishwasher going bad.
Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 03:09 pm Post Subject:
Although mold can develop fast, it never just appears one day, especially in a place like a cabinet that gets used frequently. Not saying that is what happened in your case, but it seems abnormal to me. How old is the dishwasher? Is it still under warranty? The pump seal failure was the problem for this recent claim and the manufacturer covered the damage.
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