A question about : Beware Loss Assessors/Adjusters IMPORTANT ADVICE
Having experience helping other bomb victims in Northern Ireland. We have learned valuable experience that could save poor flood victims heaps of dosh at the very least! Please pass on this info to anyone you know affected.
Loss Adjusters work for the insurance company's best interests - not yours.
Loss Assessors are supposed to work for your best interests but frequently they work as adjusters on occasions and have effectively 'sold their souls'.
When they come into your house/premises, DO NOT let them get away with saying ok this room would be sorted for say Ј900.This is giving a global figure which will later be knocked down.
DO Itemise everything individually and assess the cost.
Also don't be tempted to tell lies or embelish values. Adjusters can 'hint' that the process works by you inflating the claim and they knock it down. Everyone looks good and gets what they want.
Wrong.
Its a trick. If you lie they can later prove this and you will face a criminal charge.
BE HONEST AND EXACT.
Record, document everything and keep originals.
Often the adjuster will approve something on the phone and later you have no proof when they deny it. GET IT IN WRITING.
Take photos/video of your home as soon as possible, it will help document what you have lost.
Lastly DO NOT BE AFRAID TO GO TO COURT. The judge will make the insurance company do what is REASONABLE.
Please anyone if you have important tips, add it to this thread and warn people. Remember
BE HONEST
BE EXACT
RECORD EVBERYTHING IN WRITING & KEEP COPIES
Good luck.
Best answers:
- We have found after everyone is safe the most important thing to protect/salvage are photos.They are so often irreplaceable and priceless.
I used to visit towns here that were bombed (at my own expense) and literally chase these loss adjusters away from people - sometimes elderly, who were stood crying on the street looking at devastation in their homes. This is when these r@ts get people to sign things!Not the right time for a considered approach.
I would also urge anyone to secretly record these adjusters/assessors. OK its not admissible on court but it can be shown on TV if the worst comes to the worst.
Please take this advice seriously. - Why is it that when something like this happens people automatically come down on the people who are trying to help get the situation sorted more quickly than it may otherwise be?
Yes, there may be a very small minority of dodgy adjusters/assessors but in most cases when they are employed by a reputable insurance company they will be working to ensure that the most reasonable outcome is achieved.
Their job is to assess the damage, and to asses what may be salvageable and the insurance company will then settle the claim based on their input AND YOURS if you are not satisfied with their views. Don't just brush them off as the more difficult you make things for them, the longer it may take for your claim to be settled if you are being obstructive.
JM - No. You are wrong, yes there are some that are good but it is a system that is inherently flawed. I can explain why. The adjusters and assessors are paid according to a scale of fees which encourages them
1. to downgrade your entitlement
2. to encourage you to settle for what you are properly entitled to properly re-instate your losses because it would take more effort for them than is worth it on the scale of fees for their own reimbursement and I am not talking about an inflated claim.
I am sorry, I have worked with hundreds of claimants for free as part of a self help group , the advice I have given has been hard earned. Why telling people to be truthful, exact and get it in writing offends you is beyond me!!! This is not being obstructive.
If you are saying not to worry about these things you are endangering people by leaving them wide open to a system inherently flawed. Families do and have broken up over things this. It can be awful not being able to put your home together again. the stress can be unbearable especially when an adjuster has told you "go right ahead dear and replace that £1,000 carpet" and then denies it later. I have seen couples shouting at each other over exactly that.
All my advice does is give them some protection.It's only obstructive to getting conned.
I can only think your post is borne out of either ignorance or you are compromised by being related to an adjuster.
My family had our business blown up years ago and the pressure on my parents was horrendous trying to reinstate their losses. This advice would have saved many years heart break. (They slipped up by accepting global figures). I feel strongly about this because I have seen and investigated the system over the years. Don't knock something because you don't like to hear something unpleasant. I was trying to save families going through what mine did. - I still think that its dangerous to phrase things in the way that you have. In no way did I tell people not to have their own records and to just hand things over for the adjuster/assessor but they must have their own views and be prepared to get these across to both the insurance company and whomever has been sent out to look into their claim.
And for info, not all adjusters are paid according to a scale, and not all are working to 'disadvantage' the insured. As I have said before if they are working for a reputable insurance company then they are working to resolve the claim as quickly and as fairly for both sides as possible.
It's probably not worth keep going backwards and forwards, think we'll need to agree to disagree on this one, but for info its neither ignorance nor being 'compromised' by being related to an assessor that has prompted my post, more the fact that your post has basically said don't trust the people who are going to be paying out the money to replace your things. People need to make sure that they keep in control of the process at all times but there has to be an element of trust otherwise the whole situation will drag on for longer than is necessary.
JM - Good advice has come from BOTH of you and that's exactly what is needed here for any victims, or anyone who knows anyone suffering at the moment, thanks that's brilliant
It would seem that this thread has run it's course now, so I will lock it. If either of you disagree with that decision then please feel free to report in the correct manner, thankyou.
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