This Mom's Guide

State Farm pulled a shady thing and coached us to get denied. State Farm wanted a letter to investigate. Here is the copy of the letter. Full names have been deleted for privacy purposes. You choose if the neighbor you want is State Farm after reading what happened to us. Hopefully they will do the right thing in their investigation and I can again believe in them and their motto of “Like A good Neighbor, State Farm Is there.”    Pictures Below of Before and After.

May 26, 2011

In April we had a week of storms. It had insane sideways rains, record breaking winds here by the lake, and flooding everywhere in our county (fortunately no flooding here). I was sitting here on the main floor of our colonial home and I heard water pouring in through the living room wall, through the outlet, through the cracks of the window frame (but the interior part). I quickly called State Farm 800 #. They directed to me to the preferred vendor here in our area for help.

I called them, and immediately they came out tarped the deck above, looked at the shingles and gutters both which were fine. I filed a claim in the morning through my agent and somehow it got claimed under Catastrophic. A rep would be out the following week to look at the damage. I spoke to reps in Dallas who told me to dry it out with the company, and to take lots of pictures since no rep from State Farm could come out right away. The company cut out all wet dry wall out to dry out the walls and to prevent mold growth, took the trims off, pulled the carpet off the tacking and set up drying equipment. They saw no evidence of long term damage or that this had happened prior once the walls were cut away.

My first Catastrophic Rep did not show up on the day scheduled, I found out later that he had been transferred down south to the tornado damaged areas. About a week later, Tyron, an Adjuster working for State Farm called. He said he could fit me in May 26^th (almost 6 weeks out from the damage) in the mean time no work of discovery was to be done till he could come out. I said that was a long time. He said look I have 1400 claims in your area. I have a guy with a hole in his wall and I can’t see him for 4 weeks, I’ll let you know if I can fit you in sooner.

It never leaked during normal rains, only when sideways rain happened. Somehow, water was coming in. The contractor was unsure if it was from the kickplate, the deck, the door, or the siding got damaged in the last ice storm that hit us or if the repeated high winds had caused some breach and when the first real bad storm blew in, it came in. He needed to do discovery.

About five days ago a man name Dwayne from Dallas in State Farm called to confirm we were to have Tyron out this Thursday. I explained everything above, also stated that everyone was surprised to were listed under Catastrophic. He said. “Don’t say that to Tyron. It could cause another delay.” He told me do not mention Kick plate because that could be considered standing water. He said, “Make sure you say Storm Damage and Wind Driven Rain to him.” He mentioned the door would be probably needed to be taken off and maybe the siding. He was very nice and helpful and truly seemed to care, so I decided to tell the adjuster exactly that when he arrived on Thursday. He left me the phone number of the Dallas Office.

Tyron was supposed to arrive at 8am to meet myself and the contractor. At 7:58am he called to say he was going to be an hour late. My contractor left, and then returned at 9am. At 9:30am Tyron finally arrived. Not apologetic, but pleasant. The contractor said, “Wow you are younger than I thought.” Tyron said, “I am older than you think, I am 42!” We were all surprised and then he said, “Nah I am 27.” Then my husband said to him, “It was nice to meet you Tyrell but I must get back to work.” Tyron made a face but did not correct my husband on the name mistake. I thought great we are off to a wonderful beginning. We took the tour, he barely spoke to the contractor about the situation at hand. He took pictures and asked me questions. He then told my contractor and me he had been away from his family for two months. He had two daughters. He also told me he studied Architecture, and other subjects, and got a degree in Economics. It was weird almost like he wanted to prove he had qualifications. My contractor told him he helped State Farm at one time as an adjuster a long time ago for about a month down south. This seemed to put him more at ease.

At the end of the tour, I mentioned those dreaded words, “Wind Driven Rain”. He whipped opened the policy and said well we don’t cover that. Sorry. The claim is denied. Almost as if he was waiting for those words. He knew the exact page of the policy to show me it. It felt like a set up. My Contractor said wait a minute, that may be how it came in but that is not what caused it. He felt that the last ice storm we had built up on the door and did something to it, and then when we had the first real spring storms with up to 70mph gusts and sideways rain, the issue was exposed to come in. But he needed to do discovery to be sure. Tyron said well ice damage is covered, but that was a long time ago. This storm had wind driven rain not ice, so still no claim will be paid. My contractor said this is not right. This is not existing issue of years, this is not a craftsmanship issue, this is sudden and accidental. Tyron said a tree coming through the house is sudden and accidental not rain. Tyron mentioned the water damage on the floor of second floor. Myself and the contractor both said that was old damage from leaving the door open years ago when they laid the floor during a rain, there was no evidence it did anything to our home beyond the finish of the floor. The contractor said you can see for yourself that the frame underneath is fine, if that had been a problem there would have been evidence of mold, but there was nothing, not even on the drywall. Tyron’s response was well I don’t know that to be fact. He said the only evidence he found was a small hole in the siding in one spot. He said that would not be wind driven because my shingles were fine on my roof. I told him that roof was redone last year. How did he know something didn’t hit the house from the 70mph gusts and caused that, he said I don’t. He said if I had a tree come in my house and then it rained, State Farm would have covered it.

At that moment my husband came down and heard all of this and became very upset. He said I have paid State Farm tens of thousands of dollars and this claim of maybe 3-4K is going to be the reason State Farm loses that for the future. Tyron looked at him and said State Farm is in the business of paying claims sir. My husband had to walk away. Tyron looked at our contractor and said I am sure you understand. My contractor, said I am sorry but I don’t. I believe this is a legitimate claim in the way as ice and winds may had been a factor, I do not know the ins and outs of exclusions of their policy but I am surprised this is denied. I need to do discovery. Tyron saw he was going to get no one to agree with him. Thanked me for being a customer and left (quickly) after seeing I was crying.

I called our local Rep for State Farm and told his secretary everything that happened. She said she would talk to him and she too was surprised we denied. They were going to see how they can help. (I can this office has been wonderful through out these years.) They would get back to me. As of right now nothing yet, I am sure it takes more time.

I do not know why State Farm set our family to fail this claim, whether intentional or not it was wrong. We have spent 6 wks allowing more water to come in because he would not allow discovery. He would not let your “Preferred Vendor” to do his job, nor would he listen to his suggestions of why this has happened. What was the point of having the contractor here? I have been with State Farm since a teenager 19 years ago, I even worked for a summer for your company, because I felt State Farm was reputable company. We have recommended you for years to many families. My husband and I have two Auto Policies, one motorcycle, a house policy and two life insurances. We are 35 years old, meaning we have many years of being your client. The first time we make a claim on our home, this is what we are put through. I am disappointed and honestly disgusted with the whole thing. I have so many other people telling I should go with _____ insurance company because they have never had an issue with their claims and are shocked as well State Farm did this to us.

I will tell you that if this is not resolved, we will take all our business away and make it our life’s mission that everyone knows what transpired. That I can guarantee. We no longer feel we can trust your company. Please help us believe in you again. Thank you in advance for looking into this matter.

Sincerely,

Us

Before and After….

Just an Update: State Farm Corporate got involved from our efforts and our independent agent’s efforts . They too agreed that the Independent Adjuster was incorrect and we were covered. They cut us a check, and the repairs are almost done over three months later. Now they are a neighbor I am watching but not wishing to move away from…

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