House fire - experience with ins adjusters?

[zeitgeist57]

Over the weekend, we had a basement candle fire that lit some plastic shelving. Everyone is OK and hardly any water/structural damage, but the SMOKE/SOOT got into everything throughout our entire house, up to the attic: estimates are shocking to me just in cleanup, let alone the clothes/electronics/appliances that are already being written off.

 

I've had a great relationship with All-Ohio Insurance and my provider is Cincinnati Insurance, but the adjuster is a wierd bird who even the ServiceMaster and construction guys thought had never done a fire case before. I'm worried since she is my "gatekeeper" to our insurance claim, that she might muck stuff up; slow down the process, or not properly cover insured losses.

 

Looking for anyone with insurance experience - or who has gone through a fire in their home - who can advise me on what I should be wary of to protect my interests in this process. Given sensitivity of details, please feel free to PM me also. Any help is appreciated. Thanks! :thumbup:

[Sledhead36]

Call my buddy Tom Romero, he specializes in this stuff 432-2100

[ForeverMaker]

Did the FD come out? Is that why there is water damage?

[mrs.cos]

Is the adjuster the tall blond lady?

[zeitgeist57]

Call my buddy Tom Romero, he specializes in this stuff 432-2100

 

Left VM, dude already called me back. Sending him an email...

 

Did the FD come out? Is that why there is water damage?

 

Yep. FD found the fire and put it out with a watering can. Not a big fire/heat, but tons of black, oily petrochemical smoke.

 

Is the adjuster the tall blond lady?

 

Not tall, not blonde.

[RS69]

Clay,

 

I had an issue at my rental property and used servicemaster and they did a good job. Our old oil furnace had an issue and got black oily smoke all over all. I worked with James Fedor at ServiceMaster, he can be reached at 800 599 9198.

[BBQdDude]

Got burned out of an apartment when I was 20.

 

Renters insurance suuucked. For your damage they will have a company come in and "clean" any furniture and carpets. Pretty standard stuff.

[datsunissan28]

I train property insurance adjusters.

 

Is your furnace in the basement? If so and it kicked on at all they should be cleaning all the ductwork. I wouldn't be too worried about the damage to the house/cleaning as the adjuster will probably work off service master's estimate. The damage to contents is usually where you get screwed over. Get a good inventory of all the nonsalvagable contents regardless if you plan to replace them. You are still owed the actual cash value of every single item.

[Bigbird]

If Tom Romero doesn't take care of all of your issues, I work at SEA Ltd. We do a lot of fire investigation and deal with insurance people on a daily basis. I don't actually deal with any of that, I do safety testing on candles (should have trimmed your wick and not left it unattended ), but I can get in touch with people that might be able to answer questions for you.

[Richard Cranium]

With my property damage claim last summer between the contractor I hired to fix the house and myself we were able to push through everything we needed to. I just kept after them and submitted bills for damage repairs. They put up some fight when I wanted the attached garaged re-roofed with the house. In the end they paid out on all but about $500 of the total. Just keep pestering them, they'll probably end up doing it your way.

 

BTW, I used Puroclean for my water damage cleanup. They were great. You might call them out and get a second estimate. Assuming they come in at a similar number it will be harder for your insurance company to balk at two independent estimates.