Re: Insurance Adjuster leaves us in black mold

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Dear Mary,

RemDude's advice to two senior female tenants caught in a mold
situation, is all wet. There appears to be a legitimate reason
he does not post under his real name.

Claims adjusters DO have responsibility to properly adjust
their insureds' claims in a manner that no third party (that's
you) is harmed by any bad faith claims handling practices by
the employees of the insurer.

Join Sickbuildings. People who use their real names when
sharing information will help to point you in the right
direction.

Sharon Kramer

On 11/04/10, Rem Dude wrote:
> Yours is a common situation. Unfortunately, it is not the
> responsibility of the insurance adjuster to test for mold or
> even inform you that mold may be a problem. This
> responsibility falls on the homeowner/tenant.
>
> To file a claim, you need to find a competent mold
> investigator to document the cause, the extent of the mold
> damage and the scope of work necessary to remove the mold.
> Then, you file a claim with your insurer to cover the cost
> of cleanup.
>
> Then, you will need two or more bids from mold remediation
> contractors to perform the work as outlined by the
> inspector. It is always a good idea to call the initial
> investigator back after the work has been performed to
> ensure everything was done properly.
>
> You may be able to find a mold investigator at IAQA.org
> Make sure they are qualified (5 or more years in the
> industry), have a clean BBB record, and are insured.
>
> Your challenge will be that the insurer already performed
> cleanup on the mold. You will have to document that the
> effort was not up to industry standards.
>
> RD
>
> On 11/03/10, Mary Jensen wrote:
>> Sears sold two female senior citizens a water and ice
>> maker frig 5 yrs ago. My mother now 87 yr old. The cheap
>> plastic tube burst as they do. The cheap plastic is known
>> to burst. Sears never informed us of the problem or told
>> us to get copper pipes.
>>
>> The hose burst dumping over 1,000 gallons of water within
>> 20 hrs. into the basement bedrooms. Farmers insurance
>> adjusters did not inform us we now had a black mold
>> growing as it took them 4 days to appraise. They cut a
>> piece of carpet out of the 2nd flooded bedroom to anylyze.
>> Told me they would pay for new carpet and pad. But they
>> allowed $3.56 to remove moldy carpet, $3. for new carpet
>> pad, $50. on carpeting. The black mold was growing right
>> by the door. Never informed me. Could not find people to
>> remove black mold carpet. Someone from Farmers called a
>> disaster team. Told them I was to go into the mold room to
>> remove contents as they had paid the property owner $60.00
>> to do this. The same adjuster also paid $80. to launder
>> clothes telling me to wash them for the property owner he
>> lives out of town). I was already sick by this time. A
>> handy man was helping me. He kept insisting moisture was
>> behind the wall. Adjuster ignored him. Handy man came back
>> with a meter after the adjusters left moisture was behind
>> the wall. Everyone in the house got sick. Black mold is
>> dangerous ifeel violated.