You may or may not remember. Spring time of 2007 the atlanta area had a string of very bad storms that produced damaging winds and sporatic hail damage. My home was located in the path of one of these hail cells.

The storm produced quarter and nickel sized hail that pelted our house for nearly an hour and we lost several trees due to the high wind and lightning. We also had water damage come through the ceiling ruining sheetrock, carpet and base boards. The water moisture also caused some mold that I didn't discover until a couple of months later.  As a matter of fact, i believe the government declared a large part of the area as a natural disaster and granted funds for the damage.

I called three different roofing companies to come out and assess the damage from the storm. The home is only 5 years old and to the untrained eye hail damage doesn't necessarily pop out at you right away. All three roofing companies validated my concern of hail damage and provided me with pictures and an estimated cost for repair.

Like many of the home owners in the Atlanta area I waited until after the dreadful heat of the summer to pass before calling my Allstate insurance company. The conversation with the claims department was fantastic. The Allstate customer service people seemed genuinly concerned about my home and assured me that they would help us in every way possible. I was pleasantly surprised with the customer service that was portrayed during my initial phone call.

Unfortunately, the service stopped there. The Allstate adjuster calls me to schedule a time and day to assess the damage. The day of the adjuster finally calls 4 hours after his scheduled arrival time to tell us that he isn't going to be able to make it because he lives across town. I was a little irritated but, it's okay I understand that sometimes people can't always keep to a schedule that they've committed to.

2 weeks go by and the Allstate adjuster arrives at our house. I offer to show him the three estimates and photos that was given to me by the roofing companies that had already come out. He said that he had absolutely no interest in seeing the photos but did glance at the bottom line for the repairs. With an arrogant snicker he tells us that there is no way that Allstate would come close to paying that much for our roof and we would be lucky to get half of what the other roofing estimates were. I explained to him (just in case he was unaware) that we have Architural shingles and that is probably why the price was more than he expected. It is my understanding that the insurance company would repair your home with the same material that was damaged and not a lesser material. He replies again with an arrogant "hmm". I proceed to show him the water damage throughout our house and he takes pictures and notes on everything, the mold, the sheet rock, the bubbling base boards and the damaged carpet.  I ask him if he's going to get up on the roof to check out the hail damage and was told "no, we don't do that". I said, ok, well do you want these pictures that I have from the roofers that did get up on the roof (that also included photos of the gutters full of shingle rocks). Again, I was told "no", "the roofing companies just want to make money so they'll say anything". He did go out side and walk around the house which took him approximately a minute and a half. I wonder what he was thinking with virtually every house on my street had a roofing company putting new roofs on that day. When he comes back to the door he tells me he's going to work on the numbers and call us with the details.

The next day we get a phone call from our Allstate adjuster. He tells me that after his thorough assessment he's determined that there is no evidence of any hail damage and as far as the water damage done inside the house from the roof that wasn't damaged he estimates a couple hundred dollars to paint over the sheetrock, and bubbling base board and mold and carpet cleaner to rid us of the nasty discoloration of our carpet (which incidentally is in our 3 year old sons room). I asked him if he thought the carpet pad could use replacing from the water damage and was told "No, the damage is only at the surface of the carpet". My deductible is $1000.00 so basically they were offering NOTHING.

WOW! I couldn't believe it. I called Allstate to report the negligence that we received and low and behold the friendly voices that we received during our initial call had disappeared. I ran into brick wall after brick wall.

 

Allstate insurance offers low prices for their homeowners insurance. I've litterally sent hundreds of past clients to them because of the resonable rates. But, at what cost. What good is low rates if Allstate is not going to be there when you need them. I feel like such a fool for ever recommending them in the first place.

Furthermore, I have a rental property that is literally one street over from my house, approximately 15 houses away. I have a Statefarm homeowners policy on that house. I did pay more for that policy but, when I called Statefarm, my insurance agent met me out there at the house along with the insurance adjuster and a roofer. The adjuster actually gets on the house and spends about 3 hours assessing the damage (the rental house is half the size of my primary house). At the end of the 3 hours the adjuster cuts us a check minus our deductible and the repairs were underway. Thank you Ann Sullivan, State Farm Insurance.

Maybe Allstate is unaware of the fact that when someone sells there house it is required by law to disclose anything and everything that has happened to the property and what efforts have been made for repairs. This guys paint over tactic is clearly a health hazard and a disclosure issue. I wonder how many other Allstate customers have received the paint over treatment. How many unsuspecting buyers have bought homes unaware of issues like this.

 

 

 
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