A Story - Phoenix Business Group

Phoenix Business Group
Consumer Advocacy Services

What You See Is Not Always The Whole Story

There is a home in Los Angeles. It's a nice home, not a spectacular one, in a middle class neighborhood. The home survived the initial Northridge Earthquake and the aftershocks. No one was hurt.

The owners (a retired professional couple), and their children, a son and a daughter (both adults, both well educated professionals), looked over the property. The house seemed intact. To make sure there was no "serious" damage, they called out the city building inspector. They were assured the house was safe. It was green tagged.

There were a few small cracks in the interior walls and ceiling, some squeaking floors, a few doors and windows stuck, some cracks in the chimney, outside stucco, and concrete. One pretty good sized crack in a concrete fence between their property and the neighbor's. Nothing "major". They figured it might cost a few thousand dollars to fix. The deductible on their insurance policy was $15,000. They had no claim.

More than a year later, after some leaks developed during the heavy rains in early 1995, the couple called a contractor out. After a thorough inspection was completed, it turned out that the "minor", visible, damages were just the tip of the iceberg.

Total repair costs: more than $150,000.

There are thousands of similar stories still being played out in the LA area.
Over 400,000 claims were made after the Northridge Quake.
Close to 100,000 properties have been inspected (only a portion of those that were damaged) and green tagged in LA county alone since
January 17, 1994.

Our story continues...

Once the insureds were told their damage exceeded their deductible, they immediately contacted their insurer to make a claim. The insurer denied the claim, stating the people had waited too long to make the claim.

NOTE:
Insurers often deny claims for this reason,
even when they have no right to do so.
Most consumers aren't aware of this.

The owners were understandably disappointed. How would they be able to absorb this loss? It was suggested they contact one of the Public Adjusters we refer. The Public Adjuster contacted the insurer and, in this case, was able to get them to change their mind.

In many cases, insurers improperly refuse to change their mind. At such times other steps may be taken.

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