re: How bad was State Farm the last few years

The reality is State Farm is among the best in the industry, despite what the folks in this thread are saying.

Here’s an unbiased report on homeowners insurance claims satisfaction…

LINK (JD Power ranking)

They're not the company they were before. I never thought I'd sue my insurer but did with regard to two homes where they grossly underpaid the claims. I have settled one claim and the second is pending. Ridiculous that the claims process has devolved to this point. I think they underpaid with the anticipation many would not pursue legal action. I had to convince my family members to file suit. Had to actually demonstrate the extent of underpayment before they would agree to do so. In both instances State Farm paid about 35-40% of the actual cost of repair. In the future, if they do not change their claims practices, I will not hesitate to immediately pursue legal action.

I’m just saying we can. That’s why it’s important to get a contractor via recommendations rather than google searches and radio ads. Use someone you trust used and had good things to say about.

We just don’t make the homeowner pay us and make themself whole when the check comes in. We wait for the check to come in and then they make us whole. If you have a contractor that can’t float a few thousand before the last payment comes in, you probably shouldn’t have used them in the first place.

quote:

---

"handle every thing for you" Thats a problem also

---

Depending on what contractor you hire, yes, it can be a problem. You hire a honest contractor and they handle it for you, with you informed in the whole process, and make it easier on you and get the most out of your claim. If you hire a door knocker/someone getting you to sign a contract before talking to you in detail about the claim, their business, their insurance and licensing, and the products they use, then you're going to get screwed.

quote:

---

If you give your claim number to a contractor, you might as well give him your check book also, and your credit card. Keep your claim number as secure as your cash

---

Again, depends on the contractor. I'll just use a roof claim again for example.

Say an adjuster comes out and approves you a new roof. Gives you 10K for it (just a random number). So you try and get you a contractor to do your roof done for 10K or less. Well 99% of the time that adjuster missed quite a bit of stuff on your roof, especially State Farm, because their local adjusters (not catastrophe) are the worst. He forgets to add 4 pipe boots, the chimney flashing, drip edge, and did the wrong LF of valley. You as a homeowner don't know that because you don't know how to properly read an estimate and now you have a contractor who is going to cut corners by not replacing things that needed to be replaced or getting your house up to code because he gave a cheap quote. That or you have to pay for the stuff that needs to be replaced out of pocket.

On the other hand, if you go over your paperwork with your contractor, and he explains the things they missed, he can supplement the insurance. So instead of you not getting those things, the insurance is now paying you for what you deserve and you get a better roof. Yes, the job is more expensive, but your contractor is making the insurance pay for it, not you out of pocket.

Your contractor knowing the claim number/see your paperwork allows them to talk to the adjuster and fight for you. That doesn't allow them to get the checks sent directly to them. When you get your final paperwork and check, the contractor should go over everything with you and explain what is what and what he is getting paid for.

I've turned 20k claims into 120k claims because the adjuster sucked so bad and the homeowner let us help them with their claim. Instead of that homeowner getting someone to do some 1/4 of the repairs cheap/shotty fix, they got a completely remodeled exterior, kitchen and bath.

But I know there are a lot of crap contractors out there. There are plenty up here in North LA and I hear so many bad stories I don't know how the company stays in business much less be getting lots of business.

quote:

---

People want to treat all contractors as scum when not all are. They probably had a crappy encounter with one because they chose the one that would eat their deductible, got screwed, and now all contractors are terrible

---

Yep, it gets old. Pretty much all of our business is on referrals so it's fine but for some reason there are people that think every contractor is out to screw them. I honestly don't see how showing me your paperwork so we're on the same page is like giving me your credit card I'm literally trying to get the most out of the insurance for you. Yes, I make money doing the work, but you get better/more improvements to our home.

My brother was on the phone with a customer yesterday calling to see when a good time would be to come pick up the payment for the job. Pretty sizable job. Job is completely done and he's happy with the work. But he's only wanting to pay half because we haven't repaired some water damage he had from a few years ago. We told him we would do that after this job was finished. It had nothing to do with the job we were working on. But he's holding up like 15K because we haven't done the part that isn't even under contract and that we were going to do as a favor.

My brother said well lets get paid for the job we just finished and we'll fix that after. Customer said "Look, I've been around contractors all my life, I know how it goes." Like wtf does that even mean? I guess he's been around contractors since he was a baby. I'm pretty sure it just means that he's been screwing over contractors for years. Ugh.

quote:

---

Wish you were in south LA. Would love to grab lunch one day

---

I know right