Nationwide

[tmdry]

Just spreading the word...

Nationwide is a PITA of a company to work with (And I have all my business and auto ins thru them which I'm highly thinking of going to another ins co but that's for another time).

They will not pay for overtime or afterhours (spoke to 2 other preferred vendors about this), that I had referred some work to, and they both told me they will not work on the weekends of past 5 pm as they both said Nationwide will not pay for overtime/after hours (learned this the hard way on my last job w/ them).

Also, if you plan on getting a PODS or any other type of container/storage initially for your flood job, first find out if there is a content restoration co in your area that one does content restoration/moving of contents into their own facility, this makes life much easier so you don't have to work around all the contents. If you do get a PODS, they'll ask for a CC # to be on file, make sure to get the homeowner to agree to put their own card on file if the homeowner wants to keep belongings in the PODS AFTER you are finished w/ the job. I've learned this the hard way, as I am now on the 4th month of having to pay for the container and Nationwide wants PODS to "bill them" an invoice, but PODS will not work that way (only us contractors would offcourse). Now I have to wait to who knows when till their "preferred" vendor is done w/ the repairs on the home.

I have gotten reimbursed for the monthly expense, but it is very annoying as I am no longer on the job, and the homeowner is very hard to get a hold of since he travels quite a bit. Ins co will still not put a company CC on file, and wants the HO to do it.

We have both a work authorization/insurance agreement form stating the homeowner authorizes their insurance company to mail us a check directly made out to our company name only. They'll mail us the check but still put the homeowners name on it (this is a mitigation only too). Today they've told me that agreement form is between us and the homeowner, not Nationwide. I've worked w/ many adjusters from many diff ins co's, I thought Travelers was a pain in the a**...but these people r beyond that.

Just my .02 cents.

 

[Mark Saiger]

They flew in a couple years ago to get me on their preferred vendor program. Told the guy he was wasting his time. He came in and after his pitch I told him no. I asked all the questions such as what you are experiencing and who would review invoices and water log/documents. All untrained people.

Have a nice flight home!

Thanks Bill again for another reminder.....

Mark Saiger

 

[dealtimeman]

If you don't need the money right now just hold out they will pay!

They are right that agreement is between the homeowner and yourself, so charge the homeowner and have the insurance company reimburse the homeowner. The whole we ------- insurance company don't pay this or that is hogwash. I just tell them I will charge the homeowner and they can argue with them. Remind them that it is bad not to retain a policy after a mitigation payout as someone else will have to fill that insurance pool.

Do you get mad or upset when a police officer gives you a ticket when you were speeding?

An adjuster job is to attempt to save the insurance co money, that simple!


Just tell him or her "I understand that this is your job to cut my bill down here there and anywhere you can, but it is my job to make sure I get payed for the hard worked and honest services I provided so that my family and the families of my employees have food on the table and clothes to wear. So while I respect your position I ask you to respect mine. Thank you for your time"

If that doesn't work just charge the customer and the insurance company must reimburse the policy owner unless something in the policy states they do t have to.

 

[Hoody]

If you don't need the money right now just hold out they will pay!

They are right that agreement is between the homeowner and yourself, so charge the homeowner and have the insurance company reimburse the homeowner. The whole we ------- insurance company don't pay this or that is hogwash. I just tell them I will charge the homeowner and they can argue with them. Remind them that it is bad not to retain a policy after a mitigation payout as someone else will have to fill that insurance pool.

Do you get mad or upset when a police officer gives you a ticket when you were speeding?

An adjuster job is to attempt to save the insurance co money, that simple!


Just tell him or her "I understand that this is your job to cut my bill down here there and anywhere you can, but it is my job to make sure I get payed for the hard worked and honest services I provided so that my family and the families of my employees have food on the table and clothes to wear. So while I respect your position I ask you to respect mine. Thank you for your time"

If that doesn't work just charge the customer and the insurance company must reimburse the policy owner unless something in the policy states they do t have to.

Awesome post Michael!

Early on I would often get frustrated with an adjuster and I learned it was not worth the additional stress. You stated very professional responses and often you can kill them with kindness. Also the fact is they are use to many companies simply changing the invoice to agree with them to save face. Letting them know you are going to make the homeowner aware that there will be additional out of pocket expenses in a professional way will often change their mind of paying or not.

Something else to consider if you are quick with Xactimate or your billing is to show the cost of drying vs replacement to show the money being saved, and also justify the extra hours to prevent secondary damage which would cause a need of replacement on top of the attempt to save with drying. So you could say you're paying me xxx.xx "extra" to realistically save xxxx.xx in replacement.

 

[tmdry]

Thanks Michael,

I'm a small company growing in pieces and the $ was payed to us in 24 hours but by day charges only. Which I was fine with since I had to pay many people as well (and they all wanted their share as well).

On this particular loss, I decided to just do the mitigation as the Adjuster told the insured that Nationwide contractors NEVER pick up any money upfront from the insured (deductible), and the insured will never have a bill or any money out of pocket prior to any payments made to him....ridiculous. We were planning on going w/ the rebuild which we estimated (w/ progress payments to be done in a month or less). I was told by my flooring guy that the contractor is behind on the work and still has not finished the drywall work @ the job site....that same "preferred" vendor took a month to start work after we were done w/ the dryout. I wonder if he's really behind or it's the ins co delaying his own payments.

No one works for free.

They are now @ 5 months into this and still have not completed the work.

 

[dealtimeman]

Bill, that happens all of the time to us.

In the state of texas if the adjuster told the whole - use our preferred contractor you won't have to pay any money out of pocket. I would immediately call the adjuster and tell him I am going to report him to the state for conflict of interest and unlawful practices. That will straighten them out quick. It is up to you if actually call the attorney general and file a complaint but this is the only way things are going to change.

Adjusters are not ( by law in the state of texas) allowed to refer a company they have any sort of agreement with, wether direct or third party like preferred service providers or kickback programs.

Spend time with your customers educating them on exactly how the whole process will go. That way when they talk to the adjuster they are armed with the knowledge you implanted in them and they are not going in blind into something they have maybe never dealt with before.

I love it when the property owner calls me back and says " they tried to get me to use there service provider like you said, but I told him we were going to stick with lcs, we appreciate you walking us through this" these type of experiences will make you cheerleaders and get you referrals for a lifetime.

Instead of making the experience a whole negative, do you best to flip it into a positive. One of the bigger green company's slogan is like it never happened.

I like the slogan " better than before it happened" and this happens with the rebuild. We try to offer upgraded flooring, trim and or fixtures that make it more into a remodel than a water damage restoration project and carries more value even if the property owner comes out of pocket to do the difference between what was covered and the upgrades.

 

[tmdry]

Thanks Michael.

I do tell them and educate them prior to them filling a claim and or the adjuster arriving at the loss. So they are fully prepared if that comes up. On this particular job, the adjuster showed up w/ her rebuild contractor while my guys were on the job site working. She said those things to the client right infront of me when I said I picked up the deductible...and she had this shocked stare and said to the homeowner right infront of me "the deductible is taken from the content not the mitigation, our mitigation contractors never take the deductible upfront".

I had already prepped the client about what could happen, but since she basically told him that he did not have to make any progress payments to us because of the "preferred" guys get paid directly, he decided to go w/ their contractor instead (for the rebuild).

That was 3 months ago, and I already got paid, it's just he PODS BS that I have to keep getting charged and they take a good few weeks to reinburse me but still keep putting the client's name on the check for $450 bucks each time, the client is always out of town on work, it's just a pain in the ass w/ this one adjuster.

 

[Mark Saiger]

I don't know how many times and with different adjusters and companies clients were told if they do not use the preferred vendor there was a good chance the claim would not be paid! Just a way for a lazy company adjuster able to lighten their work load.

I finally got tired of it and just gonna watch it all from the sidelines for awhile. Only doing small losses and billing the homeowner as soon as work is compete. Sent xactimate file and invoice to homeowner via email last week and told them I was doing a cc of the information to the adjuster in the same email. Thank you and forward payment to listed address.

Done working around adjusters and large loss problems.

 

[KeithCo]

Good thing Richard will be spending hours on this topic at that fest thing.

 

[Desk Jockey]

 

[The Great Oz]

I'd recommend you shop for insurance elsewhere, as only e-surance has a poorer record of taking care of customers than Nationwide. Nationwide is a company that will quote their own price book for values. Basically, they make stuff up and then quote "The Book." Their adjusters will laugh and say, "sue us" if you disagree with this methodology. They'll laugh again if you seem surprised or angry at how little they care.


A finacial adviser once said, "A good financial institution sells their record, a bad one sells emotion. Always avoid any bank, insurance company, or brokerage that sells their service using cute commercials. The cuter the commercial, the worse the company's record, and in any finacial transaction, the bottom liine is all that matters."