Recently I had a conversation with a very special woman. In that conversation, she made a suggestion of placing a time line in my email to the insurance commissioner. Yes, we have gone that far! Not what I had hoped but where we are at.
As I continue to obtain yet another quote, I am finding this is not as easy as I had hoped. On Monday I did have what I pray will be the last contractor come to our home for measurements and photos in preparation for his quote! Now we are back to the waiting game. One week for the completed quote and one week for SF's yes or no.
As I wrote out the time line...all 6 pages...I saw this whole ordeal in a different light! Wow...I am a patient woman! My children may not agree with that statement. What I did leave out was my emotions during all this...at least I tried to leave them out. The anger, bitterness, moments of feeling abandoned, the fatigue due to the hours of searching and sitting with the contractors in order to come up with an accurate quote. Maybe the disruption to our family...the very large family! Plans put on hold because I couldn't have extra people in the house due to the condition of our kitchen. There is a little word called "Liability" that keeps swimming in my head. The time I have been stuck as I walked barefoot on our kitchen floor, the one that is now plywood with vinyl debris. Or the counter top that now just balances on two base cabinets and a dishwasher...leaving the side of that dishwasher and underneath the sink exposed. Maybe how the contents of those cabinets are now living in my dining room in rubber maid containers and floor.
Without further ado....A little long but worth what's at the end!
Kitchen Claim 2014...Week 12 and counting!
We contacted our State Farm agent early March of 2014, concerning water damage from a leak at the dishwasher line. An appointment was made with an claim adjuster
The SF adjuster showed up several hours ahead of scheduled time with no warning.
3/11 received first State Farm Claim estimate
Discovered a huge mistake and called SF adjuster to notify him of the mistake...$ for a new refrigerator. We were advised to destroy the check. A new one would be issued.
3/17 received new corrected State Farm estimate
Minus previous mistake
Dated letter 3/23... Received letter from SF home office needing documented repairs by 7/13/14
Dated letter 6/6... Received letter from SF home office
Cancelling our insurance because repairs were not made by 7/13
Dated letter 7/11...Received letter from SF home office stating to disregard previous letters.
**** All claims packages have stated that the homeowner has up to two years to make repairs.
Repairs to the water line were made before we even called our SF agent.
6/9 - 6/12 Repairs began. Plumbing disconnected, dishwasher disconnected and removed, Refrigerator removed, stove moved, counter tops removed, 3 base cabinets removed. Vinyl flooring removed and damaged sink based removed from kitchen. Due to the nature of this claim we returned two base cabinets and placed the countertops to rest on said base cabinets and dishwasher. After several days we realized the nature of this claim could not be completed as per our SF adjusters recommendations, we reconnected the dishwasher and plumbing to the sink and returned the refrigerator and stove to the kitchen until further authorization from State Farm.
Due to the condition of the cabinets and SF's instructions SF was contacted. We were told they would need a letter from a contractor stating that said cabinets couldn't be repaired.
6/18 We received Area Decors letter. We were advised the damaged cabinets could not be repaired. The requested letter stated that the cabinets could not be matched. Unitemized amounts were included in the letter.
6/19 Photos and Area Decor's letter was emailed to our SF claim rep.
6/24 Received a 3rd supplement from SF, to our claim package with a check in the amount of $4243.98. $352.30 less than amounts on Area Decor's letter.
Realizing these figures were well below what was needed, I made a call to the SF claim office to advise them that we weren't in agreement with this contractor concerning his quote and that the letter was only meant to be the requested letter stating that the cabinet could not be repaired. I was never given authorization or instructions to obtain cabinet quotes. SF had only approved for the sink base cabinet to be repaired on three sides up until this point.
From 6/24 to sometime the week of July 14th numerous attempts were made to get clarification of the amounts given on the Area Decor letter. During this time we were advised that until clarification was made from Area Decor we could not proceed with submitting other contractor quotes.
Between 7/11 and 7/15 I proceeded to obtain an accurate kitchen quote in hopes that I could get a clearer picture of the cost. It was during this time SF finally decided to throw out Area Decor's letter. I was then given the ok to proceed with obtaining a cabinet and countertop quote. With no guidance from SF that is what I did.
7/15 Home Depot Cabinet measuring
7/16 Home Depot floor measuring
7/26 Received Final quotes from Home Depot for flooring, cabinets and countertops.
7/29 Final Quotes and builder supplements were emailed to SF claim office
7/31 or 8/1... I called SF to follow up on submitted quotes and spoke with a SF team member. Was told they would forward the information to team leader and would call me.
8/4 Spoke with head claim SF team member and was advised that the submitted bid was too high. I could choose to have the original SF adjuster come back out or proceed to get another quote. During the conversation the SF team member stated that SF had dropped the ball on this claim.
At no time were parameters or directions given from SF in searching for quotes.
8/4 SF team member emailed me a list of contractors in my area. Stating we need an unbiased quote.
8/7 Southeast Restoration came to our home for measuring and gaining information for a quote
8/11 Received an emailed quote from Southeast Restoration. Several mistakes were noticed. I called to advise of the mistakes.
8/12 Noticed major measuring mistakes on the SR quote so I emailed them the measures from the SF claim package to compare.
8/12 I personally found a list of 6-7 contractors for my area. I proceeded to call down the list. 4 of the 5 numbers listed were no longer working numbers.
8/12 - 8/14 Several attempts...2 phone calls and a couple of emails noting the mistakes... were made to get clarification and corrections made on the quote.
8/14 One last email was sent to Southeast Restoration with my concerns of no response to the emails or phone calls.
8/15 I received a corrected quote from Southeast Restoration.
8/18 We had another company come to our home for yet another quote. Was told it would be Friday 8/22 before we would receive their quote
Hmm...I wonder what my whole life would look like in a time line? Would I see my God in a different light? Would I see how He has fought for me and placed just the right people in my life for my good? Would I see how very patient He has been with me? Loving me always even when I didn't deserve it. Waiting for me to get my act together and submit to His will not mine. Would I see that His timing is perfect...never late and never early!? Would I see that no matter how many plans I had for my life, His were always so much better!? That through the pain of life He brought beauty and Joy.
I know I can not make time stand still or speed up. I can not go back or skip over. However I can step back and look at my life as a whole and say ...."Yes...My God is good!"
"He knows what's best for me and I will follow!"
37 years of growing and learning to be a great big family!
