Md. Report Faults FEMA for Failing Isabel Victims

October 1, 2004

  • October 4, 2004 at 10:07 am
    isabel one year later says:
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    A whole year of fighting with flood insurance has been awful. How much did these companies save by giving people low
    estimates. I wonder how much blood is on
    their hands. Think I am kidding. How many
    heart attacks or broken homes due to stress since Isabel. Put your self in our
    shoes. Remember it could happen to your family too. May God help you do what is right.

  • October 8, 2004 at 7:40 am
    homeless says:
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    Thank you Mr. Poe for that info. One year
    after Isabel and I can’t get NFIP to even
    answer my email questions. I want in writing why things were not covered. I feel
    like a year of my life has been stolen. I can’t enjoy life because I am so stressed
    worring about if I can afford to live in my
    house. I was not planning on a loan for 30
    years to repair my house. I had 200,000 in
    coverage. I would advise Hurricane Victims to get everything in writing. People can lie on the phone.

  • October 8, 2004 at 12:29 pm
    Roger Poe says:
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    10-8-2004

    My very first hurricane claimant-client (10-4-2004) client in (Leesburg) Florida stated that her adjuster claimed that the water damaged ceilings in her home was not covered because the sheetrock is not part of the structure.

    She has grown increasingly anxious as some form of growth has spread over those same ceilings.

    She called her agent, located in Tavares Florida, who, after she restated to him what the adjuster said, stated ‘sorry, guess you’ll have to live with it’.

    A single phone call to the adjusters’ supervisor cleared that matter up.
    He seemed surprised at the adjuster’s appraisal of the sheetrock issue.

    Also, ruined carpeting, cabinets countertops and scarred (exterior)painted walls were not accounted for in the adjusters summary that was received yesterday. Hmmm…

    My second claimant, in Kissimmee Florida, has (ins. covered) fencing, guttering, interior and exterior painting, AC unit damage that was not noticed by the adjuster. Again, Hmmm…

    A report from The Villages, a retirement type development with approximately 40,000 residents, in Leesburg Florida has multiple reports of lowballing, etc. claim settlement issues.

    Just 1.5 weeks here and it looks like it will be an interesting claim settlement / rebuild experience for many in the months-years ahead.

    Roger Poe
    rogerpoe@acnet.net

  • October 8, 2004 at 1:59 am
    LH says:
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    There are many folks who still aren’t in their homes that aren’t accounted for in the official numbers. There is no way to capture how many folks are living with friends and relatives. I have been living with a friend since Isabel. My home is still a couple of months away from being ready. My contractor is just starting the electrical rough in. I finally decided to start the Review process, it really got to me that for a Replacement Cost policy, I didn’t get that. But the initial call I got to confirm the request didn’t go well. They have requested my file and will review it when received. So I’m waiting on that now.
    There are grey areas, like when you end up having to demolish the house or part of the house , rather than just raise it. There was no problem getting the demolish fee and the new foundation money from the ICC portion. But the repair money was short to begin with, now you have to build all new walls, roof, etc on top of the new foundation. A lot more money than just repair the original damage when that situation occurs.

  • October 9, 2004 at 5:31 am
    Alan Jackson says:
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    I have 19 years experience as a catastrophe adjuster and I am a new lawyer. How can the insurance industry expect their claims to be properly adjusted when they are hiring people off the street to be adjuster? They are giving these people a two day training school and then turning them loose on the public. The industry has worked for years to eliminate field adjusters. They replaced field adjuster with more economical inside telephone adjusters. However, it is impossible to climb a roof over the phone. I really feel sorry for all the people who will have their claims adjusted by these two day trained adjusters.



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