On today’s Troubleshooters, a woman wants to know how an insurance adjuster could look at the damage Hurricane Harvey did to her garage, then write in his report ‘no peril related damage observed to elevation at time of inspection.’
The woman who lives at the house says she works in law enforcement, so out of concern for her safety, and that of her family, she’s asked that we not show her face or mention her name.
She says Harvey blew this tree onto her garage, and she can’t get anyone to help her get it off and rebuild her garage.
She says she’s had to figure out a way to keep electricity running to her garage because she still needs to use her washer and dryer.
An insurance adjuster wrote on an inspection report of the damage to the woman’s property "no peril related damage observed to elevation at time of inspection."
To which the woman told us "alot of contractors don’t want to do the small. They want to go for the major money."
The summary submitted to the woman for the damages to not only her home, but a car port as well, about $1000.00 total.
The car port, by the way, sits directly in front of the garage.
Thomas Holbein, a contractor, referred to the homeowner, by her insurance company, offers this perspective about what he calls ‘a third party adjuster.’
"He minimized the claim. He minimized the damage, and he kept her claim under 50% of her policy by leaving the garage out of it."
The way he sees it, the woman now has to appeal for what’s right, to cover the rest of the damages.
He figures it’ll take another 30-60 days for this one.
The woman says she and her family have lived here nearly 20 years.
She also told the Troubleshooters she wants Texas Windstorm Insurance to give her enough money to have the tree cut down. The garage demolished and rebuilt.
And electricity and plumbing services restored.
We called Texas Windstorm Insurance this afternoon. They said it would be inappropriate to comment based on privacy concerns, but they will reach out to the woman and decide what to do after that.
