You are Fired (the last act of a customer)

A note before you read this, I have tried to show in this blog what it takes to treat a customer correctly. This is the end result when you do not.


Dear Cynthia Hardy Young et al., Re: Policy US280231363
This letter is to inform you of my intention not to renew my policy with you. This decision is based on the abysmal performance of your company relating to a fire I had at my residence on January 28, 2009 Claim # Z1075870. Some of the things which have frustrated me include the use of incompetent third parties for damage assessment and investigation, which aggravated an already-stressful experience. The hassle of the inefficient claim process took huge quantities of time away from my work and family. The process was further complicated by the fact that I had to contact the adjuster, Chris Nakano numerous times to get the information I needed to create the inventory that the Crawford Company should have handled from start to finish. Furthermore, after the Field Claims Adjuster for Crawford cleared my damaged building for demolition, the restoration company took half of my inventory to the dump. Mr. Brattos (the Adjuster) had already taken a haphazard inventory, but he had issues that forced his removal from the company (with prejudice). This resulted in a loss of documentation regarding my inventory and an inadequate reimbursement for my personal property. Finally, after the dismissal of Mr. Brattos I was forced to waste more time calling supervisors to get Mr. Nakano to contact me. Even when he did, his attitude and deportment were less than professional. Finally, these events have tarnished my child’s name, sullying the reputation of a 7-year old who was wrongly blamed for this disaster. This travesty of a claim process has managed to lose both you and your parent company a customer.
Your third-party Fire Inspector informed me on-site that he could not determine the cause of the fire, but after his investigation was complete, he blamed my 7-year-old son. This conclusion seems unjust and arbitrary, as it was not based on facts uncovered in his investigation, but rather on his assumptions.
I have never had the misfortune to be treated in this manner by any other company. Fires are stressful enough without being mislead about my insurance coverage by a company that touts how fast and fair they are. It is my opinion that a complete review of the performance of the Claims and Property Reimbursement Departments in the California Office should take place, and that corrections with personnel be “fast and fair.”
I work in the communications field and have been in the customer service industry for over 40 years. Your complete lack of compassion and disregard for the feelings of your customers is a disgrace. Should any of my subordinates act in a similar fashion they would have been summarily dismissed!
This experience has cost me possessions and memories that according to the policy were not covered. For the items that were covered, the estimated replacement costs of brand-name items were priced using generic items of lesser quality from lesser stores to diminish the payout, which should have been the full replacement cost. The exclusion of a personal property item, my Father’s 1972 Chevrolet El Camino that had not been on the road for over 5 years (pending the completion of restoration) was extremely upsetting. The replacement of the 8-person hot tub from a specialty vendor with one from Home Depot at less than half of the prices we quoted from web investigation is another significant example of this nefarious practice.
As a customer of your company, I have been made to feel that if I pay my premium and don’t say a word, then I am the perfect customer. However, the moment something happens that requires action from you, I become merely an expense to be minimized or ignored if possible. I have been treated with disdain and contempt because now you have to do something for the paychecks you get from the silent ones. As of today, it has taken almost eight months to recover from this, and almost all of the reimbursements for my destroyed possessions (those that were actually counted) have gone to the rebuilding of the garage. 10% of the value of the home is not reasonable to rebuild a large stand-alone structure from the ground up. Consequently, I was forced to put 20,000 of the 39,000 I had been given for the replacement of destroyed items into the rebuild.
Now I have chosen a new company with a better service record and higher coverage, although at over twice the amount it cost to have your service. I guess the old adage is true “You do get what you pay for,“ although I would argue that in the case of your company, I did not even receive that. My experience has been chronicled and posted for all to see along with this termination letter. To that end I hope that no one has to go through the hell you have assisted in putting me and my family through.
We as customers have the right to be treated with compassion and respect. You as a company have not succeeded in this. You as a company will find this is not the way to treat your customers. I hope more follow me in discontinuing policies with you to the point where you have to ask for a bailout. This company should take pride in its service and reputation, but in my eyes and those of my family and friends, you are a shabby, untrustworthy, unscrupulous, slack-jawed group of con artists who think that the bottom line is profit, when the bottom line should in fact be the people you serve.

Before and after (what the fire left us)

Well folks it is all but over. The pictures here are the extent of the damage caused by the fire and the result of a (for the most part) good contractor, a bad insurance company and a much too long wait for completion.
The fire-started 01/28/2009 the garage and Patio were completed 07/20/2009 almost 7 months to the day. Needless to say I am relieved to see it done. So on to the pictures.