After my Father retired from the military he opened up an upholstery shop. I remember well his philosophy in business, He felt that one unhappy customer was worth hundreds of happy ones, and therefore he did everything he could, within reason to make that unhappy customer happy. He felt that word of mouth was his best advertising and one unhappy person would tell everyone they knew.
I think that stands true today in our industry. One unhappy insured tells everyone they know, there are law suits, the press gets involved, and it multiplies until the general expectation is that insurance companies and their adjusters are out to deny claims and treat people unfairly. Rarely do you hear any stories from those who have been treated fairly, indemnified, and move on with their lives. Those stories don't get told. There are thousands upon thousands of people who have received satisfactory service yet their stories are not the ones we hear about. Sadly, in our society today, it's the bad that makes the news; the sensational that people seem to want to hear. It seems as if society is eager to broadcast the unfair, the inequitable and the down side of things, rather than the uplifting or inspirational.
All of the adjusters I know and associate with are people who care about what they do. They care about correctly indemnifying the insured and care about fair settlement. Sadly those people aren't noted as fair, honest people. They get lumped in with the comparatively few who are only in the business to 'get in and get out', make a paycheck and move on. I believe those are the exception rather than the rule, yet they are the ones who receive the notoriety. I also believe that lack of education is probably one of the biggest factors. Lack of policy knowledge, not explaining to the insured right up front what is covered under the policy, what's not covered and why. Those are inarguable facts. They may not be happy about it, but it is what it is. When things like that are not fully explained, and how can they be when the person inspecting the loss doesn't know, that sets up a beginning for untold amounts of problems down the road. Those are the ones we hear about, and just like my father's unhappy customers who would tell everyone they knew, those are the insureds who speak the loudest. Now, if I were an insured who was inequitably treated, I probably would yell fairly loudly too, so, the responsibility lies with us collectively, where we do seem to be our brother's keeper.
There are so many areas that could be improved upon, yet instead of getting better, they seem to get worse. We haven't even been able to put together a cohesive group of adjusters who agree to a code of ethics, much less a path to becoming a knowledgeable adjuster. How could we expect a positive image when we can't even create a group we all agree to belong to?
There are many unrealistic expectations that should be addressed, and changed, time lines that are unrealistic during a storm, and expectations that are predicated down to the field adjuster which increase the mounting stress that's factored into the nature of the job.
It takes a very special person to be a catastrophe adjuster, to be able to manage the claim volume, the complaints of the insured, the lack of availability of nearly everything following a catastrophe situation, the list could go on and on. Certainly the ability to adjust a claim without knowledge shouldn't be one of them. Yet we hear everyday of someone who's gotten their license and is let out in the world at large with no more knowledge than it took to attain a license. How many times have the words "I've gotten my license, now what"? been heard here in these halls? That should never be the case. There should be a clear cut educational path that leads a person to truly 'being an adjuster'.
We either need to take charge of our industry (profession?) and put a stop to it, or it will continue and the bad rep we've collectively received will continue. This may not be that unjust if we just choose to watch it happen and refuse to try to make it better.
Just some of my thoughts and my .02 worth!