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Aw ghost water suckers know how adjusters work, they really don,t like adjusters over 60 because we had to do our job before they were around, now its seems they do their job better than I can, so I am not needed on a simple $20,000 water sucker job.

Oh by the way we see the word indemnity a lot on this site. Can some one give the correct definition of indemnity. I will give all the usurer's a clue give the definition of pure indemnity. It may not be what you think !

Fire Fighters doing fire losses, they know what fire and water does to property, a good fit.

With all do respect

My recommendation would be reword this post in a manner that doesn't slight the people you are asking for assistance from !

If you can scope and document a loss and "apply depreciation and explain indemnity and a deductible and can do that with less trouble than SOME of us and would have no problem running with a seasoned guy", sounds like you don't need any help from any of us PODUNK adjusters here !!

You say your looking for experience in reviewing/re-inspecting, here is an idea, EARN THE RIGHT TO DO THAT BY LEARNING TO WALK BEFORE YOU START TO RUN !!

I have always tried to help new folks any way I can and have never written a post like this, but your BLATANT lack of respect for the adjusting industry is DISGUSTING !!

Robby Robinson 

Posted By David M on 29 Apr 2010 10:24 AM
I think a lot of conclusions were jumped to, sorry if I didn't write a well constructed post. I will apologize but there was no intention to slight or disrespect the people with the obvious experience represented here. The negative reference was ONLY about explaining a deductible and that comes from repeated daily claims where an insured will say, "but they took my deductible off". This is usually the result of staff adjusters that have been taken straight out of the college classroom and crammed full of training by the class that preceded them the year before.
I was not trying to represent myself as ready to hit the road, only to give some gauge as to where I am in this process. It is unfortunate that anyone would associate me with the "watersuckers" as they are one of the primary reasons I wanted to get into adjusting. Frankly, I don't understand how those guys get away with calling themselves restoration contractors, they don't restore anything, mitigate MAYBE. I got tired of being cut at every turn during reconstruction while these guys would get paid thousands to dry out particle board that I knew had to come out. As far as "dabbling" goes, I realize IA's are probably not fond of the carrier programs that work directly with approved contractors but they exist and if a staff in-house adjuster asked me to apply depreciation to an Xactimate estimate, I did it.

Do I think I can do a better job than some local adjusters I've run into? I hope I eventually can because it's the extreme contrast I've seen in dealing with adjusting that has motivated me. I have met adjusters I truly admired for their knowledge of scoping a loss and care for the insureds but even you guys have run into adjusters that can't hardly adjust a claim without making an insured or contractor feel like a criminal(though some of both are).

I realized very early on, in reading similar responses on this site, that this was a tight fraternity but I felt I was learning by what I read. I hope this explains a little better who I am and I WILL be out there at some point. Too much invested to turn back now!

I believe your post clarifying your thoughts will go a long way towards mending fences, but I sincerely hope that you understand the bulk of responses comes from being fed up with posts from new folks ,no matter what industry they come from about the supposed "GRAVY TRAIN" and the attitude that being an adjuster is somehow easy money and that someone who hasn't adjusted claim one can run with a seasoned adjuster.

The reason some may think that is because they ran into a damn good adjuster who knew their role backwards and forwards and they make it look easy, it's not easy , but most of these guys have been doing this job 30+ years.

For every Ray Hall ,Chuck Deaton ,Deb Moroy, ole' Ghost, THERE ARE 1,000's who came to the party thinking they can run with the big boys by spending a week and a thousand bucks and if they somehow managed to get deployed to an event, were sent home or ran home within a week or two when they found out the "EASY MONEY AIN'T SO EASY " and are now, dare I say "parking cars at Applebee's?"

You are indeed right that this is a tight fraternity and make no mistake , as I personally will need many more years in this industry (I have 6 yrs so far although most of the last year has been in the hospital , surgeries to put pins into my broken leg and a blood clot from a skull fracture, broken ribs,broken pelvis,broken jaw from falling off a two story roof) before I could hope to be included in the same fraternity.

The guys that come to the game with a humble attitude and are willing to learn the 'RIGHT" way will go along way if they commit to the long term and that means knowing the license most get from a 3 day school is ABSOLUTELY WORTHLESS and should not make anyone think they are an adjuster just because they have one. It should only be viewed as what it really is !! a ticket that allows you to get in the door to start the learning process

It isn't the end of the learning process, not by any means, it is only the beginning !!

Please understand with your clarification of what you meant to say was important and I wish you all the best and with alot of blood, sweat and tears and yes, a little help from Mother Nature, you can become a part of their Fraternity !!

All the best,

               Robby Robinson   

Posted By David M on 29 Apr 2010 10:24 AM 
The negative reference was ONLY about explaining a deductible and that comes from repeated daily claims where an insured will say, "but they took my deductible off". This is usually the result of staff adjusters that have been taken straight out of the college classroom and crammed full of training by the class that preceded them the year before.

David,

I will comment on the above, with a warning. 

Don't assume that the adjuster hasn't done their job, and don't assume that all is as it appears.  Just because the insured acts naive and wide eyed, doesn't mean they don't know what's going on.  Some don't but most do.  Most people aren't as stupid as they pretend.  They will pretend they don't understand even when things have been clearly explained.  I'm not saying everyone does this, but I am saying that just because an insured says it, doesn't mean its completely true.  Some truly might not understand, but honestly, how complicated is deductible?  There are some things that are basic, and I'd believe it was the rare case where deductible wasn't explained.  Sometimes they just like to play people against each other in the hope that they will get more money.  Some just like a sympathetic ear. 

Had an insured recently get her check, and immediately go spend it all, pretending that she didn't know that at least half the check was to go to the restoration company.   She swore over and over that 'I didn't know"  but she was clearly told, numerous times that when she got the check she was responsible to pay the contractor.  That's one story, I could go on with more, but I hope you get the point. 

So, when you feel the need to put on your cape, be very careful how you talk about the adjuster, or what you agree with when talking to the insured.  Be very careful assuming the adjuster didn't do their job.  The insured could very well be playing you. 

If you are a contractor you should be careful about calling the adjuster out for being "uninformed" This story is several years ago, but still relevant. A contingency door knocker roofer reported a hail loss. I had worked about 200 in this neighborhood in Houston for the last 3 months. I told the salesman I would inspect and call him back. I inspected and called back and said the roof was old, but did not have hail damage from the storm a few months back. He was not in agreement.

I was in a mediation at the court house and dressed up when I got  a call from the owner of the roofing company wanting me to meet both of them at the house at 5 PM. I agreed, I called my office and ask for the coverage amounts. I know the peril and contract very well. It was an ACV policy with a 2% Deductible.

I drove up at 5PM and began my oscar performance, by taking off my tie and shoes and putting on a pair of top siders in my truck, put my camera and tape in my pockets and got on the roof with the two roofers. When we all got to the ridge I ask to see their diagram and they gave me a copy, then we looked for hail hits on 6 slopes for about 20 min. sweat was running of all of us in 95 degree with 65% hum. I finally gave in or rolled over if you will and stipulated it was a total loss, just because we all had worked so hard to get a file closed.

I found a shade tree with a bench and said I would write up the figs on the spot. I used their diagram and my math. I used their off and on unit prices, then I took 17 years non recoverable depreciation( It was a DP1 policy), then $2,800 Deductible off the ACV loss and the Homeowner was still about $1200.00 up side down. This contractor still ask 9 years later who the CARRIER is and who is the ADJUSTER, before wasting a lot of his time.