Forums

Posted By Ray Rossetti on 12/07/2013 11:41 AM

I was informed by an Xactimate support Technician that you can only open 28 if you have internet access available because of password authentication. This may cause huge issues after major storms when there is often little to no internet or cell phone/card access available in the storm areas. This means if there no internet available you will not be able to complete any estimates to upload later. They say once you open 28 you can work offline but you can not open it without internet access. 

......................................................................................

and your point?

The thing is this, during Katrina, at least in the beginning, we slept in our trucks, every 3 days or so we would head to the nearest truck stop shower, laundry upload claims etc.....

Others were commuting from Baton Rouge and other "nearby" cities. What would normally take maybe an hour tops to go from Baton Rouge to NOLA , turned into a 3 hour nightmare as every trade would be headed in the same direction. So whilst many were wasting 6 hours a day in transit, we were writing, writing, and writing some more. It was rough and NOT pretty, but it was what had to be done

You state you cannot complete any estimates to upload later. Why not?

If you cannot write up a risk with nothing more than a pencil, paper, tape measure, camera, ladder, well maybe you should consider doing something else.

Make NO mistake, it is a pain in the hind end and in these examples goes against my #1 piece of advice for our newly licensed brethren. Always write up everything you scope the same day. I would burn the daylight hours writing up risks, that evening I would set upon to write those up using either XM8 / Integra-Claim / Power Claim. That way you turn those claims in to the claims office in the morning and start fresh.

Yet when there is no internet connection or whatever the case may be where you cannot write them up the same day (massive destruction) maybe you are sleeping in your truck whatever, scope multiple days worth of claims and then take a day where you can write up the estimates.

Folks CANNOT be dependent upon XM8 or ANY estimating software for that matter. Remember this, "Because XM8 says so,"  is NOT an acceptable answer to an insured's query.

I rarely take my laptop with me, I simply write detailed scope notes through the use of tic-sheets.

If you don't know how to write up a claim without the use of any estimating software, you need to learn how to do so. Estimating software and all the fancy new technology is a luxury, tech is ONLY a tool and you cannot rely on that tool

During Katrina we built an RV park over on the West Bank and an oil company gave us access to their cell phone repeater, at least until we had ours up and running.

Slept in our own beds, no truck seats.

Estimates were written on site, before leaving the risk.

Kudos to John Postava!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ray,

I understand your concerns.  During Sandy I had a lot of friends and knew of many adjusters that where in areas that where plagued with internet connection issues and the demands on them for their completed estimates was extremely high.   In many cases they would spend the day in the field and return to the hotel to write up their estimates and upload them if they had access to the internet. If they did not have internet access at least they could continue to work on them but I can only imagine the pressure and stress they would have felt if after a day in the field they returned to the hotel to write their estimate and could not even get one started due to the lack of internet.  

I received a response to my inquiry to Xactimate and it turns out that the technician was wrong in what he said, you can open 28 without internet access however it will look to authenticate your password every 30 days and when the 30 days is up it will need an internet connection to let you into the program.

CatAdjusterX -If you take a minute and stop beating your chest and dancing on your soap box you might realize that you missed the point completely in your response. The point was simple but I will make it easier for you - the technician said NO internet NO open/use 28. So if your sleeping in your truck or you are somewhere else without internet access, you could not input information into 28 so you can complete them same day. As far as the rest of your email you are way off the mark regarding what my post was about. I am not a newbie I have been at this for nearly 13 years now and have been there done that and said that regarding the rest of your post. I handle commercial and residential claims. It did not say anything about writing claims, it merely said completing the estimate in the program (Xactimate) which is the number 1 requested program by carriers. It is evident why you don't use your real name in your posts!

Chuck - Writing on site would have been the problem if you had to have internet access to open 28.

Roy - Thank you for your understanding; you seemed to have been the only one that actually read and understood my post.

CatAdjusterX -If you take a minute and stop beating your chest and dancing on your soap box you might realize that you missed the point completely in your response. The point was simple but I will make it easier for you - the technician said NO internet NO open/use 28. So if your sleeping in your truck or you are somewhere else without internet access, you could not input information into 28 so you can complete them same day. As far as the rest of your email you are way off the mark regarding what my post was about. I am not a newbie I have been at this for nearly 13 years now and have been there done that and said that regarding the rest of your post. I handle commercial and residential claims. It did not say anything about writing claims, it merely said completing the estimate in the program (Xactimate) which is the number 1 requested program by carriers. It is evident why you don't use your real name in your posts! 

Mr. Rossetti,

My full name is Robby Robinson and I post under CatAdjusterX.

You have my experience trumped. I am a few years behind you, (10 years). Yet I am hard pressed to believe that an adjuster with 13 years of experience is posting on CADO about ,"What are we supposed to do without XM8, we can't close claims without XM8?"

Carriers will just have to wait for their insured's claims to be written up in XM8 and uploaded electronically and fight through the noise and chaos that are massive catastrophic events.

So, in a case where XM8 (for whatever reason) is not available and you simply CANNOT upload claims electronically, what  are you going to do Ray?

Will you hang out at the claims office or hotel bar lamenting with other adjusters about, "what are we supposed to do without XM8?"

OR

Will you simply go out and write, write, and write some more, document and photograph and if necessary, submit these claims however they can be submitted until such a time where such drastic measures are no longer required ?  

It is not Chest Beating nor dancing on my Soap Box (well maybe a bit with regard to the soap box LOL) If I come off as brash, well that is just who I am. Many of our newly licensed brethren read these forums and many of them take what they read here on CADO between experienced adjusters as GOSPEL.

I want our next generation of claims professionals to not rely on XM8 or ANY estimating software platform in order to do their job effectively. CADO's founder just recently posted a great read about this very issue. That of the general public complaining that too many adjusters are out and about with no idea as to what they are doing and relying on software to guide them to an amount sufficient for the insured to become fully indemnified.

As I stated in my earlier response to your post, "Because XM8 says so," is NOT a valid answer to an insured's inquiry.

Ray, if you have 13 years experience, than that statement does not apply to you