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Message |
JackCash
Registered User
Username: Jackcash
Post Number: 24
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 17, 2002 - 10:40 am: | |
If I get placed on standby and do not get called back I simply write the company back and asked to be removed from their roster. It matters not how so called "big" they think they are. I have done it several times over the years....If I am going to donate 35% of my income to a service provider, I demand service. There job in many cases has been reduced to that of a marketing agent many fall far short in their ability to perform that function properly. I figure if they can not properly communicate with the adjusters, it probably is the same scenario with insurance companies. They exist because for the most part we do a good job. It`s not the other way around as some seem to believe. |
mark (Olderthendirt)
| | Posted on Sunday, January 21, 2001 - 6:25 pm: | |
Big storm means vendors put 5000 adjusters on standby (collectively) In truth there may only be 1500 people out there. Not surprising they all want you on standby, Some day soon they will call and there will be no one home! Thank heavens for ice storms at least i'll eat for a while longer. |
goodenough
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 16, 2001 - 10:06 am: | |
John
There was a time when an independent placed on standby felt obligated to give the vendor the first right of refusual when work was actually in hand.
Then vendors started placing more than necessary on standby which really isn't honest with the adjuster. Now, why does that adjuster owe you the right of refusual. You have taken more out of the market than you were told you would need. You want that adjuster to call you back with his or her status also? Ever wondered why you could only get 15 of the 25 you placed on standby? Have you always called back all adjusters to take them off your standby list? Think you have answered your question if you have wondered. It is this type action that makes standby not mean anything anymore.
WHY WOULD ANYONE GO ON STANDBY FOR SOMEONE THAT PLACES MORE ON STANDBY THAN HE NEEDS???????? Not for me.
Like I have said guys & dolls, if you are good enough, you don't go on standby. They will call back.
PS I am one of the ones working now! |
Ghostbuster (Ghostbuster)
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 16, 2001 - 8:54 am: | |
Gee kids,
I called ol' Dirk about his ad and he said that the ad was for permanent positions at the NCA office in Inianapolis, not for temp assignments at the carriers. Is this a case of Fire - Aim - Ready? Did you check out the facts first or have I not dug deep enough on this topic? |
Keith Dennis
| | Posted on Monday, January 15, 2001 - 11:14 pm: | |
Iagree John A.with you on placing adjusters on standby except when you put people on standby and dont call and then place ads with flashing signs URGENT need for adjusters if you want immediate work or know anybody that wants to work call DIRK James.Then when you call in they say we have everything covered.and you expect loyality???. |
John A. Postava (Johnp)
| | Posted on Monday, January 15, 2001 - 8:25 pm: | |
We put adjusters on standby for a few reasons. The first is to see if they are available for work or have already committed to another vendor (or have taken other employment and are no longer working cats). Like every other cat company, we have our core group and try to keep them busy as much as possible. These adjusters have proven themselves storm after storm and we know if we give them files that their closings will require little or no auditing before we submit them to the client (and many of our clients know who are core people are).
We also put people on standby to meet our contractual obligations to our clients. If the client says that he/she needs 20 adjusters, we put a little more than 20 on standby (similar to airlines overbooking flights). Is this practice fair to all adjusters? No, probably not, but we, as a vendor, need to keep the client happy and secure or they will go elsewhere. And in reality, if we were to call-to-deploy all the 25-30 adjusters we might have put on standby for those 20 positions, we would be lucky to actually get 15 of those adjusters to the storm site. Good adjusters don't stay on standby for long if it is a valid cat and not just a "weather channel video clip".
Remember, the catastrophe managers at even the largest insurance carriers don't always have a handle on the number of claims (or adjusters) they will need. They watch the same reports on the TV that we do and have to make their best guess when I call them to ask "How many adjusters do you think you will need?"
All we ask when we put an adjuster on standby is that he/she call us if they actually go to work for another vendor. That way we can remove them from our "standby list" and locate another adjuster who might need the work. Unlike the very large, national adjusting firms, we "second-tier" cat firms won't blacklist an adjuster just because he/she turns down a work offer from us more than once or twice. There are just not that many good (professional) adjusters around anymore.
If you get asked to be placed on standby from any cat vendor and then take an assignment from another, IMHO, call all the firms on which you are on standby and let them know. The fact that you are working for another vendor makes you look that much more attractive the next storm. And because you called giving the vendor your status makes you that much more of a professional.
Look forward to seeing some of you in Biloxi in March. |
Justin Waiting
| | Posted on Monday, January 15, 2001 - 8:06 pm: | |
I too am still on standby from the fall "threat" of hurricane claims. Gee I wonder when they'll call me back!
I'm really not waiting any longer, just making a sarcastic comment concerning the very obvious law of adjuster supply and demand occurring very often in this business. It seems when the claim load is high due to numerous storm events, we as independent adjusters are a very needed commodity, hence the demand and respect (leverage) we obtain by default. Remember we are always considered as an asset of at least 35-40% of each claim processed to the company we work for!
However, when claim counts (cats) are low, as they have been in the past year, only the "core" (a definition I still seek out the true meaning of) group of adjusters gets the deployment "call". The rest of the adjuster pool sits and waits their turn and can be "professionally abused" at will by the cat companies in various ways due to the high supply of adjusters. Many times this “abuse” arises in many forms.
You call the Cat Company to find out about any potential assignments only to be told that nothing is going on just yet. But in reality, your professional networking tells a different story. That is, several other adjusters you may know of have already gotten the call and are working! Gee that’s not very fair! Or how about the statement from the cat company that you’d be next on their “list” to go out and then you find out, again through your professional networking, that another group of adjusters has been deployed and you are left just waiting and waiting! Kind of hard to get a loan on that employment prospect, huh?
And what about this employment loyalty the cat companies seem to want you to have. You got to be kidding me! A loyal independent?? Isn’t that an oxymoron? How can an independent adjuster be loyal to any firm who routinely is not up front with work prospects, calls to put you on standby with no return call to stand down, and refuses to acknowledge your knowledge of what’s really going on. Why the big secret? Is it really too much to ask that we have a good idea of potential work availability and to expect an honest assessment of when we may expect our turn for the next assignment. How can we ever effectively manage the financial reality of supporting a family when our employer will not be up front with us?
Yes it is very frustrating. And I like the rest of you who have yet to be deployed to the recent winter cats, will wait and wait and wait until my turn mysteriously comes. What a way to get ahead. |
Jest a Moment
| | Posted on Monday, January 15, 2001 - 12:12 pm: | |
To Goodenough:
Please stand by for an important message.
Still there ?
It will be posted in just a moment...
Get ready... |
Goodenough
| | Posted on Monday, January 15, 2001 - 11:53 am: | |
That a boy Jim.
I was once on stand-by, to be on stand-by, to go on stand-by, for the purpose of being on stand-by, for someone that needed me on stand-by. Guess what? I never got called back either. That was my last time to be on stand-by and that was in 1977.
They called me, not me them. I am the one they needed, not me needing them. I just tell them all that I am still on stand-by from 1977 and that I don't do that anymore. I tell them when and if they have something, call me and if their deal is agreeable with me, I will be available. If you are good enough, they will call back. |
RUSSELL E. DOE (Rdoe)
| | Posted on Monday, January 15, 2001 - 11:19 am: | |
I'm not on standby with NCA,but I've been wanting to post my feelings for a while now!I have a good relationship with a few good Cat Adjusting Firms.When a medium event happens,I get calls from all the Companies that have my resume.What is an Adjuster to do!! Do you tell all the companies to put you on stand by."is it fair to them" or do you hope that the company you would really want to work for gets enough claims to call you!It has cost me plenty of heartburn.I also know staffing an event without knowing the amount of claims is also difficult for the Cat Manager.I would like to hear from other Adjusters and Adjusting Firms on their opinion as to what they expect from an adjuster,when they put them on Stand by.What should we expect!See you the
Convention!!
Russ |
Ghostbuster (Ghostbuster)
| | Posted on Sunday, January 14, 2001 - 11:13 pm: | |
Well... Jim, you're a little strong in your reply... correct, but a little strong. I fear for the delicate sensebilities of some of our fellow contributors. But, all in all, what is the use in whining over one of the basic tenets of our industry?
Oh, by the way, I humbly suggest that you use a psuedonym when you let loose with broadsides like this one. The vendors like to read this forum.
Has anyone got any news on how many of the State Farm Natcat folks are out on the road now? |
Jim Sims
| | Posted on Sunday, January 14, 2001 - 8:49 pm: | |
I know what is going on with NCA...it goes on with NCA just as it does with most Insurance claim pimps. There primary interest is making money and they feel to do that they need a stable of adjusters to satisfy any and all of the clients needs. They could care less about you and me and the false hopes that they build in our famlies by putting us on stand by knowing that there is a slim chance of you ever being called. Sad, but guess what? It will continue as long as they have a supply of resumes to parade in front of the client just like the pimp on the corner. I got your stand by right here...i will be on stand by with 20 pimps but the first one that calls and can guarantee me 100 files i am gone! |
Lyndon Graves (Lyndon)
| | Posted on Sunday, January 14, 2001 - 8:03 pm: | |
Myself, and several others,received a call from NCA placing us on standby for East Coast losses.
Now standby is like fidelity is in marriage. You are supposed to be chosen for that one entity only. It is a promise to be available for that company when called.
So when NCA put us on standby, and does not call. . .we get upset to see a posting that adjusters are needed for immediate work!
So, without malice, I asked the question what is going on? Anybody else want to know? |
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