![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
New Roof!?
Sep. 20th, 2006 09:28 amFor those of you not in the Huntsville area, back in April there were a couple of horrific hailstorms (I had slightly larger than-golfball sized hail all over my yard). I didn't notice any obvious damage the next day and didn't think much of it. Then a fever swept my neighborhood. One by one, all of the houses around me began to get new roofs. After a month or so of this, paranoia got the better of me and I called my handy-dandy home insurance company, USAA.
They send out a very young guy (definitely younger than 24) who walks on my roof for a little while. His evaluation? There were 4 spots of very minor damage and there is a bit of roof in the back that is sagging, but not bad enough to repair (and wasn't caused by the hail anyway). A week later, I get paperwork from USAA that they have credited by deduction account a few hundred bucks. Okay, so I'll be closer to a new roof with my next claim, I thought.
A few more weeks go by and 6 of the 8 houses around me now have new roofs. I talk to my next door neighbor and he tells me that his insurance company called his roof a total loss. Now I'm paranoid that the guy that came out to evaluate me was either trying to screw me or too new/naive to have given me a proper inspection. I call them up about getting a second opinion. They pass me along to someone who's been assigned to the cases from these April hail storms. She questions my insistence on another inspection and that my next door neighbor's roof was a total loss. I tell her that I had a hard time believing that so many of my neighbors decided to pay for their new roofs on their own, so their insurance company must have felt their damage warranted this type of investment in their clients. Wouldn't USAA like to ensure they are not short changing me, but providing me with the confidence and investment that all customers should receive? She succumbed to my customer service plea and said she'd look over my file some more.
A couple of weeks pass. I was going to call this week to badger them about a second opinion. But I came home yesterday to a nice message on the machine. A second inspector had come out yesterday while I was off at Industry Day on Marshall. He does think my roof needs to be replaced. I called him and was told that he'll submit his suggested amount in the next day or so. It will probably take USAA 2-3 weeks to process the claim, so I should get estimates to find out which contractor comes closest to the estimate and be prepared to call them into action once my check arrives.
I can't wait to hear from him, hopefully, today. There is some venting work I want to do and coordinating that activity with the roof replacement would be ideal.
They send out a very young guy (definitely younger than 24) who walks on my roof for a little while. His evaluation? There were 4 spots of very minor damage and there is a bit of roof in the back that is sagging, but not bad enough to repair (and wasn't caused by the hail anyway). A week later, I get paperwork from USAA that they have credited by deduction account a few hundred bucks. Okay, so I'll be closer to a new roof with my next claim, I thought.
A few more weeks go by and 6 of the 8 houses around me now have new roofs. I talk to my next door neighbor and he tells me that his insurance company called his roof a total loss. Now I'm paranoid that the guy that came out to evaluate me was either trying to screw me or too new/naive to have given me a proper inspection. I call them up about getting a second opinion. They pass me along to someone who's been assigned to the cases from these April hail storms. She questions my insistence on another inspection and that my next door neighbor's roof was a total loss. I tell her that I had a hard time believing that so many of my neighbors decided to pay for their new roofs on their own, so their insurance company must have felt their damage warranted this type of investment in their clients. Wouldn't USAA like to ensure they are not short changing me, but providing me with the confidence and investment that all customers should receive? She succumbed to my customer service plea and said she'd look over my file some more.
A couple of weeks pass. I was going to call this week to badger them about a second opinion. But I came home yesterday to a nice message on the machine. A second inspector had come out yesterday while I was off at Industry Day on Marshall. He does think my roof needs to be replaced. I called him and was told that he'll submit his suggested amount in the next day or so. It will probably take USAA 2-3 weeks to process the claim, so I should get estimates to find out which contractor comes closest to the estimate and be prepared to call them into action once my check arrives.
I can't wait to hear from him, hopefully, today. There is some venting work I want to do and coordinating that activity with the roof replacement would be ideal.
