M
momamie
Guest
What is the name of your state? North Carolina
Windstorm hit a home covered by fully homeowner's ins. policy - ins. paid claim of damage to roof ($500) but refuses to pay for damage to chimney/fireplace. Since windstorm in late January, owner has been unable to use furnace/central heat in home due to carbon monoxide problem in home given damage to chimney. Exhaust from furnace is not being properly funneled out of chimney - owner made use of portable kerosene heaters during an especially frigid winter, waiting on ins. to pay claim.
Ins. adjusters refuse to believe that wind damaged the chimney despite the fact that their own in-house engineer said that was the case. The excuses they give are:
(1) chimney was old to begin with - those big cracks have been there for awhile. We're not liable for past damage.
(2) the furnace is cause of carbon monoxide problem in home - need a new furnace.
(3) the owner is a liar - we think he's had a problem with carbon monoxide all along. Now he just wants to take advantage of this windstorm and get a new chimney.
(4) Our engineer is wrong - we don't work with him much. He was relying on the owner's word that wind damaged the chimney.
The furnace was checked out - it's in excellent condition. The chimney had cracks in it before windstorm, but now we know something's severely wrong. The owner is taking out a mortgage on home to replace chimney/fireplace. He doesn't want to go thru another winter with no heat.
By the way, this was a severe windstorm - the restaurant next door was out of business for a week due to replacing its roof which resulted from the windstorm.
Letters written to ins. people demanding payment for claim have now gone unanswered - it's been 5 mos since occurence. What options does owner have? Is this bad faith claim?
Windstorm hit a home covered by fully homeowner's ins. policy - ins. paid claim of damage to roof ($500) but refuses to pay for damage to chimney/fireplace. Since windstorm in late January, owner has been unable to use furnace/central heat in home due to carbon monoxide problem in home given damage to chimney. Exhaust from furnace is not being properly funneled out of chimney - owner made use of portable kerosene heaters during an especially frigid winter, waiting on ins. to pay claim.
Ins. adjusters refuse to believe that wind damaged the chimney despite the fact that their own in-house engineer said that was the case. The excuses they give are:
(1) chimney was old to begin with - those big cracks have been there for awhile. We're not liable for past damage.
(2) the furnace is cause of carbon monoxide problem in home - need a new furnace.
(3) the owner is a liar - we think he's had a problem with carbon monoxide all along. Now he just wants to take advantage of this windstorm and get a new chimney.
(4) Our engineer is wrong - we don't work with him much. He was relying on the owner's word that wind damaged the chimney.
The furnace was checked out - it's in excellent condition. The chimney had cracks in it before windstorm, but now we know something's severely wrong. The owner is taking out a mortgage on home to replace chimney/fireplace. He doesn't want to go thru another winter with no heat.
By the way, this was a severe windstorm - the restaurant next door was out of business for a week due to replacing its roof which resulted from the windstorm.
Letters written to ins. people demanding payment for claim have now gone unanswered - it's been 5 mos since occurence. What options does owner have? Is this bad faith claim?