Never had an insurance claim.... Until today

[gorman]

Two big pine removals for an older woman, rigged everything down since there was a fence below us. One of the branches got caught on a fence slat and when one of my groundies pulled the branch off the fence section fell out of the post. No big deal, right? Well, the fence was a Walpole fence and when they installed this 20 some years ago, they put it in the ground and not footings. So it rotted and rotted. Now she filed an insurance claim, doesn't want it fixed, told me she just wants a new fence section put in, and guess who pays for that. Me.

This is kinda a bummer. If I bombed a piece and the wind put it on the fence I would man up and buy her a new section and put it in, but this is rotten. Literally.

I was told that one section of this fence is gonna run about a grand.

 

[TheJollyLogger]

Two big pine removals for an older woman, rigged everything down since there was a fence below us. One of the branches got caught on a fence slat and when one of my groundies pulled the branch off the fence section fell out of the post. No big deal, right? Well, the fence was a Walpole fence and when they installed this 20 some years ago, they put it in the ground and not footings. So it rotted and rotted. Now she filed an insurance claim, doesn't want it fixed, told me she just wants a new fence section put in, and guess who pays for that. Me.

This is kinda a bummer. If I bombed a piece and the wind put it on the fence I would man up and buy her a new section and put it in, but this is rotten. Literally.

I was told that one section of this fence is gonna run about a grand.

Do you have any pics? I gotta see a thousand dollar section of fence. Are we just talking an 8 foot section? And twenty years old set in dirt? Ouch. Rough day indeed.

 

[ducaticorse]

I would challenge an ins claim on that if it were going to effect my premium. Id say just replace the fence and keep ins out of it, but its too late for that now. It would be clear to see if the rot was that pervasive. You may have a fighting chance.

 

[ducaticorse]

Do you have any pics? I gotta see a thousand dollar section of fence. Are we just talking an 8 foot section? And twenty years old set in dirt? Ouch. Rough day indeed.

I dunno about a thousand, but im doing a fence next week, basic 8 ft cedar privacy panels cost to customer 190 installed and an additional 90 a post x 2. I am willing to bet you can get up to a grand a panel installed pretty darn quick.

 

[gorman]

A grand a panel may be hyperbole, but I was told that Walpole costs around 4x what it should be normally. Then, there's installation, etc...

 

[chief116]

go to Home depot. There like 35 bucks for an 8 foot section of fence. Build her a whole new fence for that grand.

Or tell the old bat you've never met her and keep your insurance record clean

On another note, did you work extra $$ in your quote to work around that rickety old fence?

 

[TheJollyLogger]

Unfortunately, this is one of those situations where the risk to a good reputation can go beyond the immediate cost. The most important thing is to make it right as quickly as possible, and keep a customer happy. Sometimes the most loyal and praiseworthy customers can be the ones where a job didn't go right, but the contractor stepped up.

 

[ducaticorse]

go to Home depot. There like 35 bucks for an 8 foot section of fence. Build her a whole new fence for that grand.

Or tell the old bat you've never met her and keep your insurance record clean

On another note, did you work extra $$ in your quote to work around that rickety old fence?

Im assuming the "walpole" or whatever that fancy POS was is not at HD. But then again, assuming is the mother of all eff ups..

 

[chief116]

Take the old Walpole tag off the old fence and nail it to the new one. We're looking for outside the box thinkers here

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[TheJollyLogger]

Take the old Walpole tag off the old fence and nail it to the new one. We're looking for outside the box thinkers here

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

Yeah, that should work. BTW, chief, I've got a brand new "stihl" wild thing for sale if you're interested. It's green and black, but it says stihl on the side.

 

[treemandan]

A rotten old fence!!?? Why couldn't you have put one through the roof? At least that would be worth the deductible.

 

[chief116]

Point being, if he offers to fix the 20 year old rotten fence, and does it right, he shouldn't have to make a claim on his insurance and be raked over the coals for the next 5-10 years.

So, for $1000, he can buy 160 feet of fencing and 20 posts, then its his labor to achieve good will. Customer has a new fence and he makes things right.

Or if his deductible is $500, he can still get 80 feet of fence and 10 posts to go with it and be ahead. I can keep going with the math if any Texans need it.

Keep that poulan in case you run across any ornery tumbleweeds Jolly.

 

[Grouchy old man]

Do you really think the insurance is going to pay for a new section if the old one can be fixed and re-installed? (Which it sounds like to me.) They ain't stupid and it doesn't matter what the old lady wants. They aren't going to pay any more than they have to.

 

[Pelorus]

Now she filed an insurance claim, doesn't want it fixed, told me she just wants a new fence section put in, and guess who pays for that. Me.

Did she file a claim against her homeowner policy, or against your insurer?
I may have not read the thread very well.
You gotta ante up, but a thousand dollar claim is pure nuts. The deductible on my tree ins. is $1000.

 

[StrataTree]

If the claim is already filed, bummer, bad day indeed. Would be nice to call contractor yourself, pay him cash and keep ins. out of it. Crazy old bat...probably gonna have to make her happy, if possible. Might be one of those folks that's never happy...ya know?

Best o' luck

Some people...just not reasonable.

 

[treeman82]

I know if I had to file a claim for a deal like that the adjuster would take a look at the fence, say F this, it's a rotten piece of junk and pay a bare minimum towards replacement. Let's face it, if you smashed a 20 year old beater car, you wouldn't have to pay for a brand new benz. Just saying.

On the other hand... one of my clients has a set of gates in front of her house, they look like hell, but she's got about 100K into them. I stay the hell away from them!

 

[gorman]

I offered to have it fixed, she said she wanted a new fence section. Nice. She called her insurance company first freaking thing, without talking to me about the fence first. Then, the insurance company called me, wants my info, and so forth, and so forth. She didn't want me to fix it or replace it because, "I've gone that route before having landscapers fix their mistakes and I just need it done right by a contractor".

Now, I still need to go back and grind the stumps. I riveted with excitement. The claim at best with be depreciated considering what was lost and she'll probably stiff me on payment on account of not having a brand new fence paid for.

When we did the job we had an audience of neighbors watching us so I couldn't let anything free fall. Every piece got rigged and it almost didn't matter.

 

[Grouchy old man]

I offered to have it fixed, she said she wanted a new fence section.

She's probably not entitled to a new one given the age and condition. Let the insurance companies battle it out. My feeling is she'll get the cost of a contractor to come and fix it. If she want's new the balance will be on her. If it were me I wouldn't want a new section because it likely won't match the existing.

 

[jefflovstrom]

Not to be a bully,
but I would of had an Operations guy go set the job up for you. Know your job.
Jeff :msp_biggrin:

 

[joezilla11]

Sounds like she's milking it so she can get a new fence. I'd check the old one and see if its been repaired before. She obviously has experience with this.