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| - This issue is with Liberty Mutual Homeowners insurance and local claims agents based in AZ but with a regional office in Westminster, CA. Once we get a resolution we are pulling our business due to a lack of trust and horrible customer service.
On the front of our home we have a decorative column. It is not structural or weight bearing but in October we noticed that it had shifted several inches and was leaning with some damage to the top and bottom stucco base.
The slope of the roof tends to delver rain runoff onto the base so the assumption was that settling or water damage - or both - had contributed to the shifting of the column. Concerned that there could be further shifting - and because my wife and I are not familiar with what could have caused the damage or if there was a possibility of the column shifting further and "falling off" - I called our insurance company.
I placed a call to Liberty Mutual to introduce this concern and they initiated the claims process. Mark, the local Scottsdale Liberty Mutual claims agent, visited the property.
His first thought was water damage - something not covered by insurance. However, he decided to have a structural engineer take a look at the internal structure of the base which would require the stripping of the stucco and removal of the column in order to see what was going on inside. The Liberty Mutual agent and the structural engineer both assured me that this was investigative and that the stucco would be replaced.
At no time during this process did I commit to making repairs. We put in the claim in order to see what the issue was and what would be covered or not covered. Our claims agent stated that he needed to get inside the structure to look inside and confirm his thoughts.
In January we received the Liberty Mutual report stating that the damage was indeed caused by water and would not be covered, just like Mark thought before his teams took the column down and ripped out the stucco at the top and bottom of the support where the column once was.
I followed up with Mark about the report and to find out when they would be out to repair the stucco, as the internal framework of the already damaged base had been subjected to additional rain storms, now with no protection. The front of the house has 3 ugly pieces of wood standing where the column once was and there is no stucco where there once was stucco.
Mark became defensive and said that "I have no intention of fixing anything" - note his use of I as if it is his money. He continued on saying that he did us a favor by having the teams take the column down and get into the structure.
I countered by repeating what he and the structural engineer said about repairing the stucco that they tore out when Liberty Mutual insisted on looking inside of the structure. He said that he never said any such thing and that it is up to us to repair it and move on.
I ended the call at that point. A few days later I called into the Liberty Mutual main line and asked that my complaint about this treatment be noted on the account, and that I needed to speak with Mark's boss. The lady I spoke with took the information down and tried to reach Jim Smith, who apparently runs the local/regional claims office. She made a note for him to call me back.
Several business days later I called again. Same conversation. I provided a new phone number as well. Still no call from Jim.
A week later I called again. Same conversation. I stated my unhappiness and that I would be pulling my business once this matter was settled. Still no call from Jim.
What bothers me the most is that I called Liberty Mutual because there was a potential issue. We at no time stated that we planned on making imminent repairs but they felt that filing the claim would allow us to learn what the problem was, if it was covered, and then sort out the best way to proceed.
The claims agent could have just said water damage - not covered - and we would have been able to proceed with repairs on our timeline, based on when we'd have the funds and availability to do so.
However, they insisted on digging into the house for a diagnosis that they already had in mind and now refuse to fix the mess that they made. If they did this for investigative reasons then they should repair the damage once they saw what they needed to, or they should have been crystal clear with us that once the stucco was stripped and the column removed that we'd be on our own from there.
When you take your car in for a diagnosis the mechanic doesn't rip out all the parts, tell you the problem, and then force you to pay to fix it. No - they investigate and tell you what the problem is before taking all the pieces out.
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