What happened?
Have you ever heard the term “the inmates are running the asylum”? The older I get the more I see this happening in all venues of life. What was once right, is now wrong. What was considered wrong, is now the greatest thing since sliced bread.
I see this as we head toward a very scary health insurance program. But this shouldn’t be any surprise. Insurance companies are powerful entities. As of late I get the impression that some insurance companies are practicing health care scenarios with property insurance.
Consider the following:
Early in my carrier I spent many hours contacting members of the insurance industry, building and fire inspectors, and those involved in real-estate. I did this in an attempt to educate them on the code requirements, fire safety standards, and industry recommendations regarding the chimney sweeping and venting field. I did this with great enthusiasm as I was not only well received by those I spoke with but I was also making great strides at becoming a respected member of my trade, both on a local and national level.
Three years after starting down this road I was invited to be the instructor for the Nebraska Chimney Sweep Association’s “Certified Chimney and Venting Technician” program. This program was the first of its kind and was actually started in the late 1970s, a couple of years before the National Chimney Sweep Guild embarked on what is now the Chimney Safety Institute of America’s “Certified Chimney Sweep” credential.
Over the last twenty eight years I have invested more in time and money for continued education and equipment than most in this industry would ever dream of. Because of this, I gained a reputation for being not only thorough in my evaluations but accurate in my diagnostics and documentation.
It was always a given that a real-estate agent works in the best interest of their clients. This meant possibly calling me if they expected a problem on a purchase and possibly calling one of my inexperienced and unqualified competitors when it came to an inspection for a home sale. Totally understandable within certain degrees of morality and conscience.
However, in the last five or six years I have noted a trend in the property insurance industry that is quite disturbing. Let me give an example. I was called out to service a fireplace chimney some time ago. Upon performing the internal video evaluation portion of this service it was discovered that all of the vitrified clay flue liners were cracked longitudinally. There was no burnt or pyrolized creosote present in the flue, however, there were scorch marks on the inner walls of the flue liners and the exterior brick chase was split in several areas as well. Scorch marks are indicative of a chimney fire as they show flame has been present within the flue.
I proceeded to write a report for the homeowner warning them of the dangers continued use of their fireplace may pose. I also stated that it was my opinion, based on the visible evidence, that a chimney flue fire may have caused this damage. Also, due to the lack of efflorescence or staining, near the cracks on the chase’s exterior brick, I inserted the possibility of heat transfer, from a chimney fire, and thermal shock as being the possible cause for the damage rather than freeze thaw. Freeze thaw being the major cause for this type of damage.
I was as thorough as usual but was unaware that my narrative was not simple enough for the adjuster to understand. In the past I dealt with rather educated adjusters and the occasional structural engineer. Quite frankly I’ll take an engineer over an adjuster any day.
I was made aware by this “new generation” adjuster that the company he represents, the one that just happens to insure my firm, no longer recommends my firm because I find problems. This adjuster went so far as to tell the homeowner that I was just trying to drum up business and my firm is known for telling everyone they have had a chimney fire. Wow, when I heard this the hair on the back of my neck went straight up.
The adjuster then recommended a company, to the homeowner, for a second opinion. Now this company, though having an A+ rating at the BBB, has a very poor reputation in the industry. I know this because our firm fixes many of the problems they cause. These fixes often include helping people get their money back.
When I asked why the adjuster recommended this company instead of hiring a structural engineer I was told that the engineer they used in the past is now retired. Hmm, he must have been the only engineer in town. I was also informed that other local engineers are too expensive. The adjuster then told me, in a matter of fact way, that this other company always refutes the reports my firm provides and always tells the adjuster nothing is wrong and that my firm didn’t know what it was talking about. Boy would I like to read one of those reports.
At first I was quite offended and considered canceling all my insurance with this company. Then after several days of consultation with colleague members of the National Chimney Sweep Guild as well as with a local attorney I came to a truth. The truth is this.
Insurance companies are in business to make money. A large part of their bottom line is saving money on claims. Since I am insured with this company, if I was hired to do the work, they would have to pay me to have the project completed properly. This would be considerable compared to the alternative. The alternative being to call out someone who is willing to tell them what they want to hear for the whopping cost of a service call.
You see, once the second opinion company puts in writing that all is “OK”, the adjuster is off the hook on two levels. The homeowners insurance company doesn’t have to pay for the repair and the adjuster has just passed on any future liability of a structural fire too the “second opinion girl”.
Sounds logical, right? But what about the homeowner who still has an unsafe system? Passing on liability and saving a few bucks will not stop bad things from happening if the system is used, will it?
Is it just me or does it sound like a health plan that tells you ,“don’t go to that doctor because he has an x-ray machine and might find something wrong with you”, then precedes to recommend a doctor who they know perfectly well will find nothing wrong with you? As I am seeing this take place in property loss insurance I can’t help but believe it will happen in other insurance arenas.
I asked the adjuster to consider some facts.
During a years time my firm services between 250 and 300 chimneys. Out of this number approximately 50 – 100 evaluations are written up warning the homeowner of the dangers from continued use of their system. Out of this number, on average, 5 or 6 are reporting damage attributable to chimney fires. That’s quite a small number in the percentage of things isn’t it? If my firm relied on the income generated from chimney fire restoration, as asserted by the adjuster, my firm wouldn’t be around long would it? We are now going into our twenty eighth (28) year. I would like to think I am doing something right.
This logic made no difference to the adjuster.
I hope it does to you.
Nebraska is a right to work state. For some time members of the Nebraska Chimney Sweep Association carried cards with contact information for both the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division and the Better Business Bureau. We encouraged people to file complaints and tried to follow through. This was then.
The fact is now, it seems, no one cares. Trying to get someone to file a complaint is like performing a root canal with out Novocain. The fact is there are no laws protecting homeowners from poor or negligent workmanship in the state of Nebraska. This is great for insurance companies as it is easy to shift liability. We seem to live in an age where no one is responsible for their own actions and conscience is governed by the bottom line. Apparently some insurance companies have figured this out as well.
Steven B. Pool
