At 3:23 am, police cars stopped on my East Harbor Island Bridge. They were shining lights into the water on the windward side of the bridge and then quickly on the leeward side of the bridge. I was sipping the last of a 1966 vintage port after successfully preventing water from entering the first floor of my condominium. My unit is on the 10th floor and otherwise far away from the devastation that my family was suffering in other parts of Tampa Bay during Hurricane Helene on Thursday night. I gave a thumbs-up to the officers. Police reciprocated. It did not occur to me what they were looking for until the morning.
3:29 am. Congratulated friends for avoiding electrocution from interior wires after saying they were “shocked” before leaving their flooded home.
5:19 am, and the first calls came in on my stupid Apple watch. My mother warned me about Dick Tracey. People were calling and texting me about being safe and then asking me to let them know if I needed help with claims because they were the best. Is every estimator so desperate for work, and who is the best estimator?
6:07 am. Took Donice to show her how our Merlin Law beach towels and my exterior door tape saved us from having water enter the first floor of the condominium and avoid devastation. Told her how my wading through the water and somehow avoided electrocution had saved the day. She asked how much was saved by delaying my eventual death and avoiding electrocution as the result of having a new insurance policy providing incentives for preserving insured property.
6:50 am. Coffee and the Day—hundreds of texts and emails wishing me safety.
7:03 am. Noticed people looking for boats that were no longer in slips by the apartment complex across from the bridge. Where did the boats go? Get cup for coffee.
7:10 am. Watched people go on apartment boat ramp looking for boats and looking and looking. Sipped coffee while thinking, “How did a dozen boat slips become vacant overnight during a hurricane?” Went to sleep.
8:05 am. My watch rang waking me up. Spoke with Kim, my former wife, through my watch about her flood insurance claim. Good talk about how to make a claim. Explained what her policy declarations meant.
8:17 am. Thought about 3:29 am comments as to what police were looking for under the bridge. Bet there may be a dozen nice boats in Davy Jones Locker under that bridge.
Then received messages about CBS 60 Minutes calling for information prior to running a televised report this Sunday at 7:00 pm.
8:47 am. Calls from Austin about photos needed to be preserved regarding damage to her and my grandchildren’s home for flood coverage purposes.
9:00 am. Call with doctor about missing blood testing due to hurricane. Kidded with Doctor Price’s assistant about the brown water and why storm surge water was so black.
It is now 10:00 pm, and I have a few suggestions after being on hundreds of calls today.
- Policyholders should watch out for social media scammers. One person lied about a public adjuster’s credentials, and that public adjuster told us that he would take Dallas-based attorneys’ contracts to us because ‘Chip Merlin runs a mill with a phone bank.’ I am going to report that fake public adjuster and lawyer to the Florida and Texas Bar and Office of Insurance Regulation.
- Do not rely solely on social media recommendations when hiring professionals. Sadly, scammers have learned that using fraudulent “word of mouth” recommendations is the best way to win new clients, and are using this “word of mouth” scam on social media.
- Do not pay or agree to pay for the entire construction project until it is done and approved by an architect, engineer, or certified owner’s representative. This one step stops most policyholders from becoming a claims victim.
- Get the water and flood-damaged items removed from the structure and documented. Demonstrate you have mitigated future loss to damaged and undamaged property.
- Document everything with photos and videotape. It should be of the damaged and undamaged property.
- Notify the carrier about the loss.
You can correctly imagine that I have had a number of closely held discussions after posting CBS 60 Minutes to Run Story Regarding Altered Insurance Estimates Resulting in Fraudulent Underpayments to Policyholders. The truth is that one story leads to another, and in this case, I expect that many will want to tell the entire truth. If you want or have a confidential story about insurance claims management changing estimates or the hiding of this practice, my cell number is 813.695.8733.
My hat is off to Steven Bush of Merlin Law Group and Doug Quinn of the American Policyholder Association for their time and effort in exposing this scandal and fraud.
I hope that all applaud those who have come forward with the truth. Those who keep silent about this practice…
Thought For The Day
When insurers manipulate estimates to reduce payouts, they’re not just cheating policyholders, they’re undermining the entire insurance system.
—Amy Bach, Executive Director of United Policyholders
