My homeowners insurance has dealt with all mitigation and also paid the vendor. The carrier has not wanted us to have a part in any of it until now. Suddenly, we got a call from a second mitigation company threatening to put a lien on our home because 6 months later they still haven’t been paid; we had no clue. Finally, our carrier decides to send us a check telling us to pay the vendor directly and basically tell them they have to take this check which is thousands less than invoiced for. The carrier also tells us we have to pay almost 3k to the second vendor because they won’t pay for all labor hours. We never were told anything about this and can’t afford it. The second vendor has also been charging a late fee all these months. Is any of this ok or right?
Kaci Thompson asked 2 weeks ago Hi Kaci,
Firstly, if you haven’t already, contact the second mitigation company to explain what is going on. Confirm who contacted the vendor… was it the carrier directly? If not, who contacted them to work on your home. Perhaps it was a subcontractor of the original mitigation vendor and they did not get paid? Ask the vendor for a copy of the invoicing they submitted to your insurance carrier as well as any signed work authorization they have for your project. Normally a vendor will not do any work on your property without a signed work authorization, which does stipulate payment methods.
Next, contact your carrier and ask for a complete breakdown of the vendor’s invoice and all invoices, work estimates, and/or work authorizations for your claim. The carrier is obligated to provide this documentation to you to substantiate any claim payment they make on your behalf.
Vendors will typically provide invoicing to the carrier but also provide homeowners with copies, so you may have received this already.
Once you have this documentation, you can review what was submitted to your carrier and what the carrier paid. If your vendor submitted higher than average invoicing to your carrier, then you may be able to argue with the vendor regarding their invoicing – that is is higher than the standard rates in your area or includes ambiguous or not needed work. It sounds like your concern could be with the vendors but you should get information from both your vendor and the insurance company to review and determine your recourse.
UP provides sample communication letters to your carrier, which you can review and adjust accordingly. Check them out here:
https://uphelp.org/claim-guidance-publications/sample-letter-requesting-claim-payment-history/