Dry cleaning clothes from smoke damage United Policyholders Staff asked 4 years ago
Dry cleaning clothes from smoke damage

My home and contents were affected by smoke damage from the recent Black Forest fire in Colorado. A dry cleaning company came to our home, while we were not there, and removed every item they deemed worthy of “dry cleaning”. We never received a prior estimate. Our insurance company received the bill and sent us a check for the exact amount. We are blown away at the cost and feel like the company way over charged our insurance company. We have the check and are supposed to pay the textile company soon. I do not agree with their prices and we are also missing items and some items were returned with yellow stains on them. They are charging us $18,000 to clean clothes, shoes, hats, bedding. We would like to settle on paying the company a fair price of $8,000 – 10,000. What are our rights and how do we go about moving forward in this direction? We feel like we were charged excessively for the cleaning and are willing to pay a fair and reasonable price. Please direct us. Thank you so much.

1 Answers
Tom Henderson Tom Henderson Expert answered 4 years ago
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I suggest contacting your insurance company and expressing your displeasure with them. The cleaning company should not have entered your premises without your permission; they should have created an inventory of everything taken so it could be cross-referenced to be certain that everything is returned. If you are unhappy with the job they did (separate from the price charged), then ask the cleaning company to try again, or ask your insurance company for a different recommendation and have that company try. As for the price charged, ask your insurance company whether that is reasonable (they will know). If you are going to bump up against your policy limit for your personal property, then fight on the cost to clean. On the other hand, if you won’t come close to your personal property limit, then its probably not worth your time and effort to fight them on the fee they charged (ultimately passed through to the insurance company) too hard. Good luck. Tom Henderson.