I had a fire at my house in July 2020. I was contacted by Public Adjusters of Southern California (PASC) in the early morning hours, prior to the fire department leaving my home, while my car (source of the fire) was still smoldering. Under duress, and without knowledge of the insurance process after a tragedy, I welcomed the knowledge of PASC. Troy Schmidt and **** ********, PASC public adjusters, promised to fight for us, present and negotiate the claim, and get an average of 17% more pay out. Additionally, they misled us to believe the insurance adjuster (******* *******) intended on getting us back into our house that same night, when in reality, she was offering early smoke mitigation efforts (blowers, fans, purifiers) that would have drastically reduced the smoke damage within the house. These early mitigation efforts were denied by ****, and my house sat full of smoke and soot in the heat of summer for nearly 6 months. With the fear of being forced to return to our home the same night as the fire, as we were told by ****, we decided to hire PASC.
In the months that followed, the “help” that we hired was increasingly becoming a hindrance. An unrealistic work scope was submitted to my carrier, to which my carrier came back with its own independent adjuster, own work scope, and its own approved allotted amount for the repairs. Rather than working with the carrier and negotiating the claim, the work scope submitted by **** was done so with a “my way or the highway” attitude. Unwilling to properly work with Heather, the adjuster, and negotiate, the claim was left unresolved for six months. I had to call the adjuster myself and negotiate a second walk through in order to get any sort of movement on the claim. In the meantime, no mitigation efforts were ever negotiated for, or made. My house sat vacant, full of soot, and the smoke damage increased exponentially as the days and months passed. Rather than getting smoke mitigation efforts approved by the carrier right away, **** took the dangerous approach to wait until their unrealistic work scope was approved (which it never was) before ANY work was done to the home. This resulted in an additional $22,015.89 worth of damage, as the acidic soot sat in the HVAC ductwork for six months, rendering it unable to be saved.
In the beginning, I was naïve and believed **** ******** was working for us and fighting for us. I even went as far as to send a thank you email for his efforts. **** continually placed blame on the carrier as unresponsive, unwilling to work together, and unwilling to resolve the claim. As the months went on, I quickly realized the carrier was not the problem, **** was. This came to fruition when I stopped by the house to check on the progress after I was told the contractor was going to start painting. I witnessed the contractors “dusting” the walls with dry mops, and prepping for paint. This was being done before the demolition was complete. I spoke to the contractor about my concerns with the project, to no avail. I called ****, as he was supposed to be our advocate. The carrier had approved the cleaning, sealing, priming, and two coats of paint on the walls, in their work scope. I told **** what I witnessed, and that the contractor was only going to apply two coats of paint, and omit the approved cleaning, sealing and priming. **** told me specifically that two coats of paint were sufficient and that the other steps were not necessary. This was not only a lie, but a way to cut corners. If we continued with PASC, our house would not only been done incorrectly, but left in a dangerous state, as the fire originated from a car battery and left soot riddled in plastic and chemicals.
That same day, I met with three other contractors to get professional opinions on the state of our home. What I found was alarming, dangerous, and troubling. The work scope that **** submitted to the carrier was lacking vital cleaning and repair efforts to deem the property safe. Efforts such as cleaning and sealing the attic, testing the walls behind the kitchen cabinetry for smoke damage, and testing for asbestos (which is required by law in our county no matter the age of the home), among many others. PASC advertises to have been in the business for over 25 years, and **** advertises as holding a contractor’s license for 33 years. Considering their business revolves around claims like mine, they should not have missed these key details. They should know what to look for, as they solicited, in order to help.
I ended up firing PASC and the original contractor that PASC solicited with the morning of the fire, at the six month mark, after all these details came to light. The new contractor I hired had to start from scratch. Complete a new work scope that actually addressed the needs of the home. The carrier has been nothing but responsive, answering phone calls and approving items on almost a daily basis. This was likely the case all along, as I got confirmation from the carrier, contractor, and two separate independent adjusters on the claim that It was **** that was holding the claim back.
Although fired for failure to preform and making false and misleading claims, we are now at the point that PASC wants 10% of the repairs approved amount, for a job they did not do. **** had nothing to do with the approved amount, as it was the carrier’s work scope that was approved and paid on, not ****’s. Additionally, no “negotiation efforts” **** claims to have done ever resulted in any additional funds or any additional repairs. With or without PASC, I would have had the same repair allotment, and would have been back in my home much sooner, guaranteed. All PASC’s solicited promises only caused us six months of frustration, no movement on repairs, and resulted in tens of thousands of dollars in additional damages. PASC should not be in the public adjusting business, as they are dangerous, greedy, and unable to do their advertised job.
PASC imposed their 10% fee on Fire Help Services, the pack-out company, to the tune of $6,517.42, which came out of my contents budget in my policy. Troy hand-wrote in the contract that no fee would be imposed on total loss contents. Yet, they took thousands out of my contents budget. It was also hand-written in the contract that there would be “no out of pocket cost for our services.” I have offered to give PASC a settlement of $1,606.07 out of my own pocket to end this nightmare. This settlement amount, added to the money they took out of contents, would equate to the total amount of $8,123.49 that they are asking for. I received no response.
Read More