The following list of FACTS clearly explain why every insurance consumer in NY State is in line to become a victim of his or her own insurance company. The laws are so diluted in New York State that insurance companies are getting away with extortion tactics and 99 percent of consumers don't have a clue that this charade is happening. That is the bad news. The good news is that NY State's laws are much better than most of the other states. That means real bad news for consumers in other states.
As an expert on the insurance industry and the Executive Director of The Consumer's Action Plan, I submit that insurance companies are built to extract money from millions of citizens and then abuse them, one a at time, during the claims adjusting process.
Because the insurance industry is fiercely competitive, some of the larger companies will sell policies to anyone at almost any price using bait and switch techniques and then when the consumer suffers a loss, these insurance companies move to shore up their losses in every way they can by victimizing the victim at every turn.
This underhanded tactic is commonly know as "underwriting the risk after the loss."
I know that far to many insurance companies underwrite the risk after the claim. To cover their losses, some very large insurance companies use standard practices of automatically depreciating every single item and omitting the state sales tax in their settlement to reduce the amount of their losses.
Some of the tactics used are to employ the services of under or unqualified repair contractors to provide alleged third party creditability as to the cost of repairs. Some go so far as to badger the victim into employing the services of their designated contractors whose only qualification is to provide low prices. Certain very large insurance companies are so bold that now they are writing in their contracts that they will pay their claims based on a third party database. This database is programmed to be 20 to 30 percent below the real value to restore homes etc.
A perfect example are the new Allstate homeowner's policies that state, "we will settle your claim using the Boech estimating system" bla, bla. I contend that, these numbers have nothing to do with the actual costs that will be required to rebuild the property that is damaged.
Moreover, insurance adjusters are trained to believe that consumer's are
incapable of telling the truth.
Another "slam dunk" the insurance company can give a consumer, is to lose
their files, or keep insisting that the victim provide "additional information"
so that the adjuster can evaluate the claim and do it this over and over and over again
until the victim is broke or worn down to the point that they will settle for whatever the
insurance company is willing to pay. These acts are unethical, illegally and
downright immoral but, the insurance companies don't have to pay big fines or undergo
punitive damages because their legal beagles are hard at work in Albany.
What these fines amount to is like giving the get away car a parking ticket while the owner is robbing a bank.
In far too many cases, some insurance companies actually accuse the insured of arson or self mutilation and then deny payment on those grounds. Go figure!
The police don't put the alleged arsonist in jail but the insurance company never pays the claim.
The bottom line is that after the insurance company gets its way, the victim still does not have any right to recover his or her damages by using the legal process because the insurance lobby keeps certain politicians in the green and watered down laws that are only to protect the insurance companies interest. Never the consumers.
Consumers Against Insurance Abuse 1 800 THE CLAIM is on tract to get these laws remodeled so that the titans of the insurance companies who pull this stuff on consumers will be forced to show up in court and tell a jury of consumers his reasons for victimizing a consumer.
This will provide you with a fair and reasonable opportunity to get your day in court and the opportunity to tell a judge and jury your side of the story.
As it stands now, the laws in NY State don't provide consumers with any recourse. This is an injustice for consumers and needs to be addressed.
Here are some facts that you should consider.
FACT # 1 The insurance industry has more than 70 registered lobbyist in Albany who represent the insurance companies interests. Who is on your side?
FACT # 2 Consumers don't have a clue that the larger insurance companies regularly stonewall, dodge and delay the payment of claims in spite of the current laws on the books. Can you afford to wait until you are in a real jam before you take this informaton to heart?
FACT #4 The insurance commissioner can only enforce laws that exist. Insurance department employees are always apoligizing to consumers by saying that they they are sorry that it is not their responsibility. If consumers want the laws changed go complain to your state legislators.
FACT# 5 This makes a victim look exactly like a ping pong ball. Back and forth, back and forth etc. etc. etc. What will you do when this happens to you?
Consumers in NY State now have a window of opportunity to have a legal remedy under the new law proposed that has been killed by the Senator from Rensselaer County, Mr. Joe "The BULL" Bruno.
We can only wonder why someone in a county with less than 200,000 people stands directly in the way of a fair and reasonable law that will serve the needs of 14 million consumers.
This is not like rent control. This important issue affects every consumer in the State of New York. Please pass this message to all you come in contact with and get your friends and family to get on the phone and start calling your local legislators offices. Send your grandma and her friends to take up space in their waiting room on this issue.
It is just too important to be ignored
Ron Alford is personally responsible for writing this message and will entertain any questions or comment as time permits.
You can reach Alford at alford@theplan.com
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