Complaint Review: Florida Farm Bureau

On August 28 during a severe thunderstorm our home was hit by lightning. To this there was no dispute as we have a letter from our power company stating this fact.

During the strike we lost a stove, TV, Satellite Receiver modems on computers, telephone. But most importantly after the strike our water well did not work.

We called a well contractor. The well contractor came out and pulled the pump. This is a deep well aproximately 200' deep. The well contractor found coarse sand in the pump and the first joint of pipe.

Upon finding this he asked us a few questions mainly about the quality of our water and if we ever had the pump blocked before. We told him we had never experienced a blocked pump,nor detected any sediment or sand in our water and as a mater of fact we do not even use any type of filtering devices to filter the water. This well not only supplies our home but also my mother's home which is about 50 yds away.

His diagnosis was that in all likelihood our well was also struck and somewhere down inside this has caused the casing to split. Our adjuster had given us an affidavit that he required the well contractor to sign. We asked the well contractor if he minded signing the affidavit and he did not even blink an eye. He signed the affidavit stating that coarse sand in the pump was indicative that the casing had been split. He left the pump and down pipe where they laid on the ground next to the well.

Before starting the job our well man asked us about payment for a new well, basically he gave us the estimate which was around $4700.00 and then told us that we were responsible for payment as he did not deal direct with insurance companies. We knew our policy covered lightning damage and in any case we needed water to live so we told him to go ahead and start and we moved money from savings to checking to cover the cost.

Prior to starting the next day we received a call from our well contractor again. He spoke with my wife and asked her once again if we had the money to pay. She replied we did. He said he would bring his equipment and start the next morning. My wife asked him why he called to ask us if we had the money to pay. He answered that during a conversation with the adjuster in our local office, it was implied that we had water problems before the strike and we were just using this strike to get a new well. It was also implied to the well contractor that the insurance company was not paying and that we had no money to pay. That was why the well contractor called my wife for verification once more.

I fully understand that the conversation between the well contractor and the adjuster is heresay coming from me,which is why I have not mentioned any names. This is the reason that once I sensed Farm Bureau was trying to squeeze out of paying a claim I sent a letter stating all further communication was to be written or via email but not verbal unless accompanied by a written account of the conversation.

The well contractor started drilling. Several days later a gentlemen showed up from an Engineering company and he took some pictures of the well site and took our pump with him to test and he asked the well man only one question.

In the meantime I was so mad because now after what the well man had related and then this engineer showing up, it just seemed to me that there was a real implication that we were lying about our well. I wrote a letter to the President of Farm Bureau, Mr. Carl B Loop Jr., thinking that he would read this letter, see the facts and get this straightened out. Wrong again,he just turned it over to a district claims officer,Mr. Evers.

I received a letter from Mr. Evers telling me that Farm Bureau was denying the claim because they did not cover mechanical failure. There is a clause in the policy that states this but this clause actually means normal mechanical failure.

You see the Engineering company's report stated that the sand caused the pump to overheat and the pump failed as a result of that. That was mechanical failure which is not covered.

Now honestly if you follow this analogy it means the insurance company always has an out for anything. A storm could blow your roof off and you could get damage from rain to the interior of your home and the insurance company says "Oh we don't cover water damage"

In other words what I am saying is, lightning split the casing which caused the pump to fail. And this is what our state certified well contractor says also.

I might add that in the report from this Engineering company hidden in the middle is their disclaimer that releases them from liability and it says this

"The following observations and conclusions are based upon information available to us at the time of this report. Should additional information become available, ------ ---- Engineering
reserves the right to determine the impact ,if any on our opinions and conclusions, and to revise our report based on the discovery of such additional information"

Now folks I don't know how technical the audience is here but an engineer should be dealing in scientific fact and principles. Would you put much stock in a report that has this disclaimer in it? I sure don't.

Anyway also in the letter that denied our claim, the District claims adjuster said that hiring an engineer was not a reflection on our honesty.

Then he wrote in this letter

"We inspect these not because we question the character of our insureds, but monitor the contractors who do this kind of work."

If you are a well contractor and you read this I hope it makes you mad as hell and that you'll contact Farm Bureau and ask them why they have such a low opinion of well contractors.

In any case, here in florida an insured has the right to request mediation through the state insurance commission it is not binding but it is way to lay out your facts to an objective(I hope) mediator and give him the chance to get both parties to agree without having to hire attorneys etc. I can only tell you that unless the decision is for the insurance company to pay us what is owed then this mediation will not work and our next stop will be in the legal system.

I realize that big companies think they can stall and run up costs and of course there is the initial cost to hire a lawyer etc. Fortunately for us we believe that in a court before a judge and a jury we can prove with a preponderence of the evidence that we are right. Luckily we have the money to hire an attorney. I will update this report as things unfold.

One last thing for those of you that have your homeowner's insurance through Farm Bureau. If I were you I would print a copy of this report and I would take it into your agent and I would make him give me a letter saying my coverage covers lightning striking my well, splitting the casing,and filling my pump up with sand.
You can believe that we will be getting confirmation from our next insurance company!!

Michael
Chipley, Florida
U.S.A.