Way-OT: Fund Raiser for a Military Friend in Need (Septic Failure/House Flood on the 4th of July)
(Avid reader since the military moved me away from Michigan in 2007, built my account when we needed a place to sell some season tickets, never figured I’d use my first Board Post in this manner, but here we are.)
A former troop of mine, currently a full time member of the Michigan Air National Guard out of Battle Creek is in a spot. He, his wife, and their kids, returned to their home in Plainwell the night of the 4th to find their lower floor, and all of their bedrooms, flooded with septic waste. Their insurance company is doing everything it can to avoid reimbursing them for any expenses. While members of the unit there (the 110th Wing) have come out in force to get their hands dirty with the cleanup, I’m sure you can imagine that the nature of the flood is going to necessitate quite a few replacement purchases.
I’m loathe to invoke the Michigan Money Cannon for such a personal request, but even if a few of us kick in, I’ll feel like it will have been worth the act of asking. Sergeant Jeff Johnson is one of the best guys I’ve met in the 18 years I’ve served so far, and any help you can send his way will be both put to great use, and be greatly appreciated.
- Mike Squier, Capt, USAF
Side Note/Update: Sam Sunderland (the organizer of the GoFundMe on behalf of the Johnsons) is a Captain there with the 110th. Just didn’t want that to create any confusion re: to whom the donations were being made.
Count me in. Every little bit will help.
Best wishes to your friend and his family. Tough break but everything will work out for them in the end. Thanks for sharing their story, it got my donation. I'll be sure to pass it along.
I would reach out to Buddy 2 Buddy, they might be able to help.
Looking into that now, thanks :)
I'm in. I would let them know to switch their insurance to USAA. I had a similar flood while in the military. I called USAA, went to work to tie up some loose ends and returned within an hour. By the time I got back to the house USAA had a cleanup crew there in force and my wife and young kids setup in a local hotel. Even worked with us to upgrade the flooring in the home. Phenomenal company.
No, I don't work for USAA.
I wish we could switch to USAA for our homeowner's insurance. They're oddly significantly more expensive in the Dayton area.
Something’s not wright about that.
Agree. I have friends in insurance that admit they can’t come close to beating USAA. Weird that Dayton would be different.
As a brother-in-arms, I wish my money cannon had ammo right now. Hopefully insurance makes right what they should!
If you combine all of your insurances there’s no way that USAA can be outdone. You just need to bundle them all not just your homeowners. USAA is the best insurance by far that I’ve ever had.
Donated. Hope the insurance company comes through.
Donated. Thanks to both of you for your service. GoBlue
I dunno... smells funny to me.
What you did there... I see it, lol
Added to the piggy bank.
Tell us the name of the insurance company, that often joggs things lose on the internet.
Also I'd be surprised if plumbing failures were not covered by insurance, though it doesn't surprise me that they would balk at the cost and unknowns. I assume the military guy probably has a VA mortgage and normal level of insurance coverage.
If we were talking flooding, yeah, questionable by contract, but plumbing should be there.
Plumbing failures themselves, I'll agree with. As in, did a pipe joint burst - that should be covered. But I have to wonder, in this case, what is meant by 'septic failure and flooding'? So, did the septic tank overflow from lack of being pumped out regularly (or some other issue causing it to fill)? If so, backing up through the toilets/drains, and/or overflowing the drain field piping, would be an entirely 'normal' thing. It is this kind of 'flooding' that I think an insurance company would not pay for, because it was preventable via normal maintenance. I kinda hope that isn't the problem, and that insurance will eventually pick up the cost of repairs.
Spot on. I am assuming the homeowner isn't culpable and that the event was completely outside his control.
Typically the pipe itself won't be covered, but the ensuing water/sewage damage will be. Usually the pipe bursts due to wear and tear or some other exclusion in the policy, like underground pipes.
Not-USAA to my understanding, which does... explain some things. Apparently the septic tank released into the drainage water which then inundated their basement/bottom floor. Unsure how far they’ve gotten down the line of identifying/differentiating fault/cause, just that they’ve reached an impasse, with a house soaked in waste.
I’m actually stationed in NY State, hate that I can’t be there to help in person. Extremely(!) grateful to you guys for the help so far.
I really hope they don't have State Farm.
To be at least somewhat fair to State Farm, they were reasonably helpful when my wife's car was stolen (and recovered intact about two days later fortunately) in April an aside from a few small items totalling about $50, the entire experience was covered. Now, home stuff.....THAT'S interesting with them....
There's good reason why they are sued for bad faith claims handling more than anyone other than Allstate and The Hartford. Pretty much a three way tie between those carriers.
The crap State Farm pulled during Katrina was disgusting. They were altering engineer reports so they could wrongly deny claims. They haven't been much better since.
Some claims go fine, but your chance of having a really bad claim experience multiplies exponentially when you are insured with State Farm.
I don't know the industry but the questionable statement for me is the statement they were sued more. Is that more based as a % of claims or just more. They are one of the largest after all.
It's more, but it's because they are awful come claim time. Not because they are large. There are plenty of bigger carriers that don't have the same issue.
The AAJ, American Association of Justice, did a thorough investigation of the industry and State Farm is one of the worst. The investigation spanned thousands of court documents, including SEC and FBI; financial information and testimony uncovered from legal litigation and discovery; news and media reports; as well as consumer complaints filed with state insurance agencies. State Farm was found to be notorious for wrongfully delaying and denying claims and avoiding paying at any cost, including to the extent of forgery. There's little they won't do to avoid their responsibility. In the 2004 Illinois Supreme Court election, one justice—Lloyd Karmeier— received huge amounts from State Farm employees, lawyers, and groups to which the insurer belonged. Karmeier won the election and soon after cast a crucial vote reversing a $9 billion judgment against State Farm.
You can add limited water damage coverage to any Homeowners policy. I have $10K in coverage and it costs me less than $100 per year. It's well worth the add. I see more water/sewage backup claims than any other type of claim with homeowners.
Thoughts and prayers for your friend. Insurance companies are tough to deal with, so ask him to consult with an independent adjuster or lawyer.
Also I don’t know exactly what area you’re in but if he has a local VA representative he may go into his office and ask,”specifically for emergency funds and if you’d like you can message me and I can go into further details. There are some VA benefits out there for all Vets, we just have to continue to help one another.
Anti-up. A service member in need is way more than a worthy reason to donate.
I've had State Farm home owners and auto insurance for 25 years because my current wife had a house I moved into that was covered by SF. I just bundled everything. Never had a claims problem auto or home including a roof replacement from hail damage to the tune of $15K. They paid me $5k for a 7 year old Buick with 80K miles on it "totaled" because of hail damage, then I bought it back for $800, it became a beater that ran great for another 5 years or so. Then I sold it for parts. They paid me $4K for a 10 yo, stolen Mazda B23 Pick-up that I later tracked down and found with a broken back window and a hot wired ignition in a car wholesale lot.
I paid a guy $200 to buy it for me (in GA, you have to have a license to bid) for $500, repaired the ignition and back window and sold it for $3k after I put another couple thousand miles on it. Finally, they paid, up-front, to repair my wife's red Mustang vert that got no-fault hit from behind three times and I assume, in 2 cases, they collected something from the offender's auto policies. The other offender had no auto insurance. I replaced it with an unassuming silver Ford Escape. She hasn't been hit from behind once!
I also had USAA during my 20 year military career in USMC. Same story. The are and were for me a great company. Every year, I review all my insurance policies and seek out quotes from competitors including USAA. After they go through my claims record, not a single company can beat State Farm on bundled pricing.
BTW, I'm also a recipient of something around $500 from a law firm that entered a class action suit against SF for not paying claims properly. I just got the check in the mail and have no idea why I was involved other than that I had a claim, the roof damage, during the period in question. Woo, hoo. So, yeah, SF gets sued ..... like just about every other Insurance Company ...... it's a racket on both sides - the lawyers and the insurance companies - and both sides are making a shit-ton of money. Reality check.
I have worked in the insurance industry for 10 years. I'm an agent and I deal with about 2500 claims per year with my clients. My clients do not have to sue the carriers they are with. The reality is that some State Farm claims can go just fine, like I mentioned before, but you are far more likely to have a bad claim experience with them than the vast majority of other carriers.
Thanks again everyone, for the thoughts, ideas, donations, and support. They’ve nearly doubled their initial fund raising goal (in just over 24hrs) and have made a ton of headway with tearing everything out. The flood water has officially receded, and reconstruction is on the horizon.
While I’m not shocked at all re: the density of good character here, it’s still humbling.