On Friday August 13th 2010, our home in Rice was hit by straightline winds in excess of 100+ MPH in addition to reports of a "Popcorn" tornado that ripped off a sizeable section of my roof off and threw it in our entry way. In addition, these winds also began to lift the entire roof and completely have now completely shifted our supporting beams in our living room, and the main support beam in our entry way. We immediately called our insurance company who stated they would have an adjuster contact us as soon as possible.
We are then assigned to David Barry with Summit Adjusting located in Duluth, MN. David Barry makes a trip down to Rice, makes the statement that "This is over my head" yet is comfortable with making the statement that the home is safe to live in. My wife makes a call on Tuesday August 17th with our concerns for the shifting of these beams. Several of there were quite significant with our main support beam moving over an inch. David Barry makes a phone call to my cell phone on Wednesday August 18th and makes the statement in the 1st 30 seconds "that your wife called me, APPARENTLY SHE'S PARANOID ABOUT THE HOME. On August 22nd, there's a meeting of engineers between their engineer and ours along with David Barry (Adjuster), our contractor, and myself and my wife. Their adjuster makes the statement that due to the fact that the support beam has moved and we have no idea how long it actually is, the home is deemed unsafe and therefore we need to vacate the home. Little did we know this would be just the beginning of our personal hell. On September 2nd we get word from our Contractor that David Barry is going on vacation from the 3rd until the 18th. At no time did David EVER communicate this with us. On the 10th of September we are contacted by Erik Arntsen (Supposed OWNER) of Summit Adjusting who makes the statement that he's now going to take over our file as he's more accustomed to handling such large claims. However, he doesn't come to the house until the 17th of September, therefore saving us 1 day before David Barry would return from vacation. (He's a regular Messiah). Our contractors complete their their estimates on the scope of work complete by both engineers on the 22nd and come up with estimates in the range of $290, 000. Our policy max is $250, 000. Summit Adjusting/ Austin Mutual bring in their hacks from both the engineering and the contractor, and lo and behold the contractor comes up with a bid of $138, 000. There's only one problem, upon our requests for the engineer's report to investigate the scope of work, we discover that the contractor completed his bid without a full scope from the engineer. In layman's terms, the scope HASN'T been completed yet they were able to do a full bid on the estimate. (Can you say crooked???) Finally, there was a door that was not shutting correctly, yet rather than investigate as to why it won't shut, the insurance company WITHOUT our consent sent someone in and removed the metal door clip and moved it so the door would now shut. My wife just discovered this on 11/18/2010. We have since made a formal demand on both engineer's reports, a full list of persons who have entered our home for the insurance company, and lastly a letter of apology to my wife for David Barry's comments. If you have Austin Mutual Insurance, find a new one. If you have Summit Adjusting come out to do your adjusting, demand a new adjuster. These folks are nothing more than a bunch of two bit hacks.