Insurance adjuster vs a long list of excuses

[NecessaryCatharsis]

We suffered some mother nature caused damage to our work building about 4 months ago, so called our insurance company. They very promptly came out, assessed the damage, told us they would pay, asked us to get three quotes for repairs and they would pay the median or the average, depending on whatever it is insurance companies depend things on. Bossman asks me to follow up on this. I call around, get the only three local companies who do this type of work to agree to come out and quote. The first two companies sent guys who assessed and sent us quotes within 3 days. The other one still hasn't shown up.

I've called, left messages, set up appointments, sent emails and generally harassed this guy as much as I could handle, all without a visit. He has the wackiest reasons why he has to cancel appointments, or doesn't return calls too. I called our insurance company twice and asked them to go ahead with two quotes, but that's a no-go. I even asked if I could get a 'quote' which would be materials we would purchase and the amount we would pay our own guys to do the repairs, which is what we are probably going to do anyway, but no. I must have three quotes from outside contractors. I've seriously considered inventing a company and writing my own quote on letterhead and seeing if they will accept it, but I'm too scared to get caught.

So fast forward to about three weeks ago, when bossman is flipping his lid because the repairs are still not done, he's seriously pissed with me that this isn't taken care of, and declares he will do it himself. Off you go then, really, with my blessing.

Bossman apologized to me today, and also showed me the stream of emails he has been sending with this guy. Some of the reasons the guy hasn't shown up are:

• There was a tornado. Just a small one. It only damaged his truck, nothing else.
  He found a lizard in his room (this is not an area known for it's lizard activity)
  His wife accidently drank bleach
  A bird stole his car keys when he was walking out to the truck in the morning
  He grabbed the wrong dayplanner in the morning and accidently went to his wife's appointments (no, she didn't show up at our shop by accident)
  He broke his finger golfing (in January, in Northern Ontario??)
  He wrote the name of the town down wrong, and went to (town 6 hours away) instead of (town 20 minutes from his shop) and didn't have time to come back

Either this guy needs his own 24/7 tv show, like Edtv, or he is the worst liar in the world.


The good news is, because my boss has done all this through email (I did most of over the phone) he sent the emails to the insurance adjuster on Monday, and they called today and said they would just accept the two quotes we have and write a check by the end of the week. The bad news is, I am going to spend the rest of my life wondering how this guy can possibly still have a business.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Lucky you, looks like you're dealing with the World's Worst Liar there.

Just how, exactly, does one accidentally drink bleach? Or have their car keys stolen by a bird?

[registerrodeo]

Good Lord this guy is just pathetic. My 8 year old can lie better! Please google him and see if he really does have a business or if all the google hits are complaints

[mjr]

There was a tornado. Just a small one. It only damaged his truck, nothing else.

Wait...tornadoes aren't really that common in Canada, are they??

He found a lizard in his room (this is not an area known for it's lizard activity)

Um, what?? What the heck kind of lizard could it be that would keep him from giving you a quote?

His wife accidently drank bleach

Honey, I've told you a hundred times not to keep the bleach in a bottle that says "water"!

A bird stole his car keys when he was walking out to the truck in the morning

Not even sure how this would happen...

He grabbed the wrong dayplanner in the morning and accidently went to his wife's appointments (no, she didn't show up at our shop by accident)

The 9AM hair appointment should have been his first clue...

He broke his finger golfing (in January, in Northern Ontario??)

Um, how, exactly, does one break their finger golfing? I'm not a golfer, so someone fill me in...

He wrote the name of the town down wrong, and went to (town 6 hours away) instead of (town 20 minutes from his shop) and didn't have time to come back

Yeah, because a lot of those darn Canadian words look alike...

Though I am glad to see that your boss realized the mistake he made and apologized to you.

[greek_jester]

A bird stole his car keys when he was walking out to the truck in the morning

This one I'd give him, given that seagulls in my home seaside town (plus my work seaside town) have been known to steal anything and everything up to and including glasses off of people's faces and - get this - dentures out of someone's mouth!

[purple]

So the question is, is the job just not worth it to him or does he constantly overbook himself.

Either way just .....wow he sounds like an uh interesting person.

This one I'd give him, given that seagulls in my home seaside town (plus my work seaside town) have been known to steal anything and everything up to and including glasses off of people's faces and - get this - dentures out of someone's mouth!

And my fear of birds is once again justified.

[HawaiianShirts]

...I am going to spend the rest of my life wondering how this guy can possibly still have a business.

There are a few "businesses" like that in my town. I've had at least three experiences where I told someone that I wanted to pay for his or her services, only to be completely ignored.

For example, I needed a new garage door a couple years back. I emailed four companies and had conversations that could essentially be translated to this:
Me: I understand you sell and install garage doors.
Them: Yes, we do.
Me: Great! I desire to give you money to sell and install a garage door.
Them: <No Response>

I finally got one from a guy who beat all the other four in price, service, and short wait time, so it all worked out in the end.

[NecessaryCatharsis]

We get tornados, but about 2-3 a year in Ontario. A 'big' tornado here will lift a VW or something and damage about 20 houses, not relocate a 3000 sq ft house like tornados in other countries. We tend not to get them in March though, what with the complete and total lack of warm moist air.

And the only lizards I've seen here are salamanders, unless you count frogs and toads. I'm not even sure if salamanders are lizards. Salamanders are basically nightcrawlers with legs, they don't bite, they weigh like a gram each, and the biggest danger is they might pee on you if carry them around too long. Ditto the frogs and toads (on the peeing, not the weight).

I have no explanation for anything that occurred. You would think if the job was too small to bother quoting he would have just said that at first, instead of repeatedly planning to show up and never actually showing up.

[Soulstealer]

Would it be wrong to keep asking him to come back just to see his list of excuses?

[Mikkel]

Would it be wrong to keep asking him to come back just to see his list of excuses?

My thought exactly. You could post a new excuse every day and be more famous than Gravekeeper
Should he turn up at last, you can just tell him the truth, the insurance have paid without his quote.

[NecessaryCatharsis]

Getting famous is on my wish list right after get rabies from a bat, but now that I no longer need him to show up I can see the humor in his excuses, so I think I'll ask bossman tomorrow if I can keep emailing him to set up appointments to see what else he comes up with

[Aragarthiel]

And the only lizards I've seen here are salamanders, unless you count frogs and toads. I'm not even sure if salamanders are lizards.

All three are amphibians. Lizards are reptiles. The way I tell the difference? Reptile have scales.

Our landlord keeps trying to find someone to clean our side yard, it's a jungle over there and there's too much junk from the last tenants to actually mow it, and apparently nobody wants to even come look and see. We're probably going to just have my brother-in-law come over with some good gloves and see what he can do.

[Shangri-laschild]

I wonder if he was basically blowing you guys off because he figured you guys would end up doing your own work anyway so he didn't feel like putting together a quote. Still a dick move to handle it like he handled it if that's the case though.

[wolfie]

• He found a lizard in his room (this is not an area known for it's lizard activity)
  A bird stole his car keys when he was walking out to the truck in the morning

Might have been a "lot lizard". If that's the case, and he's of British descent, the lizard might also be the bird who stole his car keys.

[gremcint]

you aren't emailing a person you've found a video game AI sprite, keep going until they loop and move on.