Fire restoration
How do you handle these situations?
By Tom Tanglos
Several months ago we asked some questions
and gave a few scenarios of what drycleaners might run into
when doing fire restoration work.
The responses to the questions were
wide-ranging and pretty lively.
Here is our take on some of those
questions along with a few new ones.
What do you do?
1. An
insurance adjuster is giving you tons of work, but always pays
the policyholder direct. He asks you to give him a 10 percent
discount on a rather large job.
You agree, if he will pay your company
direct on this job. He agrees, you give him the discount and he
pays the policyholder direct anyway. What do you do?
This is one of those situations where it
isn’t what you do, but how you do it.
Shooting the adjuster might be a little
harsh, but doing nothing may not be such a great option either.
You must let the adjuster know your
concerns about this broken deal. Ask him what happened. Give
him a chance to explain. Don’t burn your bridges.
Should you ask for the discount back?
Should you bill the policyholder? It depends upon how the above
conversation went. It’s your call.
What would you do if…
2. Mr.
Jones with Acme Contractors, a company that refers a lot of
fire jobs to you, asks that referral checks on all jobs be made
out to him personally and sent to his home address.
We don’t engage in, or encourage,
this sort of thing. You shouldn’t either.
It doesn’t quite pass the smell
test.
If Mr. Jones doesn’t own the
company, it’s illegal, and you’re both breaking the
law.
If he does own the company, he’ll
probably back away from this request if you ask him for his
Social Security number and tell him you will have to send him
an IRS 1099 Form or, as Nancy Reagan said, “Just say
no.”
3. A
contractor calls you for the first time with a job. He wants
you to bill him. You agree. He tells you the insurance adjuster
told him to call you.
You’re halfway through the job when
the policyholder signs on with a public adjuster. The insurance
company pays the contractor who promptly goes out of business.
Who owes you the money?
a) The contractor?
b) The insurance company?
c) The policyholder?
d) The public adjuster?
e) All of the above?
Sounds confusing, but it’s not. In
almost every scenario you can think of, the individual who
benefited from the work performed is the responsible party.
It’s the policyholder, even though he may be an innocent
third party.
What do you do?
4. Do you
know the difference between a discount, a commission, a
referral fee and a kickback as they relate to our industry?
Going down the wrong path here could be trouble.
What are the distinctions?
A discount is something you give to the
billed party, usually the insurance company, or a contractor,
in exchange for giving you the job and for method and
timeliness of payment.
A commission is an incentive you pay a
salesperson who usually works for you.
A referral fee is a reward and an
incentive, usually given to the contractor who gave you the job
and you billed the insurance company.
A kickback means paying an employee of an
insurance company or contractor for feeding you work without
the owner’s consent. Don’t do it.
Two more brain-teasers
What if…
1. You
just completed and delivered a job for a client. The bill is
$8,000. The adjuster calls and explains that she just found out
the couple is not married, and the insurance company will only
cover the woman’s clothes. She asks for an adjusted
invoice. What do you do?
2. The
insured has signed your paperwork. A week goes by. Everything
is going great until the policyholder signs with a public
adjuster. Your state law mandates that the insurance company
must make the check to the public adjuster and the insured. How
do you protect the interests of your company?
Tom Tanglos and his family are owners of
Clothes Call in Crofton, MD, one of the largest restoration
drycleaners in the United States. Its 20,000-sq-ft. facility is
dedicated to the restoration of garments damaged by smoke and
fire. He can be reached by phone at (410) 721-7445; fax at
(410) 721-6719, or e-mail at TTanglos@aol.com.
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