American Family Mortgage, Inc.

We have read the above-referenced complaint and are baffled as to an actual valid and substantive basis for the sameThe said Complaint is fraught with misrepresentations, omissions and outright prevarications, The actual facts of this circumstance are as follows:A claimant who identified himself
as *** *** Called this office on Tuesday, September 12, and indicated that his vehicle had been involved in an accident with a taxicab insured by Columbia Federal Insurance Company on the date of Saturday, September 10, 2016, He asserted that he was the driver and Owner of the vehicle involved in the accident and stated that the taxicab had made a U-turn into his vehicle.The undesigned took all pertinent information from the claimant, *** ***, and informed him that a statement form would be sent to him by mailHe was instructed to complete and sign the statement form in the designated areas on the front and back of the form and to mail the completed statement form to this officeinformed him that the Completed and signed statement form was required in order to process his claimexplained that we had not yet received a report from our insured as of that time and that our office is closed on weekendsinformed the claimant that I would immediately attempt to contact our insured for his statement with regard to the accidentI also informed the claimant that *** Auto Appraisal, Inc., an independent appraisal company, would contact him to appraise the damage to his vehicle within a very short period of time.I assured the claimant that we would proceed expeditiously and that I would put a rush on the appraisal assignmentThe conversation was entirely civil and cordial between *** *** and myself,Once I had gotten off the telephone with the claimant, I immediately called the driver of the taxicab involved in the accident with *** ***, instructed the driver to come to our office immediately to report the accidentHe agreed to do sofaxed the appraisal assignment to reland Auto Appraisers and put the words "Rush Job" "See as soon as possible" on the assignment pageI then prepared and mailed the statement form to the claimantAll of the above activities were done on the same date of the call from claimant and within an hour of the said call.Our insured reported to our office on the date of September 13, and gave an account of the accidentAt this point, we were awaiting receipt of the estimate from *** Auto Appraisal, Incand the statement form from claimant in order to proceed with the processing of the claim.The undersigned received a call from *** *** on September 14, per the status of the claim, Immediately, an obviously irate female person who did not identify herself, and who apparently was *** ***, the instant complainant, got on the telephone and in a belligerent and boisterous manner claimed that the appraiser had made an appointment to see the vehicle but had not done soI inquired as to whether the vehicle had been parked in an area where the appraiser could have seen it and was told that it had been parked in front of the residenceI offered that perhaps the appraiser had already seen the vehicle and that it was not necessary for the claimant to be present when the vehicle is being inspected by the appraiserIt was extremely difficult to speak to this irate individualI therefore asked to speak to the owner of the vehicle, *** ***The irate individual claimed that she was the owner of the vehicleThis was obviously contrary to what had been presented previously by *** *** who had asserted that he was the owner of the vehicleSo as to clarify this discrepancy, asked as to whose name was on the registration for the vehicle(The name on the registration is the legal owner of the vehicle and is the individual to whom the payment must be made.) She vociferously and in a hostile manner, claimed that her name was on the registration,In any event, I suggested that if the appraiser had seen the vehicle, that the appraisal would be received in a day or so, I stated that I would contact the appraiser to determine the status of the appraisalL inquired as to whether the statement form that we had sent had been receivedwas told that they had received the sameI requested that the statement form be completed and returned to this office so that we may proceed with the processing of the claimindicated that we needed the completed and signed statement form in order to have proper documentation in our file so that we may proceed with payment of the claimIndeed, it was extremely difficult to negotiate the above-stated exchange with the Complainant who was unduly coarse and abusive.The undersigned called *** Auto Appraisal, Incon September 14, and left a message as to the status of the appraisal, also faxed a note to *** Auto Appraisal, Incto state as to whether the vehicle had been seen.*** *** of *** Auto Appraisal, Inccalled on September 15, and stated that an elderly member of his immediate family had fallen and broken her hip on the date of September 14, and that he had to go to the hospital to take care of the involved issuesHe claimed that he called the claimant and explained what had occurred and had rescheduled the appraisal, instructed the appraiser to see the vehicle as soon as possibleThe vehicle was appraised by *** Auto Appraisal on Sunday, September 18, The appraiser does not work on weekends but made a special exception for claimant in order to expedite the appraisal, The estimate in the amount of $1,was faxed to this office from *** Auto Appraisal, Incon September 19, It called for hours of repair time, which is the approximation of one day and a half.The statement form was received by this office on Monday, September 19, It was signed on the date of September 16, 2016, days after the irate call from *** ***The envelope was post marked September 17, at 4:p.m., indicating it was mailed on a Saturday afternoonThe completed and signed statement form represents the proper presentation of a claimant's claim for damagesIt affords some assurance that the payment check will be issued to the actual registered owner of the vehicleWe were unable to proceed with payment of the claim until we were in receipt of the properly completed and signed statement formThe registered owner of the vehicle, as listed on the statement form presented to Columbia Federal Insurance Company is *** ***, The name of the complainant, *** ***, was not listed as an owner of the vehicle under the registered owner information section of the statement formAs such, she has no claim with regard to the accident of September 10, and has no cause of action whatsoever against our insured,The undersigned immediately forwarded a copy of the estimate prepared by *** Auto Appraisal, Incand a letter with a release in the amount of $2,to the claimantThe said amount included rental reimbursement for days of rental, which is double the time required for the repair of the vehicleThe above-stated documents were mailed to claimant *** *** on September 19, 2016, the same day as the receipt of claimant's statement form.The release was received by this office on September 27, It was signed on September 23, The envelope was post marked September 23, at p.m., indicating that it was mailed on a Friday eveningThe undersigned mailed the settlement check in the amount of $2,immediately to claimant on the date of September 27, 2016, the same day that the release was received'I received a Call from a female person at *** *** on October 4, 2016, claiming that there was a supplement on the repair of claimant's vehicleinformed this individual that all supplements must be Submitted to *** Auto Appraisal Incfor their review and appraisalI instructed her to immediately fax a copy of the Supplement to *** Auto Appraisal, Incand to call the appraiserI gave her the fax number, the phone number and the E-mail address of *** Auto Appraisal, Incand reminded her that all of this information is listed on the top of the front page of the estimate and that the estimate states on the front page that all supplements must be approved by *** Auto Appraisal, IncShe indicated that she would fax the supplement to *** Auto Appraisal, IncIt is standard procedure for repair shops to contact an appraisal Company immediately with any supplement which may arise with regard to the repair of a vehicle*** *** obviously did not follow this procedure.*** Auto Appraisal, Incfaxed a copy of a supplement in the amount of $207,to this office on October 6, According to the date and tire listed on the supplement, *** *** had faxed the supplement to *** Auto Appraisal, Incon October 5, at 6:p.m., after the office of *** Auto Appraisal, Inchad closed*** Auto Appraisal, Inctherefore did not receive the supplement until the opening of their office on the following day, October 6, The supplement increased the time to repair the vehicle by hours to hoursThe undersigned immediately forwarded a check in the amount of $to claimant on the date of October 6, 2016, the same date or which the supplement was received by Columbia Federal Insurance CompanyThe check included the amount of the supplement and compensation for additional days of rental charges,As per all of the foregoing facts, Columbia Federal Insurance Company has handled this claim in a good faith, expeditious and very accommodating mannerWe have given compensation for rental charges above and beyond what is necessary for the straightforward repair of claimant's vehicle and have forwarded payment to claimant forth with upon receipt of claimant's release and also immediately upon receipt of the supplement.As per the instant complaint lodged by *** ***, the vehicle was taken to the repair shop on Friday September 30, where it apparently remained untouched through the weekendThis was directly against the instructions given per our letter of September 19, which stated that the vehicle must be taken to the repair facility of claimant's choice only when the said facility can immediately commence the repair of the vehicle and complete it within the time allotted on the estimate prepared by reland Auto Appraisal, Inc.As stated above, Columbia Federal was contacted per a supplement on October Tuesday, October 4, 2016, days after the vehicle was left at the repair facilityThe supplement was not faxed to *** Auto Appraisal, Incuntil October 5, at 6:p.m., after their office had closedEssentially, the supplement was received by *** Auto Appraisal, incupon opening for business the following morning, October 6, 2016, days after the repair facility had indicated that there was a supplement per the repair of the vehicleThe repair facility was obviously lax in their notification of the supplement to *** Auto Appraisal, IncAs stated above, Columbia Federal Insurance received the supplement from *** Auto Appraisal, Incon October 6, and mailed the supplement check for the supplement and additional rental charges to complainant on the same day, October 6, Any delays with regard to the repair of claimant's vehicle are directly as a result of the vehicle being taken to the repair facility on a Friday and apparently being left untouched for daysAdditionally, the repair facility was not diligent in presenting the supplement to *** Auto Appraisal, Inc., causing an additional delay of days,The original settlement check in the amount of $2,059.87, which was forwarded to claimant *** *** on September 27, was cashed on September 29, The supplement check in the amount of $has also beer cashed by the owner of the vehicle, *** ***, The claim of *** *** has been concluded in its entirety.We are therefore completely befuddled as to how *** ***, who is not listed as the registered owner of the vehicle in question, can possibly allege any malfeasance on the part of Columbia Federal Insurance Company when payment was issued promptly and the vehicle was taken to a repair facility on a Friday while sitting idly at the said repair facility until Tuesday of the following week, The Independent appraisal Company, *** Auto Appraisal, Incand Columbia Federal Insurance Company acted promptly in order to make swift and proper compensation to the registered owner of the vehicle, *** ***Any delays with regard to this claim are solely on the part of the claimant and the repair facility of his choiceRequired documents were not forwarded to Columbia Federal Insurance Company by claimant in a timely manner, The vehicle was taken to the repair facility on a Friday and apparently left unattended until the following TuesdayThe supplement was not expedited to the appraisal CompanyColumbia Federal Insurance Company, on the other hand, has followed proper insurance protocol with regard to this claim and is exemplary in its handlingWe are therefore unable to recognize any merit to the allegations as stated by *** *** who is not listed on the statement form as the registered owner of the vehicle.We thank you for your cooperation in the matter.Sincerely,Leroy *B*** Claims Manager