Expert: Michael Fay - 8/4/2009

Question
 I did some work for someone that had some plumbing problems. There house insurance was going to pay for it I did a walk through in the house with the insurance guy and he gave me the go ahead! When I was finished I was suppose to receive a check in the mail now I'm wondering if the home owners took the money, they say they can't get a hold of him now! how would I find out who there insurance is through and if I need to know there realtor how would I find that out? Thank you, The plumber

Answer
Hi Wayne-
When you did the walk through, did you get the go-ahead in writing?  How about a business card?  Did you submit a written estimate and if so, did you give it to the homeowners or the insurance agent?  The written details would also have outlined the terms of payment

Without the above, you might encounter some push back on the authorization of the charges and receipt of payment.  You still have a valid claim, it might just be harder to enforce.

I would be suspicious of their claim of unreachability:  A homeowner can ALWAYS get in touch with their insurance company, maybe not the specific agent, but always the home office.   They should be able to give you his business card or phone number and policy number and let you do the calling.  It is not much different than a traffic accident when you get those contact details.

Although I normally prefer to save the heavy guns I suggest that you pull them out NOW if you don’t get the contact information for the insurance company right away.  Let the homeowners know that you will file a mechanics lien on the home.  Give them absolutely no more than one week to get you the details you need.  My real recommendation is by this Friday at noon – this gives you time to file the paperwork this week and I am guessing that you have already waited a sufficient time for payment and for details to receive payment.  Your state details will vary on the steps necessary to file so you should research that.

It might be possible to bypass the homeowner and contact the mortgage holder (bank) directly.  This is a little unconventional and they have little incentive to give you the details – however, if they know you are filing a lien it does make their claim on the property more complicated.  You know both the homeowner’s name and the property address, this can give you access to the state records for liens and UCC’s and that will list the name of the bank that holds the mortgage.  

You mentioned a realtor – is this house for sale?  If so, that mechanic’s lien is even more important.  However the realtor will have a similar incentive to give you the insurance company’s contact information because he or she will be unable to complete the sale of the home with your claim in place.

By the way, be aware that the harder you push the harder they are likely to push.  Even with the withholding of payment, they can file claim (however baseless) with the Better Business Bureau and/or give you a bad referral at the on-line rating sites like Angie’s List, Kudzu, Yelp, Insiderpages, etc.  The BBB will agree to hear both sides before they black mark you and if you are already listed with the BBB you might be able to contact them as a preemptive strike.  The online rating sites may not be as helpful to your side of the problem.

A few final notes:  Be careful about collecting your debt.  Each state has different laws and you can get in more trouble than it’s worth if you cross over the line.  In addition, if you have not filed a mechanic’s lien before you might want to seek some professional legal advice to make sure you have a claim that is fully enforceable under the law.  Nothing hurts worse than paying all that money to the state only to have your claim invalidated for bad spelling or address.  You might also want to talk to an attorney about collections.  You can also hire an agency to do this and let them worry about the laws.  I don’t know who signed the contract authorizing your work and if you have any clauses in the contract about adding those charges to your total bill.

I hope this helps – good luck.
Michael