So just so I am sure I understand... A storm chaser came knocking on your door and convinced you that you had storm damage and would get you a "FREEroof". (Nothing is free). They convinced you to sign a contingency agreement, likely on the claim that they needed approval to climb on your roof, and in signing that agreement you signed away YOUR power of attorney to negotiate and make decisions on repairs on your own home. Then you discovered that this company, like most storm chasing companies, is complete manure and you regret your decision. Would this sound accurate?
Well the good news for you is that in some areas, a contingency agreement is not legally enforceable. The bad news is 2 part, it is enforceable in some areas; and even the areas where it is not enforceable you are likely to have a legal battle to get out of it.
Ok so what will happen? Well, most likely the contingency agreement will have a cancellation clause, which will state something to the fact of if you chose to hire someone else you will pay to the company something like 30% of what they got from the insurance. In my opinion this part of the clause on a contingency agreement is fair, (30% may be unfairly high IMO) and this is because there are "private adjusters" out there that will perform this service for you as a consultant and they would charge similiarly.
This whole "storm restoration" is mostly a scam. The storms always bring out the worst in people, both consumer and contractor. However, there are good companies out there providing good honest service, but they get lumped with the majority of bad apples who steal from everyone. Many storm chasers inflate their bill to the insurance company, they provide sub standard work to the home owner. When the work starts to dry up, they stop paying their sales reps, and stop paying their suppliers, finally when they are out of money (because it's IMPOSSIBLE to be profitable working for the peanuts insurance companies offer) they skip town with work left un done and down payments in their pockets. This happens time and time again, storm after storm... just google it.
For what it is worth, when someone tells me that they have storm damage and insurance is paying for it. I ask them how much they can afford to come out of pocket. Just food for thought.
Ok so any time a roof is replaced, all flashings should be replaced. The flashings should never be reused. They may loko good now but will they look good in 3 years, 5 years? Why replace just the shingles, they are only one component of the roofing SYSTEM. The flashings are the area of the roof which the roof will leak first, thus the most critical IMO, however they require specially trained and skilled roofing craftsmen, and these craftsmen cost more. Most likely the company can't replace the flashings, they don't know how. They'll just slap a bucket of tar on it. Oh by the way, what they are doing is FRAUD, and is a reason IMO insurance companies should inspect each and every roof after it is replaced and before it is paid for. I couldn't tell you the number of fraudulant roofing jobs I have seen installed by insurance companies; Flashings are a large part of that.
I could go on and on and on ranting about your situation. I see it hundreds of times a year. It just sickens me to my core.
I hope you learned something: DON'T SIGN AGREEMENTS BEFORE YOU READ THEM, AND DON'T SIGN AGREEMENTS WITH COMPANIES BEFORE YOU RESEARCH THEM.
Source: http://www.reliableamerican.u
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