Leveraging the Media in Fight Against AOB Abuse

Cam Fentriss, FRSA Legislative Counsel

How often do you face an angry customer who yells at you for the shoddy work done by the roofing contractor who just replaced his roof? You give him an estimate on a roof repair only to be met with outrage because he just paid thousands to another contractor for roofing work and there is no way there should be a leak and there is definitely no way he should have to pay another cent! Classic “kill the messenger.” Don’t you wish there were something better you could do than just stand there and listen until the anger passes? Well, there is.

Right now, we have the eyes and ears of the media when it comes to residential insurance work where the contractor includes an assignment of benefits (AOB) provision in the contract. They often seem to be interested in stories about storm scams, and that story is even bigger now with the enormous increase in the abuse of the AOB provision.

Not all AOBs are bad and not all contractors who use AOBs are bad. But the bad contractors out there seem to have learned how to use AOBs to cause even more damage, making them even worse than unlicensed contractors who disappear into the shadows never to be found.

These unscrupulous contractors take good business away from you and hurt our industry. If we do not take action where we can, this will have a damaging impact on legitimate insurance claims, our ability to keep the construction lien law, and our overall reputation.
Common problems with these AOB abusers include:

■ Telling the customer he cannot contact his insurance company
■ Telling the customer he is not entitled to an itemized estimate
■ Telling the customer either he cannot cancel the contract at all or he has to pay some huge fee to do it
■ Threatening to file a lien if the customer “disturbs” the contractor’s fight with the insurer, or
■ Delay in performing the repair or re-roof (or not doing it at all)

While this is a growing problem that has the attention of the media, you can give these customers an outlet better than you to channel their anger and frustration. If you do not know a local reporter who is covering this, let us know and we will get you the contact information for a reporter who wants consumers for interviews.

FRM

Anna Cam Fentriss is an attorney licensed in Florida since 1988 representing clients with legislative and state agency interests. Cam has represented FRSA since 1993, is an Honorary Member of FRSA, recipient of the FRSA President’s Award and the Campanella Award in 2010.