CASH OUT OFFER BY FIRST AMERICAN DENIAL LETTER DATED MAY 20, 2020

 

May 20, 2020

Miriam Brual

10620 Caminito Derecho

San Diego, CA 92126

buensucesomiriam@yahoo.com

Sy-Jose Medina

Claim Representative

First American Home Warranty

Re: Service Request 3309320422

Dear Sir Medina,

On April 27th of this year, I called and requested a repair of our hot water slab leak.

That same day you have assigned and sent ML plumbing to do the repair. The plumber

named “JUGO” looked at it and said that he will send someone to do the leak detection

and had referred us to a water restoration company because he saw that our floor was

flooded. The following day I haven’t heard back from ML Plumbing nor from any First

American representatives. If I haven’t called and followed up myself I wouldn’t figure out

that the one you just sent out as your “authorized contractor” doesn’t have the ability to

perform the leak detection. How absurd. Then you changed it to ALL EXPRESS

plumbing. Finally on April 30th, JOHN Titouah, the plumber and owner of All Express

came and did the assessment of the problem. But unfortunately, it took him FOUR

DAYS since the day he went to our house to submit a report and get authorization to do

the repair despite my frequent calls and follow up. Neither was he answering any of my

phone calls/text nor our requests. Mind you, your representative also had a hard time

reaching him. Clearly he has not performed well because he has been unprofessional

and has intended to make a gain for himself and have caused a great loss to us. He

made a false or misleading representation as to the fact regarding the leaking line which

he knew was untrue or misleading. He failed to disclose information to us when he is

under a legal duty to disclose that information. He hid the leaking point along the hot

water line that now becomes clearly visible as the leak deteriorates. He had abused his

plumbing license and used it to exert authority over us with regard to determining

sources of leak : he told us of leaks which are not visible but hide from us one that is

most easily visible.. I am disappointed because the service was not performed correctly,

and then I was billed for something that was not disclosed clearly or was

misrepresented?

To make it clear here are my reasons of denying your cash out offer:

FIRST, LEAK DETECTION is a service to you not to us. HE SUBMITTED THE

LEAK DETECTION REPORT ONLY TO YOU.

We ask for his report to show us where the leaks were and how bad they were. He

ignored us. He gave the report directly to you. He did not give us any report no matter

how hard we tried to get one from him. Up to this time he had not furnished us one. He

kept this report secret between him and you only and maybe to my State Farm adjuster.

Why would I be charged in the services rendered by John exclusively for your

enjoyment and benefit not ours. By this relationship he is your employee not ours and

his pay must be shouldered by you NOT BY US.

HIS LEAK DETECTION IS FAULTY

John Titouah, said the hot water line leak is under the foundation but the actual leak that

we saw is from the vertical hot water line in the slab. The video of the leak at present is

available. He did not see this leak where it should have been obvious even without any

instrument. Why would I pay someone who performed shoddy work for us? Why would I

pay this plumber who deliberately cheated and hid from us the obvious leaking line and

did more damage to the existing embedded hot water line in the floor slab which was

subjected to shock and stresses pounded on them by the forceful jackhammer? The job

could be done by just simple leak repair but after this bombardment by the jackhammer

on the existing lines inside the slab simple repair work would not be possible anymore

as they most probably will be leaking anytime soon. Why would I pay a plumber who

had not fixed the leak but escalated the leak even worse? Now we have to deal with a

leaking shut-off valve since we have been turning the hot water on and off and to make

it worse we are now unable to completely use our hot water line anymore.

SECOND, MALICIOUS and RIGGED LEAK DETECTION PRESENTATION VIA

EXCAVATION IS a service to STATE FARM INSURANCE not to US.

Why would we be charged in the services of a plumber having consequences

which are harmful to us and beneficial to himself and STATE FARM?

Our claim for secondary damage is denied by STATE FARM INSURANCE on account

of a false "NO LEAK BUT LEAK UNDER THE FOUNDATION" scenario composed of

statements and video live feed conducted by the this plumber, JOHN TITOUAH to our

State Farm adjuster.

JOHN, ALL EXPRESS PLUMBING, who you sent to us, whom we trusted to fix our hot

water line leak. He excavated the affected area without any real intention to fix the leak,

then when the leak seems appearing on the line JOHN appeared to be bothered,

(supported by video footage) he instructed his helper to open the the kitchen hot water

faucet (supported by video footage), the leak disappeared and continued digging but

farther away from that leaking point. After digging almost 1.5 square foot of concrete

with a depth of 6 inches while the hot water line is devoid of pressure he set his camera

took live video of the excavation and informed the man on the other side of the line,

whom I did not know at first was our adjuster, that he can not find a leak THOUGH HE

HAD DUG 10 INCHES OF CONCRETE, (absolute lie), he just dug 6 inches at the most

(supported by video and pictures of actual excavation part) and conclude a statement

that the leak is under the foundation. Later, John advised us that the STATE FARM

insurance adjuster will call us in 30mins to talk about our claim. He also said that he will

talk to First American and will get an authorization to do a reroute and will get back to

us. When we finally spoke to our adjuster we found out that based on the plumbers

video footage and statements BY JOHN, our claim is not covered because the leak is

under the foundation. The following day we received a denial letter of our claim attached

to an e-mail. That same day, May 6th, John called and said that he is outside our house

and that he was authorized and was ready to fix the problem. Reroute/repipe? We don’t

know. But since my dad wanted to clear things out with him first regarding all the

statements he told our adjuster yesterday, a simple confrontation/argument escalated

that we had to fire him. We fired him.

JOHN, THE PLUMBER HAD SCREWED US. DO YOU THINK IT WOULD BE FAIR TO

CHARGE HIS SERVICES FROM US? WE ABSOLUTELY OBJECT TO ANY PAY TO

HIM CHARGED FROM US. I have paid our agreed upon one time service charge of

$75 once the plumber visits and checks on the problem based on our contract and

that’s about it.

To resolve the problem, I would appreciate a payment of cash in lieu of repair or

replacement by our selected and qualified contractor. I look forward to your reply and a

resolution to my problem and I will wait until Thursday, May 21st before seeking help

from a consumer protection agency or the Better Business Bureau.

Sincerely,

Miriam Brual

Homeowner