Does this sound dodgy? House flooded, approached by "broker" - 10% of claim

[Bonaparte]

Bonaparte, were you parents charged a high fee for this?. It's the information we are getting is very dicey and the person that apparantly got them in touch with this guy is a complete dodgy individual that behaves like he climbed mount everest blind folded! You know yourself!

Hi, Parents charged ten per cent of settlement and they were very happy with the outcome and the fact that they did not have to be involved with the insurance company at all

 

[Bronte]

I've used a loss assessor/adjuster in the past with a claim as they can negotiate a higher figure with the insurance company. They do the fighting with the insurance company and saves you the hassle plus they want the settlement to be higher as their fee is based on a percentage of it. Another reason to use one is in a situation where the insurance company are being difficult and I'm currently using one as the insurance company are disputing when a fire took place and damaged a chimney of mine. I've never heard of a broker doing this, may OP the guy is a broker who is also a loss adjuster?

 

[Ed054]

I've used a loss assessor/adjuster in the past with a claim as they can negotiate a higher figure with the insurance company. They do the fighting with the insurance company and saves you the hassle plus they want the settlement to be higher as their fee is based on a percentage of it. Another reason to use one is in a situation where the insurance company are being difficult and I'm currently using one as the insurance company are disputing when a fire took place and damaged a chimney of mine. I've never heard of a broker doing this, may OP the guy is a broker who is also a loss adjuster?

I have never come across a situation where a Broker is both.
The broker may have a claims person working in their office but it is highly unlikely that a Broker would have the time to look after a property damage claim in the way a loss assessor would.

 

[abelard]

I used one and was delighted with the service. Also, the 10% was added to the claim as the cost of making the claim, and accepted as such by the insurance company, so it didn't cost me a cent. The loss adjuster's opening position (from his desk) when I contacted the the insurance company to make a claim was that there was a pre-existing problem with the pipes, the loss assessor came to the house and successfully argued otherwise. There was no way I could have dealt with the stress of that negotiation. And as another posted out, I wouldn't have been as thorough in working out the full extent of the damage. I would never make a major insurance claim without that kind of help again.

 

[MichaelBurke]

5Times, what is the latest on this. I would really be intersted in hearing how things proceeded. Sounds strange, maybe we need to hear a bit more. From a broker, this is definitely unusual practice.