TERMS OF USE ︳ PRIVACY POLICY ︳ DISCLOSURE
Picking up the pieces
Picking up the pieces
How one policyholder trusted FCCI to make things right
Many of us believe that tornadoes only happen during the daylight hours because of the video news footage we’ve seen – dark, swirling funnel clouds coming out of a ferociously stormy sky, sporadically touching down, and leaving paths of destruction in their wake.
In actuality, given the right weather conditions, tornadoes can develop almost any time – day or night.
On Monday, January 25, 2021, the weather in Fultondale, Alabama, had been unseasonably warm and overcast. For FCCI policyholders Gavin and Frances Jones, it had been a fairly typical day at Bama Utility Contractors, Inc., the water and sewer pipeline company their family has owned for more than 50 years.
Unfortunately, that night around 10:40 p.m., everything changed for the couple and their business as a deadly EF-3 tornado with winds up to 150 miles per hour ravaged the Fultondale area, leaving a 10-mile path of destruction.
“We were at home in bed about 25 miles away,” Gavin explained, “when we got a phone call from a worker that Bama Utility had been hit. Thank goodness no one was hurt. But it was a complete loss for our 2,000 square foot office and a 5,000 square foot shop where we kept all of our trucks, equipment and tools.”
Knowing he’d have to start clearing the debris and rebuilding as quickly as possible, Gavin first made a call to Ty Harris, his broker at Insurance Office of America.
“I met Gavin at the site the next morning,” recounted Ty. “We’re walking around, checking out the damage, and I mentioned that I had called FCCI Insurance Group since they handled Bama Utility’s policy coverage. At that point, Gavin said, ‘Yeah, they’re already here.’ And that’s when I saw Mike [Giles]. I literally couldn’t believe it.”
Mike Giles, an FCCI Senior Claim Adjuster who works property claims, had gotten a call from his Supervisor Wayne Camp-Bell in the early morning hours and immediately headed to Fultondale in his truck. Mike lives in Meridian, Mississippi, about three-and-a-half hours away.
“I got to Bama Utility and a crew was already starting to clean up debris,” Mike said. “Gavin wasn’t there at the time, but we talked by phone and agreed when to meet. I could see that the buildings and equipment were a total loss.”
“... I mentioned that I had called FCCI Insurance Group since they handled Bama Utility’s policy coverage. At that point, Gavin said yeah, they’re already here. And that’s when I saw Mike. I literally couldn’t believe it.”
TY HARRIS Broker at Insurance
Office of America
“Their policy was for about $275,000 in coverage,” he continued. “Within three days, we cut Gavin and Frances a $75,000 advance check so they’d have something to work with. I told them to get us some documentation on their inventory, then get a temporary mobile office and a couple of storage facilities. The idea was to get them back in business as quickly as possible.”
For Gavin and Frances Jones, the FCCI claim process proved to be as hassle-free as anyone could possibly expect after suffering the commercial losses they did as the result of the tornado.
“We got one lump sum for the buildings, the $275,000, and then we’ve gotten payments over time to cover some of the additional items that we had to rent,” Frances explained, “such as the shipping containers we needed to house some of our tools.”
Gavin went on to say, “The whole process was pretty easy, you know. We used common sense about what we needed to get back up and running, and FCCI pretty much took care of that.”
And what about FCCI’s response time in the early stages of the disaster?
“I was amazed that Mike was out there the first day and made the total loss assessment. It speaks a lot about giving you confidence to move forward when something like that happens. It made me feel better about the situation and, believe me, at that time we needed something to feel better about.”
“I was amazed that Mike Giles was out there the first day and made the total loss assessment. It speaks a lot about giving you confidence to move forward when something like that happens. It made me feel better about the situation, and believe me, at that time we needed something to feel better about.”
GAVIN JONES Bama Utilities
The Jones’ aren’t the only ones who still continue to praise both FCCI and Mike for the way their claim was handled.
“I recently asked Ty Harris, Bama Utility’s broker, what he thought about our claim services,” says Roger Schonemann, a Senior Commercial Lines Underwriter at FCCI in Birmingham.
“Just that one simple question led to an abundance of compliments and enthusiasm for the work that Mike had done. It was such a good thing to hear from my agent. I just want to point out all the kudos and give props to Mike. He really shined for FCCI that day and during the following weeks.”
Mike, on the other hand, believes that positive comments like those are largely because of the way FCCI’s claim services are managed. “The company is good at this, really good. We expedite.
A lot of times, FCCI has 80 or 90 percent of our claims handled in these types of situations before other companies have even arrived at the scene.”
Throughout the Bama Utility claim process, Mike and FCCI made a point of keeping in touch personally with Ty Harris as well as with Bama Utility, and the effort definitely paid off.
“I’ve been doing this for 30 years and this is exactly how I want a claim to be handled,” Ty enthuses. “FCCI really cares about people. It’s important to them to do a great job and that’s what I’m looking for – an insurance company that takes care of my clients the way that I do. The reason I have a lot of business with FCCI is because I believe in them. I trust them.”