Those who make their living as “private adjusters” or in fly by night fire scene clean up. I don’t know if you have dealt with the devastation of a house fire. Even when there is no loss of life it is one of the worst things a family can go through. Everytime there is a fire these sharks start to circle. Today I was at a fire scene and the first adjuster was there before the second fire truck got there. They swoop in hoping to get to the family at their most vulnerable with the full knowledge that any insurance company will want to use their own people. They are just hoping that by listening to their scanners they can get the family to commit before the embers cool. Fucking vultures. I love the fact that I can cock block them whenever I can. Fuck you.
Don’t know anything about this, but just to be clear: in all such instances, the motives of these people is malign?
How exactly does the scam play out once the adjusters get their claws into unsuspecting victims?
The motive is to make money. The method is to listen to scanners to hear active fire calls. Then then race to the scene to be able to get to the grieving family first. Due to my job I am only there while it is an active scene. There is usually a group waiting just past the active scene. And they always try to get through into the active area to talk to the crying homeowners as the fireman are still trying to put out the fire.
Add me to the list of people who has no idea what private adjusters are, what they do, or why it’s wrong.
Its a short list, we are quite exclusive.
Tl:dr. People who act as agents for the victims to get the best possible results from their insurers.
Longer version What Does a Private Adjuster Do? - wiseGEEK
It seems one of those jobs it’s perfectly possible to do ethically, or as the worst sort of bottom feeding ambulance chamber.
Well, if Loach’s viewpoint is that of an insurance company representative who doesn’t like to deal with lossees deeply familiar with (or guided among) the intricacies of getting maximum claim benefit, the rant would make sense. Just as all at-fault parties in an accident would love to have an ignorant injured party sign away their rights for pennies and hate to see a lawyer involved.
ETA: Or did I miss something?
We had the worst flood in over 100 years here this spring, with billions of dollars in damages and people still homeless from it - there were people who swooped in to take advantage of people whose houses were damaged in the flood (I’m sure some of them were the “private adjuster” type; others were home renovation scammers). I’d put those people in the same category as the people in Loach’s OP - shitstain pond scum taking advantage of tragedy, indeed.
Then there’s the people who looted the evacuated homes - those people are lower than shitstain pond scum.
I’ve had some pretty adversarial dealings with insurance companies and they really do their best to make a fair settlement to which you are entitled more trouble than its worth. I’d have a hard time believing a private adjuster is any worse, and at least they’re on your side.
Yes it is very possible to do the job ethically. Ethical private adjusters fill a needed role if your insurance company tries to screw you which does happen. We had to use one for a claim that was denied by our insurance company*. The ethical ones are not listening to police scanners hoping to hear about a fire. They are not waiting just beyond the police tape to pounce on a traumatized family. Ambulance chaser is a perfect analogy and I was thinking about that but I didn’t want anyone to think that I’m talking about lawyers.
*you don’t want to use one unless you have to because they take a pretty decent percentage of your payout.
Well, although you’ve been here for over fourteen years, and Loach for ten, it’s apparent that you’ve missed the fact that his viewpoint is more likely to be that of a LEO who has witnessed a fair number of such initial encounters than that of an insurance company representative.
So what does his being a Leo have to do with anything? Not like he’s a serious asshole, like Scorpios!
Heh. Bedtime, luci. 
Now now. As a Scorpio, I can assure you he has a point.
Well, you’d best toddle along then, you old folks need your rest. My turn for the X-box in five minutes and I’ll sleep when I’m dead.
I don’t know why you are hijacking my thread with this bullshit. I’m a Gemini dammit. Get it right.
Not a private adjuster, but one of my favorite, not-so-famous-movies is The Adjuster.
I thought public adjustment was frowned on. Mine usually are.
Many insurance companies are honest and work reasonable with their insureds when there is a loss. But there are a lot of insurance scum out there whose main job is to get an insured to sign a release before there is full compensation. Read what you sign people. Do not sign a release. It is okay to sign a receipt. The Second Stone. Lawyer who sues insurance companies for bad faith, only in California, where he is licensed.
I would like to hear what these private adjusters actually do (other than arrive early at the disaster scene) that is so scummy. And I do kinda agree that just arriving really early is potentially quite scummy all by itself. But educate us some.