Action 9 investigates how emergency contractors can hijack insurance claims

ORLANDO,Fla.

An Orlando woman claims the restoration company she hired to put her life back together after a flood wrecked her home instead, and she's been living without a kitchen for a year and a half.

A pipe burst when no one was home, flooding Marie Dolce's kitchen. Overwhelmed, she hired an emergency restoration contractor the next day to dry out and rebuild -- a decision that she said she regrets.

I feel like they just took the money and they aren't going to do anything else, said Dolce.

Dolce said her insurance company paid Emergency Flood Services in Deltona, $7,000 18 months ago for the total loss.

Her kitchen is still empty, Dolce said they ripped out the damage and then never came back.

I call these people almost every day and every time they have an excuse, said Dolce.

The address for Emergency Flood Services is a UPS Store mail box. By phone, contractor Chris Defronzo told Todd Ulrich that all the insurance money was spent and the total loss was more than $20,000. That's why the work was not completed.

Action 9 asked insurance expert Ron Livingstone, a public adjuster, to see what happened to that $7,000.

Did they spend that money here? asked Ulrich.

Go here to read the rest:
Action 9 investigates how emergency contractors can hijack insurance claims