ES Wood Flooring and Remodel, Shawn McConnell Claims that we have a rebuild contract and will not return an insurance deductible even through the insurance company paid him directly. Arlington Texas

1/19 - Shawn with ES Wood Flooring arrives in the morning with equipment to dry out the water damage.  He says that it looks like it will be an insurance claim and that I need to pay him the deductible up-front before he will set up the equipment and begin work.  I pay him $2,600 and he says that the remediation will be approximately $2,400, so that will be covered.

 

1/23 - Mark Duggan, the Allstate adjuster, comes to the house and Shawn meets him there to go over the damage and show him what they did for the clean-up.  Shawn also removes the equipment during this visit.  Shawn also comes up with an estimate for the rebuild and Mark compares it to what he came up with and tells me it is a good estimate. Shawn and I discuss a few things that I might like to do with the space for the rebuild. Mark pays the REPAIR ONLY claim of $8171.65 minus the deductible and leaves a check for $5,531.64.  Shawn says that he will invoice Allstate directly for the water remediation (whereas he should have used the $2,600 that I already gave him for this).  And Allstate should have paid the entire claim to me since I had already paid Shawn the deductible.

 

1/27 - I ask for an estimate via email from Shawn regarding the work that we discussed.

 

1/28 - Shawn sends me an invoice for the work that we discussed..

 

2/23 - I confirm that Shawn has been paid directly from Allstate for the water remediation and request that he refund the $2,600 that I gave him.  He calls me and tells me that it is illegal for him to return the money.

 

3/27 - After not being happy with everything that he did in the guest bathroom, I call Allstate and speak to Ila about Shawn telling me that it was illegal for him to return the money to me.

 

3/30 - I begin talking with Andy (claims rep) and Mark (adjuster) about this and they confirm that it is not illegal.

 

3/31 - I email Shawn again and tell them that Andy and Mark said it is not illegal.  He again refuses to refund the money and says that we have a contract.  

 

I did sign a contract with Shawn for the water remediation only.  I did not even get an estimate/invoice from him until 1/28, and I signed nothing in terms of the rebuild because I had nothing to sign when I gave him that check. There is no rebuild contract.

 

Shawn does not have an electrical or a plumbing license.  As far as I can tell, he has no kind of trade license at all.  The work he did in my guest bath would have at least required an electrical license.  He is not even legally qualified to do the work in the guest bath/master bedroom.