PCTG Consumer Complaint Report Record ID#: 158795758

This complaint is sent to the DOI on behalf of Mr. And Mrs. Sabatino regarding the unprofessional conduct of State Farm employee Ken D'Annibale and his manager. These State Farm employees have intentionally misused their powers and shirked their appraisal responsibilities. On May 14th State Farm employee, Mr. Ken D'Annibale went to the residence of Mrs. Sabatino to appraise her 2007 Chevrolet Impala. During his appraisal he inquired and was told that the vehicle would be repaired at GA Collision Center. Mr. D'Annibale then questioned her as to why they choose a shop so far away for their house (3.5 miles) to do the repairs and how they became familiar with GA Collision Center. Since he was so concerned, Mrs. Sabatino explained to Mr. D'Annibale that her family has been using GA Collision Center for a very long time. She also informed him that GA Collision Center had been highly recommended to her by her nephew who works as a licensed state appraisal for another major insurance company. Seemingly satisfied Mr. D'Annibale began his inspection of the vehicle. Mrs. Sabatinos's nephew, who was visiting his Aunt at the time, noticed that Mr. D'Annibale proceeded to use an ice scraper to alter the existing damage to the left fender so that he would not have to have it replaced. When Mrs. Sabatino's nephew confronted him, Mr. D'Annibale stated that he did so in order for his Aunt to open the assumed binding door. After Mr. D'Annibale completed his appraisal he was asked to go over the repairs with her nephew. Mr. D'Annibale was informed at that time by her nephew who is a licensed appraisal that his written estimate did not address all the damage and that he intentionally underwrote the estimate. Her nephew was than assured that when the vehicle goes to GA Collision Center that he will address it properly on his second appraisal at the shop. We then made arrangements to have State Farm come out at our facility to settle the claim once we review their estimated costs with Mr. Sabatino. We had also informed State Farm via requested fax that Mr. Sabatino would like to be present during the inspection so he could understand the supplemental process of how the appraiser would or wouldn't view the supplemental damages and how his estimated cost will affect the proper or improper repairs to their vehicle. The appraiser assigned to settle the claim was again Mr. D'Annibale. He arrived at our facility on June 10th at about 12:50 pm. We inquired as to whether he had contacted Mr. Sabatino and his reply was "Yes". During this discussion between Mr. D'Annibale and myself, I received a telephone call from Mrs. Sabatino saying that she had only been contacted by Mr. D'Annibale 10 minute ago and that she was trying to contact Mr. Sabatino but couldn't find him. When I brought this matter to the attention of Mr. D'Annibale he stated that he gave the Sabatino's plenty of time to be here. With the permission of Mrs. Sabatino we allowed the process of the supplemental inspection to continue. At this time we also provided Mr. D'Annibale with a copy of our Repair Contract and a Repair Order, both of which he did not acknowledge. During his appraisal he informed me that someone other than myself would have to go over the estimate and if I interfered he is instructed by his manager Mr. Les Jagger to leave the property. I left him alone and had one of my company's employees stay for the appraisal. During this appraisal Mr. D'Annibale intentionally missed the majority of the damage found during the prior visit with Mr. Sabatino. The next day June 11th we sent out another fax requesting another supplemental analysis and requested again that Mr. Sabatino be contacted so he could again make arrangements to be present. On June 16th we had again faxed over the same supplemental request after we had received a telephone call from the rental company asking about the status of repairs. On Tuesday June 24th Mr. D'Annibale called our shop informing us that he was outside ready to inspect the Sabatino's vehicle and again he did not call Mr. Sabatino to give him time to be at our facility for the inspection. He stated this was due to the fact that this request was not in his computer. I asked Mr. D'Annibale to contact the inside Rep. to resolve this matter. I then telephoned Mrs. Sabatino and was informed by her that again her husband had not been given ample time to be present for the inspection. Mrs. Sabatino was understandably upset by this and I explained to her that these seemed to be deliberate attempts on the part of State Farm at miscommunication. She then requested that we fax over our supplemental analysis so she could attempt to discuss these damages with Mr. D'Annibale by phone. Mrs. Sabatino, again a person with no experience on repairing vehicles, was forced to read from a repair order and try to explain the damage of her vehicle to the State Farm Staff appraiser. This continued until she got frustrated and gave up. She then told Mr. D'Annibale to go to the shop and settle the claim because she was sick and tired of this nonsense. We were left waiting some hours until Mr. D' Annibale called and informed us that he might come back that same day. We received a late telephone call from an inside Rep. that this assignment was now rescheduled for Thursday June 26th. Mr. D'Annibale naturally was once again assigned to be the appraiser and came out to the shop. He reviewed the supplemental analysis with my employee (I was away attending a personal matter) and denied all of the $2592.34 damage analysis we prepared and allowed $45.73 for a supplement. When my employee asked why, his reply was that he addressed the items, and that these items are included in his report without any legitimate proof. When asked of the consistent damage still present on the vehicle especially on the front bumper, Mr. D'Annibale responsed, "A 65 year old woman would not bend that low to see that damage" inferring that it therefore was not necessary to have it repaired. Mrs. Sabatino when informed of this stated that she did not appreciate that comment and contacted State Farm to vent her dissatisfaction of Mr. D'Annible's conduct. Later in the afternoon a kinder and more understanding Rep. called Mrs. Sabatino, and interviewed with her the accident again, and is now allowing and compensating the damage to the front bumper. The other repair procedure necessary to complete the vehicle are still denied. Again a supplemental analysis was faxed over to State Farm on June 26th and we waited for their response, which was denied as of July 2nd. Mr. & Mrs. Sabatino is left with an accumulated rental bill due to these delays, and the responsibility to compensate the denied repairs on the 2007 Impala. This should be considered unfair business practices and should be investigated on behalf of the Consumers who are at the mercy of unscrupulous business practices of Mr. D'Annibale and his manager Les Jagger.