Beth Thomas was enjoying a nice evening at home. After an early dinner she put on her slippers and was just relaxing in the living room watching television when she walked back to her bedroom, “I was shocked,” said Thomas.
About the second she flipped on the bedroom light she stepped in an inch of water. Her bedroom floor was flooded, and the water seemed to be rising, “I ran in the bathroom to check the pipes and toilet for a leak,” said Thomas.
Confused as to what was causing the water to pour into her bedroom she didn’t notice an obvious leak or burst pipe. Thomas called her kids and they quickly drove over, “I called my kids and they came immediately. We got towels and blankets to try and stop it (water) from going into the living room.” said Thomas.
With Thomas and her kids scrambling to stop the water from pouring into other parts of the home her son realized it was coming from under the wall of the adjoining neighbor. Her son ran to the neighbor’s house and knocked on the door, but no one answered. Thomas then called her HOA to see if it could help, “I didn’t know what else to do,” said Thomas.
A member of the HOA was able to locate another neighbor who had an access code to the home where the water was coming from, “All of a sudden, two-and-a half hours later the water just stopped,” said Thomas.
With the water stopped Thomas and her kids started the process of cleaning up the mess, “It was bad,” said Thomas.
The next day the neighbor whose toilet line popped off causing the major leak contacted Thomas and gave her the name of her insurance carrier. Thomas contacted the company and an adjuster came out to look at the damage and investigate the issue.
To Thomas’s surprise the adjustor told her it would not pay for the repairs to her home because “it just happened,” and it’s no one’s fault. Thomas then reached out to her insurance company but because of the limited coverage she has it would only cover $1,000 in damage. The cleanup itself was going to be around $4,000 and the fix was another $10,000, “I didn’t know what I was going to do,” said Thomas.
Staring at a sizeable bill Thomas reached out to the HOA’s insurance as well but was again turned away, “Two of my friends told me I should call News 2,” said Thomas.
One of our volunteers answered the phone and Thomas explained the situation, “She was in a tough spot and needed someone to help,” said our Call 4 Action volunteer Penny.
It took several phone calls to all the parties involved but eventually Penny was able to reach a person with the HOA’s insurance company and they agreed to allow the claim, “She (Penny) made me feel like someone was listening, someone cares, and she got the damage covered,” said Thomas.
Thomas received a check for more than $10,000 to cover the cost of the repairs, “Thank you (News 2) for being there and caring,” said Thomas.