The challenges around losing a loved one extend beyond just grief, often reaching into insurance claims and cleanup bills.

For this grieving person, a routine hazmat cleanup turns into a battle of payments, overcharges, and a maliciously compliant move that left the disorganized service provider paying the price.

Read on for the full story!

Non-deliquent payment

My parents both passed away in their house, requiring hazmat cleanup.

The company showed up the morning after I called, which was great, and did the cleanup that day, which was also great.

When I made the appointment, the technician suggested that homeowner’s insurance may cover the work.

I filed a claim and provided the info to the technician at the time of service.

When he left, he asked for the $500 deductible, which I offered to pay by card, but he requested I mail a check.

The contract I signed was for a flat rate amount of under $10,000.

The homeowner understood and gave the technician the benefit of the doubt.

I assumed the guy knows how to write insurance estimates and claims and that he was going to get the max amount from the insurance company.

Which was fine by me — he’d come out and cleaned up during a very stressful time, and I’m all about people being paid well for service.

Soon, though, some cracks began to show.

Work was performed on a Friday.

The following Tuesday, he called to ask where the check was, which I thought was odd.

I had mailed it on Monday, told him as much, and saw later in the week it was cashed.

Then he heard from them again.

Fast forward two weeks, and his secretary calls me to ask if I’d heard from the insurance company.

I told her they had requested pictures, which I had sent, and access to the property, which I’d given them, but that was it.

She then told me that because insurance was taking so long, she had no choice but to send me a two-week delinquent payment notice.

I basically told her, “Fine, do what you have to do, I’ll contact the insurance company.”

So the homeowner did, and ran into even more complexities.

I contacted the insurance adjuster, and he was slow to respond.

A few days later, I got an email from the secretary which cc’d the insurance guy, asking about her payment.

In that chain, the adjuster finally responded and attached the claim, and indicated payment had been issued.

Things weren’t adding up.

So, at this point, I had received the delinquent notice and read the contract.

The contract was for a flat rate for X amount of dollars.

Flat rate meaning, no matter the work, this was the bill.

As I had suspected, the line item on the insurance claim was about $3,000 over the flat rate fee.

So the homeowner decided to play this out.

Cue malicious compliance.

I wrote a check for the flat rate amount, mailed it with the delinquent notice and a request for a statement indicating the account was paid in full.

They had some requests.

As well, in the email chain with the adjuster, I stated that I had received a delinquent notice from the service provider and had mailed a check.

I also requested the insurance adjuster correct the line item to the flat rate amount and reimburse me, rather than issuing payment to the service provider.

I really had no goal or intention of achieving anything other than, “You want my delinquent payment? Fine, here it is. Figure out how to navigate this now.”

The insurance guy is a dummy, and he never had a comment about the amount of payment or the delinquent notice.

Then they heard back from the technician.

The service provider — they had some thoughts.

I got a call from the service provider, and he told me that, well, holy cow, the insurance company overpaid them.

How about that?

He said he got my check, but they had been paid already from the insurance company and they were going to mail my check back to me.

This was really where I thought it was going to end.

The company ended up in a mess very much of their own making.

The service provider had requested and received payment from two entities (me and insurance), for conflicting amounts, the lower of which was a signed contract. A bit of a pickle to be in, but a pickle that they had created.

Being in this pickle, the provider told me that he was going to mail me a check for the overpayment portion from the insurance company.

I hadn’t been trying to get extra money, but I told him great, send it on over.

But it wasn’t over yet.

My insurance correspondence continued because I waited two months for payment from them.

I mentioned the reimbursement from the service provider, but as expected, I got no response from the insurance company.

So I deposited the check into the estate account, and it will just end up being part of the disbursement for my parents’ estate.

The company ended up losing out in the end.

The day the guy came out to clean up, I had just expected him to get maximum payout from the insurance company, which was fine by me.

But because they hassled me for delinquent payment (which I maliciously complied to) due to a lag in the insurance process, they ended up making almost 30% less.

And that’s why you don’t try and take advantage of someone who’s grieving!

What did Reddit have to say?

All things considered, this person handled the situation remarkably well!

This cleanup company deserves even more of a headache than they’ve already gotten!

Neither company in this story comes out looking so good.

The service provider hoped to profit from the delay, but they ended up stuck in the crossfire of their own mistake.

What started as a mess turned into a lesson in financial karma.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.