Imagine,

Waking up in the morning only to discover your floor covered in 2-3 inches of water due to a pipe break, sewage overflow, or other water intrusions.  Horror starts to set in as you realize your cherished wool or silk area rugs are soaked in water with the potential of dye migration.  What do you do?

In most instances, homeowners call their insurance agencies or water restoration company and the task begins to restore their home to normal; but what happens to the Oriental area rugs?

In many instances, the water restoration company does not have the expertise to restore Oriental area rugs and the insurance adjuster simply wants to write them off at a low-ball price.

Dealing with area rug insurance claims from fire damage, black water, toxic odors, water restoration, mold and mildew damage or any major disaster can be a highly stressful affair.  In most cases, insurance adjusters are not experts in Persian, far east or other textile interpretations, so most either refer to a software program favorable to the insurance industry or “fly by the seat of their pants” and make the client an offer based on, who knows what, and see where it goes.

In other instances, insurance adjusters will ask the water restoration company their opinion as to the status of your area rug.  Not having knowledge in the cleaning or restoration of fine rugs, the water restoration company will either recommend “tossing the area rug” or shrug their shoulders and say, “well we’ll try to do something with it.”

If no one knows what to do with your area rug, the adjuster will try to “settle” with you.  Sometimes the adjuster will require an evaluation by an expert or will ask the customer for a bill of sale.  In many cases area rugs have been in the family for generations and there is no “bill of sale.”  In other instances, the insurance adjuster has no idea as to the value of your area rug, therefore, they have no idea if your area rugs are worth cleaning or repairing so they simply declare them a “total loss.”

Too often, we’ve seen adjusters and restoration companies tell rug owners their area rugs are a “total loss” even though they have no experience in Oriental rugs or data to support the “total loss” finding.

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SAM'S ORIENTAL RUG CLEANING can assist Oriental, wool and silk area rug owners with their insurance issues.  In the case of a fire, flood, or any major damage to your area rugs, we can expertly evaluate your rug and determine if it can be cleaned and/or repaired.

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Our insurance claim evaluation allows you to understand the replacement value of your cherished area rug, what can be done to restore it, or if it cannot be repaired, the fair market value.  You can submit our evaluation to your insurance company for review, and in many cases, they work with us to save your area rug.

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Call us to schedule an appointment today!