COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho – Gail Laferriere and her husband Roger are an elderly couple dealing with extreme stress after their kitchen was damaged in February.
The couple moved to Coeur d’Alene in 2019 and the draw to the home was the newly remodeled kitchen.
On February 9th, there was a kitchen sprayer hose leak.
The couple paid a plumber to fix the leak and they filed the first homeowner’s claim of their lives.
“That little thing has led to no kitchen for three months… and it will be longer than that,” Gail said.
They are members of Liberty Mutual Insurance. Back in February, the couple said the insurance company sent in a team to remove anything with water damage and to dry the kitchen out.
At the time, the contractor the couple was initially working with provided an estimate to restore their kitchen.
The problem is, the couple said Liberty mutual only agreed to pay ¼ of that amount and this put everything to a halt.
“We’ve been negotiating back and forth. Saying ‘What else can we do? How can we provide more information?’ And we’re just at a stalemate,” Gail said.
On February 26, the kitchen was declared dry. But, two months later, an expert that was brought in told them their kitchen was not dry because of an “error” that was made during the first dry out.
This is not the only stressful situation in their lives.
In December of 2023, Roger was diagnosed with dementia. Meanwhile, Gail suffers from seven autoimmune disorders, essential tremors and fibromyalgia.
On April 20, Roger was rushed to the hospital and had an emergency surgery. After his stay, Gail became his 24/7 caregiver.
On top of their health issues, since February, Gail and Roger have been seeking assistance from Liberty Mutual to try to get them to pay for the kitchen restoration.
According to Burke’s Restoration, the contracting company Gail recently started working with, almost no contractor will ever start a project without an agreed cost of repairs from insurance.
A team member from Burke’s Restoration also told NonStop Local that this back and forth between the customer, insurance provider and the contractor is very common. They added that they did provide an estimate to Liberty Mutual as well.
Unfortunately, the couple does not have the funds to pay for the restoration entirely themselves.
But Gail said that with the state of the kitchen, she cannot even cook or prepare food for her and her husband.
“The doctors told me that I need to give Roger a low-fat diet after his surgery. I love to cook and I right away started thinking what I could make. I can’t… We have some good friends and some of them have brought over meals [and] purchased a meal for us here and there,” Gail said.
NonStop Local contacted Liberty Mutual Insurance Tuesday.
A spokesperson said they do not publicly discuss the details of their customers’ claims or their policies, but that they would have someone from their company contact Gail soon.
Gail confirmed with NonStop Local that this did happen right away.
But, Wednesday, Gail said Liberty Mutual told her that now, after evaluating the leak, the company is going to create two different claims, which will cost the couple two $1,000 deductibles instead of one. It will also require that they have two separate estimates from their contractor.
Gail told NonStop Local that this will only delay the repair process even further.
“My personal adjuster said, ‘You have been so patient and kind and very sweet through this process.’ I appreciate that… But… We want our kitchen. And if you continue to say, ‘Hey, how ’bout we give you 10 cents on the dollar?’ It doesn’t give us out kitchen back,” Gail said.
Gail added that she wants to spend this time of her life with the love of her life, Roger.
They both think it will be a long road ahead to get their kitchen repaired, but they are not willing to give up hope.
