Aware is a scam. During our home sale, we hired Aware to assist us with getting a roof replacement. We needed to replace 2 roofs on our adjoining properties due to hail damage, and this needed to be done prior to the sale being completed. Because we had already started our move out of state, we thought it would be easier to have another party oversee the process of getting the insurance quotes, hiring a reputable company, and making sure it was done on time, so we hired Aware. This began a horrible and costly experience. First, a rep named Richard Rendon came to our properties to look at the roof damage. He confirmed that there was definite hail damage and assured us that insurance would cover the replacements, and that Aware would prioritize our case because of our situation (the time crunch). We were clear that we had a close of escrow date and we had to have the roofs done, and they said they could work within our timeframe. So we signed the contract with Aware. Heidi King started communicating with us about dates/times for adjusters to go out. USAA sent 2 different adjusters to our homes on 2 different dates, which we thought odd because they are right next to each other. But Aware assured us they would send their estimators out on both dates to do their assessments alongside the USAA adjusters and stay on top of the whole process. However the process started to break down around this point. We asked Heidi for the independent adjuster's reports from USAA as soon as they were done so that we could figure out how much we would pay. We knew we would pay our deductibles but wanted to be prepared in case insurance came back with a lowball quote or denied coverage. Heidi then told us she didn't have the estimates yet, she was waiting on USAA. We ended up calling USAA but they told us they had sent the estimates to Heidi already - a week ago. So she lied to us when she said they were waiting on USAA. With our closing date approaching, we started getting nervous about how long the Aware process was taking (a month by this time - we started on 9/11). We were also dismayed that the adjusters had 2 very different results - one home was covered for the roof replacement as a result of the hail damage. But the other portion of the home (garage/apartment) was not going to be covered, despite having similar hail damage. We asked Aware for their estimates because we were told they completed their own and if there was a discrepancy with insurance, we would at least have that to counter and try to get insurance to cover the other roof. But Heidi then informed us they do not actually do an estimate on their end. Really, they did not do anything. All they did, essentially, was schedule the adjusters sent to provide the estimates for USAA. Which we could have done ourselves. When we asked what they would do about the roof that would not be covered, we were told that they could fight the insurance company on our behalf, but they needed a down payment of $1000 and it could take 4 to 6 months. They knew we were closing escrow in a week. As far as the roof that would be covered, they told us their preferred contractor would call us to have a preliminary discussion about the new roof. Then they would schedule the work, etc. There was no way this would be done in a week though. So our only option at this point was to hire a completely different roofer altogether, and he got it done in 4 days time. This prevented us from basically defaulting on our agreement to replace the roofs before the sale was complete and possibly losing the sale entirely. Which would have been incredibly costly and could have exposed us to legal issues. They were completely indifferent to the time crunch we were under and the implications for us if we defaulted on our end of the sale. They knew we did not have 4 to 6 months for them to wrangle with USAA over the payout amount on the garage roof. And they knew their process of going back and forth with their preferred contractor would drag the time out it took for the other roof, time we did not have. They knew all of this but took our case anyway while assuring us they would get it done, get both roofs paid for, and we could trust that everything was in good hands while we moved and sold the property. They did this because in the end, they took 25% of our insurance payout despite not doing anything. This is egregious and no different than stealing. How they can take nearly $2500 from us despite nearly ruining our sale is beyond me. But since the USAA payouts went to them, that is what they did. They took their "fee" and we will apparently get a check for what is left. That is about $6800. The total for getting the roofs complete on time was nearly $26,000. So we are out all of that money, nearly $20,000. When this process began with Aware, we expected to pay our deductible (a total of $4000) to get the damaged roofs replaced by the time the sale closed because that is what Richard told us. What a scam. read more
