We had some water issues in our basement and had to tear out some drywall and carpeting. While we were working with some people to determine the source(s) of the issues, we had additional water come in through the same areas, getting additional dry wall and carpet wet. We were well set up to dry it ourselves; we have an industrial blower and great dehumidifier and not that much more got wet anyway.
I filed a claim with our insurance carrier, Allstate. In the course of that initial call to file the claim (with a woman who was outright mean to me, but that's a post for another day) she said that to file the claim I had to have a remediation company come in to professionally dry it. When I said I didn't think that was necessary, based on what had gotten wet, she stated unequivocally that I had to do it and directed me to a local company. They came out, measured the moisture, and set up a plastic murder room with blowers to dry it out. The area they set up to dry was approximately 20% of the entire room. They scuffed my walls and ceiling during their equipment set-up. The entire space was "drying" for about 36 hours before it came down.
Fast forward--my claim is denied. I am working on that separately because I think it's bullshit given the additional water coverage we have. But with the claim denied, Allstate also declined to pay the remediation vendor the $2,400 bill. I ended up paying it after they (immediately, within 2 weeks of receiving the first invoice) threatened a lien against my house. We would not have engaged this company at all if Allstate hadn't said it was required. Do we have any recourse for getting Allstate to reimburse us this money? Or is getting that refund part of contesting the claim denial?