Insurance nightmare after car damage caught on camera
BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, Brooklyn (WABC) -- When a Brooklyn visual artist saw her parked car damaged, she had no idea what happened to it.
"The whole entire door was caved in," said Marilyn Dietz. "I thought maybe someone pushed something into it or someone kicked it. Maybe kids on the block, who knows? So, I called 911. I was in tears."
Dietz had a mystery on her hands but managed to do some detective work and obtain both surveillance video and some cellphone pictures, which pointed to an employee at Family Dollar.
An MTA worker had snapped a photo after hearing the car crunch and gave the young mom and her daughter the picture, then a local landlord shared the surveillance clip.
"So, I guess he's loading dollies onto that larger cart and then I guess maybe he turns his back and the cart rolls right into my car," Dietz said. "Numerous dollies are traveling toward my car and then there's impact. And, he walks towards the dollies and he tries to remove them and drag them up. And, he didn't even acknowledge the damage that he did. He didn't leave a note."
She showed the video to the store manager and was given Family Dollar's claims administrator, Sedgwick.
Their loaded dolly did a lot of damage. It cost more than $5,000 to fix, her insurance paid $4,000, leaving Dietz on the hook for her $1,000 deductible. Now, almost a year after her Volvo got bashed, she's still trying to recover that cash.
"Because I didn't cause the damage, it was the negligence from someone else and I had the proof of that," she said. "So, why should I have to pay for someone else's negligence? I just wanted to be compensated or reimbursed for the money that I put out."
7 On Your Side contacted the store's claims manager and a representative called her during our interview and she learned they would release the payment.
Family Dollar's claims administrator stated it didn't have all the information to process the claim prior. But, she got a digital check for her deductible, $1,000, as soon as 7 On Your Side got involved.
"I'm thrilled," Dietz said. "Thank you 7 On Your Side and your whole entire team, thank you so much."
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