Help- Insurance Claim, shattered tank, ruined home :(

[neiltus]

Yes, there are two or three people you have to deal with at your insurer.
1. Agent
2. Phone Jockey
3. Underwriter

I adore my insurer, why, because they answer my questions and put me in immediate contact with someone who has real answers, not phone script. The person she spoke with on the phone is the absolutely least qualified person in the entire entity to be telling someone if something is covered or if it is not covered. It's even worse with medical insurance.

Anyways, this gets at something. In all states, insurance is written at the state level. Before going to an attorney, you should contact the state board of insurance. They will want stuff in writing from your insurer...not phone conversations. They will ask for a copy of your policy, and the letter from the insurer denying the claim. I mentioned this earlier, but it is to your benefit to read the policy and understand what your buying. If you don't see exclusions for the stuff others mentioned, it would benefit you to file a complaint with the state board-ask for penalties as well. The state board can and will act 'similar' to a court in deciding the outcome, enforcing it and assigning punitive damages in accordance with state law.

I am not an attorney (but I have them) and this is the first course of action I take with insurance issues-wether it be paying a health claim, or replacing parts on a car that was rear ended at a shop of my choice with new parts.

If you hire an attorney, they will likely do what I am telling you...and bill you as well.

Anyway, the key, everything in writing. Nothing that was 'discussed' via phone is really 'real' or 'evidence'. File your claim for loss as you should in writing. Get a denial in writing. Then go forward.

I think insurers generally allow phone banks to do this...why, I assume there are countless people who don't know better and assume that what is told by the phone person as final.

 

[WitsNWrasse]

Okay guys, so I've been obviously juggling a lot since January but here's an update:

* Visio's "5 year warranty" is a limited warranty and only covers degradation on the silicone. ALSO, cracking is only covered if it occurs before 6 months. So, no luck there.

* Anything that causes the flood/damage is never usually covered by insurance, no matter the policy. Ex: Fridge line breaks and floods house, damage is covered, but new fridge line is not.

*This is some crazy information that i discovered: insurance companies purposely train their employees WRONG so they have no moral issues with denying people's claims. ALWAYS ALWAYS fight it when they deny your claim.

*Everyone needs to look at their "Loss of Use" in their policy. Mine is low. I didn't account for these things:
Loss of use is when your home is deemed "unlivable" and you must be put in other accommodations. Technically, you are supposed to be put in a place with similar conditions as the place of the claim. Ex. I have a 2br 1.5 ba condo, so a similar rental would be found.
HOWEVER, monthly mortgages are far lower than a comparable rental. I may pay 1400 a month for my condo, but a similar condo on the rental market may be 2200. I only had 10k for loss of use, which i now understand is low. If the water damage had been any worse, or if there had been a fire, I would barely be able to pay rent for 5 months, and that doesn't include any food costs. The other thing that I didn't account for is that places really hike up the rent when you have a short term lease. I ended up in a 560 sqft 1 bd/1ba apt and the insurance company was paying 2100 a month. Phew.

*The insurance people that inspect the equipment usually hire an electrician and deem items as "salvageable" or "non-salvageable". I was going to be pretty ****ed if they said all my lights worked and were not a "loss" because they were splashed with saltwater, and we all know how corrosion works. Damage isn't done, and the wires will continue to deteriorate. I was ready to put up a fight for all my equipment to be covered. HOWEVER, the insurance people said they know nothing about aquariums and just stated all my equipment as a total loss, so I will be able to get all new equipment (Win) They might even forget about taking the old equipment"¦.. (extra win)

*Opinion Vs Fact coverage: upholstery is much easier to get a claim on. EX: Curtains deemed "salvageable" and are professionally cleaned. Owner states there is still an odor. Electronics: usually they work or they dont.


If this happens to you, and you are sure you have insurance and that you will be covered, consider these things, as they will be covered under your "Personal Property":
*all linens thrown in puddle can be claimed: towels, bedsheets, blankets. Can claim all linens and get new ones.
*Run to the store and purchase any brute tubs or tanks that you need to hold your fish
*Laminate floors: New floors will be covered outside the original damage if the water travels (i.e. if you walk on the floor a lot or push heavy things over the laminate, the water underneath the plastic sheeting will travel to other areas) OR if they cannot match the floor you have currently. They ended up replacing all the laminate in my entire condo. (Win)
*IF YOUR HOME WAS NOT RECENTLY BUILT: be prepared for asbestos. Mine tested positive. They had to do two abatements. The first one was to take out the bottom third of the drywall wherever it was wet. The demo crew tried to save most of my kitchen (upper cabinets and granite countertops by propping it up on 2x4s). The contractor then came in and was like ***, I can't match these cabinets, everything has to come out. He also couldnt "œreuse" the granite that they had tried to save, because it has to be glued to a finishing board that is drilled into the lower cabinets. If your cabinets weren't recently put in (mine turned out to be a super high end cherry stain- honestly when i bought it i hated the cabinets and thought they were some cheap laminate- shows how much i know about cabinets), then all of them will have to be replaced. See part about laminate flooring. So the abatement crew had to come back to remove the cabinets, granite countertops, granite backsplash, etc.
*If there is any other work that has to be done in your house while the abatement crew is there, your contractor can likely get the crew to just add it in for free. I wanted to run a gas line to my half bath to make it into a laundry room, and since the kitchen was already getting torn up, he just told them that if they wanted the job they would do that and not put it on the invoice. So now I'm going to be able to get my laundry room much easier. (Win)
*Pro Tip: The insurance company isn't going to know what was actually there during the flood. The dry out crew take pics when they get there. IDK, maybe you have some iPhone cords laying around that dont work, or some power strips that unintentionally got mixed up in the water"¦"¦

Things that are not covered:
*Anything Living (so your first priority should be save your dang fish and corals, because if anything dies you are getting zilch for it) This includes pets, plants, fish. However, my adjustor did say that plants were a gray area in some policies and if you lost corals you MIGHT be able to classify them as such. Case by case basis.
*Art (dont use a painting to help soak up the puddle, you'll get 0 for it)
*The item that created the damage in the first place (which was the GLASS tank, but the stand should be covered)




Other things I've learned:
*Geico started as a CAR insurance company, and then decided to branch out into other areas like home insurance. Geico does not specifically handle their home insurance claims, they outsource to other companies, so my actual homeowners insurance was with "œHomesite". They suck. Also, I am going to name names here, Rick Sanchez of Geico in San Diego has the worst customer service manners I have ever experienced. Would not recommend. He yelled at me on the phone and refused to speak with my adjustor, and then proceeded to brag about how much experience he has and that we knew nothing about insurance. Kay. Moving on.
*My adjustor recommended "œSafeco" for homeowners insurance.



Update on my personal situation if anyone cares:
My condo is due to be completed end of May. Brand new kitchen, new granite, new cabinets, new floor. Going with tile, obviously, and getting tile baseboards in my living room so my house is a bathtub. I got a new sliding glass door, and 3k check covering personal property. My fish are being housed by a friend that also works at my LFS, and i seriously CANT thank him enough for doing it. I had to move to arizona in with my parents (ick) because my Loss of Use insurance money ran out beginning of May. Working remotely kind of sucks. My plan now is to upgrade to a 180 peninsula, because why not.
I'm on instagram: @vanessa_rae_ and ill probably be posting up a storm once i get my new tank if anyone wants to see. (is that allowed ? idk the rules"¦.)





Well, maybe this information will help someone. Hope it does !

 

[alton]

Thanks for updating us on such a mess.

 

[Rilelen]

Wow, thanks for the update. Please share your new 180 with us when the time comes!

 

[wrott]

Thanks very much for the real deal insurance scenario.
I hope you can get back to your condo asap, and i'd really like to see the new 180g project! gl

 

[tkeracer619]

I have homesite as well. It can be tough dealing with them but it probably depends on who you deal with. The people I talked to when I got the plan stated everything you said. Given the amount of water I am dealing with they strongly suggested I increase the Loss of Use amount. They were not oblivious to large saltwater aquariums and the damage they cause if they fail. Hope I never have to use it!

Glad you are almost back in your home and that they fixed it!

 

[elbowdeep29]

Ya my buddy had this happen to his 110 reef saved most of his things but the insurance covered everything only because his tank was built in wall so they considered it part of the house. (He used on of his closets​ that faced the living room). Sorry about your house and tank hope all goes well it better for you.

 

[elbowdeep29]

*or gets better for ya*^^^

 

[Rallos]

Sorry for your tank! Hope the new one is even better!

To echo the others here, thanks so much for coming back and updating the thread with good information! I am going to be buying another home soon and I will move my current 220 to there or going full custom and larger so this is a great resource and reminder for me about what I need to do to make sure that I am covered.

 

[WitsNWrasse]

Sorry for your tank! Hope the new one is even better!



To echo the others here, thanks so much for coming back and updating the thread with good information! I am going to be buying another home soon and I will move my current 220 to there or going full custom and larger so this is a great resource and reminder for me about what I need to do to make sure that I am covered.

To expand on that, if there is any warranty on your tank currently, moving it to a new location likely voids it. My LFS passed this information on to me from Visio- so I would say you're probably better off selling your set up and starting fresh in your new home. And sounds like from above if you get it built in it might be covered !


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ERIC85854]

Do I need to do anything for around 5 gallons of water that leaked on the carpet other than try to soak it up? Some of it may have leaked by the baseboards but I can't really do anything about it unless I move the tank. I really don't want to do that unless necessary. Some water damage company is telling me it's black water but I think that's bs right?

 

[TxAggie08]

If it helps- in had 27" of flood water come through my house in August, and you are talking as much repair as we had to do.....you're not going to need all that

 

[Deep Reef]

You can look into hiring an insurance arbitrator I heard they will assist in getting claims properly adjusted


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[outy]

Do I need to do anything for around 5 gallons of water that leaked on the carpet other than try to soak it up?

Get a wet dry vac and vacuum it up asap.

It is not going to be an issue unless you do not dry it quickly

 

[outy]

Not to the two posters above, thread is a yea old. No need to respond unless its to eric

 

[Squampton]

I just called USAA. They said if it's sudden water damage, it's covered (vs a slow leak).

No special rider.

I am not in the US but Canada, and I do rent, and got the insurance company to provide in writing sudden water damage from an aquarium would be covered, however like you mention a slow leak isn't. Has to be catastrophic sudden event.

I also carry 5 million liability since well we don't own the place, and are not on ground floor, but no huge tanks.

 

[Squampton]

....

 

[gsiegel]

I am going to chime in on this...and your not going to like or enjoy some of the answers.

-----SO SORRY! I went through this when my tank was first built and 120 gallons of water ruined our flooring and other things. The company that built the tank covered it but I feel for you and have been there. I am also an attorney and will chime in to some of the comments below.

1. You need to read and understand what your paying for with your homeowner or renter policy, and all insurance policies for that matter. It's very common for agents to sell less coverage to show lower rates.

-----100% correct - do not buy cut rate insurance.

2. Servicemaster, or a water remediation company can help if acted on quickly. Fans (a ton of them) and dehumidifiers can save baseboard (sometimes) and drywall and cabinets. Time + the bacteria that are in our aquariums are not your carpet's friend.

-----Sorry again for the delayed response but also correct. We had multiple high powered fans and wet vac to mitigate the damages and took many pictures and videos to show the insurance company we did everything possible after the flood began.

3. You probably can't sue your insurance company. I don't know the laws in your state, but your policy may call for mediation only. See #1.

-----You need to read your policy but you may be able to sue or the policy may call for arbitration (not mediation)

4. Being able to hold any insurance company liable for something someone who works in their phone bank tells you is next to impossible. Some attorneys will take your money and tell you otherwise. See #1 about in writing.

-----You will get a licensed adjuster and not just someone working in a phone bank. They need to be licensed to advise on your claim and whether or not it is covered depending on what coverage and exclusions your policy may provide. Ultimately ask the adjuster to point you to anything specifically in the policy he/she is referring to if you do not like the response. (I am not looking to take your money or case). Also depending on the state the case may be taken on a contingency basis where the lawyer does not recover any $ unless you prevail and if you do prevail the attorney fees may be paid by the insurance company (and not deducted from what is awarded to you). A lawyer where you live who handles homeowners insurance claims can tell you quickly how it would apply with you.

5. Geico, State Farm and other major insurers suck. I suggest after this is done looking at your states complaint database when selecting a new insurer.

----Do not necessarily disagree. Many others are much worse though. Agree about USAA being good at handling claims as was stated in another post here. Hartford is also good handling claims generally. (Not a selfless promo - just based on my experience against them)

6. Since your in a condo, you might need to look at what is past the drywall. This could involve neighbors or the building. This might be a reason to need an attorney.

-----Agreed - I would consult with an attorney, or even a public adjuster regardless to help guide you. Best of luck to you!

Very sorry and wish you well. Been through this multiple times with overhead fire sprinklers freezing in my office buildings and living in hurricane prone areas. I have found it cheaper to not be covered and to pay for it myself and take steps to prevent it. Your not really out a home....trust me, roof is still there, you still have electric, plumbing and to a certain extent privacy.

 

[Hal]

So sorry to hear. It sounds like you're having a miserable time.

Step 1: ask your insurance company to show you, in writing, the portion of the policy that allows them to exclude your claim. Be polite, courteous, and calm. You'll get a better result than if you scream at the insurance agent. In the meantime, read the entire policy yourself and highlight anything that seems relevant to them covering the situation. Keep in mind that it could be a general exclusion with very broad, vague language, so read carefully.

Step 2: apply common sense to what they show you.

Step 3: I'd personally fight it awhile myself before hiring a lawyer. Lawyers are expensive and it should be a pretty simple exercise to determine if this situation is covered or not. Trust me, 90% of being a lawyer is just reading things carefully to figure out what the document says. Keep in mind that there is an escalation process listed in your policy, so you have that.

Many insurance companies will deny any claim that is different from what they see every day. This might just be a reflexive response by them.

 

[HiImSean]

Guys, the OP is over a year old...