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Patty of Ft. Myers FL (07/11/08)
Harford sent a cancellation notice that they had decided to pull out of the State of Florida. We immediately went through the hassle of finding a new insurance provider. Once we were accepted by the new insurance provider, I called to have our escrow transferred so the coverage would be seamless. The amount in escrow was $4,584. They issued a check for $2,919.00 and told us that we should never have cancelled at this time...it was just a notice that they would not be renewing us. This is totally unacceptable.
Providers in Florida have been difficult since our major hurricane season so we knew that we needed to immediately search for coverage. It was NOT our decision to change...it was Hartford's. WHY should they be allowed to penalize us for their poor business decision? We still need insurance TOO! It is NOT my problem that they are pulling out of the state and I should NOT have to pay for their decisions!
Today is July 11, 2008....this has been going on since May 28th. There is enough trauma with our economy in the state that it is in and getting the notice that we were being cancelled was terrifying. We NEVER put in a claim during all the hurricanes in the past several years even though we had some damage. We decided to underwrite it ourselves and not to add to the drama of the system. I am not whining about that our damage was very minor compared to others, but we certainly did not deserve to be cancelled and certainly did nothing for them to steal our escrow!
Lin of Lincoln City OR (04/30/08)
4/25/08 I fell in my husband's drive way,while on a visit with our grand child .She ran out of the car & I ran to catch her & tripped & fell head first @ the end of the drive way falling into the closed double, garage door. I took most of fall on my shoulder & arm,i was unable to get up ,I thought I had broken my neck& or spine. Both of my adult daughter's witnessed the accident,an ambulance was called & i was transported to the hospital. I was xrayed twice due to severity of break's encompassing from elbow to shoulder,in front & back of my right arm. The pain is unrelenting & the Dr. referred me to an Orthopedic surgeon,I will see him 5/1/08 for possible surgery,my ball socket shoulder was sheared off[DR.@ hospital's quote]& there are two break's in that ball socket/shoulder.
Insurance agent tells me im not covered ,that med/coverage is only for stranger's who are injured on the property?. I explained my policy does not specify that @ all but show's med/coverage. I also explained the house is in My husband's name only & im not listed on the insurance policy either,& in addition I am currently seperated & will most likely get divorced from him & im staying with a friend ,In Portland for now in the interem. Im 61 yr's old,im physically unable to even dress my self, I have no insurance & she say's the company cant help me?? I am legally Blind[cone& Rod Dystrophy] & I simply tripped over my grand child & I feel the insurance he has had nearly three year's with the Hartford should @ the very least , be liable for my medical bill's. My husband's policy also has a $400.000 liability/coverage.
extreme pain ,unable to sleep, walk, dress, feed my self ,this is right arm injury im right handed, im concerned about future use of this arm,due to where break's occured@ Ball socket /shoulder.I cant pay the bills present & future, without my husband's insurance co. realizing there obligation to me & there policy holder ,my husband's policy is in good standing. I have never been involved in a medical claim ever.
Marianne of San Diego CA (04/30/08)
I had damamge in my shower, so I put in a claim. It took over 2 months two settle this. since the HARTFORD does not have a adjustor in SAN DIEGO. I had to deal with a adjustor, in Phoenix. After the claim was finally settled after two months, they dropped me claiming I bounced a check. Untrue and the would not let me pay them for the one month preium they say I missed. What a excuse to drop me, since they had to pay a claim. One month after they paid.
Now I have no homeowners insurance, and my mortgage company is gong to force me to get insurance from them, that is overpriced. I called State Farm and they will not insure anyone that has had a claim in the last 3 years. This is insane and I have tried other companies with the same response. Living in San Diego is very scary with the fires, and no insurance. I need help soon.
Geoff of Boulder CO (04/28/08)
My 91 year old mother left her home to move in with me. The Hartford had all of our contact info. We never received any communications and never got the last bill. The only letter we got stated that the policy was canceled. I called the Griffith Agency to pay the bill and they would not reinstate it after 50 years of my father paying premiums. My feeling is that they watch for the elderly to leave their homes so that they can cancel a policy and charge ridiculous premiums for the empty house. To do this they withhold communications until the policy lapses. The Hartford is despicable.
Jeannette of Plano TX (04/22/08)
The Hartford refuses to tell me whether or not my fence is covered on my existing policy UNLESS I tell them whether or not I have a claim. I asked Lorie Kirk at The Hartford why this information would make a difference and she replied that it DID make a difference in how she would answer that question. She argued with me and threatened to hang up on me but never told me if my fence is covered by my existing insurance policy. Nowhere on my policy is a fence mentioned as either being excluded or included. Aren't insurance companies legally required to inform me of my coverage?
Rameen of Edmond OK (04/07/08)
i would just like to advise as many people as i can that The Hartford in my opinion is lying to there customers and cheating them. I was an employee there for over 6 months untill i started questioning managment about some of the things i felt to be unethical. You can call up about a rate increase and get 10 different reps. and 10 different answers. co-workers of mine were clearly making things up to cover for the companies so called increases and these practices where encouraged and rewarded, once i began digging into what the real reason for the increases where and why employees where being encouraged to tell lies i was let go.
People, honest people are being cheated by this company
Cynthia of Williamsville NY (02/22/08)
Western New York had a declared disaster in Oct. 2006 where we had many trees fall and loss of power for at least 2 weeks due to an unusual snowstorm. We had a large tree from a neighbor's yard fall on our driveway and some fence damage. We put in a claim for tree removal which was $950.00. We paid our deductible of $500.00 and they paid $450.00. We chose not to make a claim for the fence or a rental car since the tree blocked the garage and we couldn't use the car. We did have coverage for this, and the adjuster suggested using the coverage, however we declined. We are insured with The Hartford for our autos, umbrella, homeowners, life and all our commercial policies. It is the only company we use for all our policies. I also have coverage for loss of business through them on the commercial policies, but did not choose to make a claim for loss of business for 5 days. This is because I did not want to be penalized. We also did not claim $2500.00 damage to my vehicle in the summer of 2006 for damage caused while the car sat in a parking lot. We paid out of pocket. We do not make frivolous claims or even legitimate ones for fear that the Hartford will gouge us in higher premiums.
I am now moving to a new home. My agent gave me a price from The Hartford for about $950.00 to insure the new house ($200.00 higher than other companies who don't insure all of our property, life etc.). I accepted that price. My agent called me yesterday and informed me that Hartford was going to raise that premium by $350.00 per year because of the $450.00 they paid me in Oct. 2006 for the declared disaster. I was now going to pay over $1200.00 because I one time used my policy for coverage I pay for. I looked into other insurance coverage for the same home and got coverage for $725.00 for the same coverage and no penalty for the Oct. incident. Furthermore Hartford has that claim down in their records as water damage. It was tree removal. I am in the process of moving all my business from Hartford. I already have auto coverage for one half of what I have been paying Hartford. I am thoroughly disgusted with them and the insurance industry as a whole.
Janine of Las Vegas NV (02/15/08)
My neighbor's tree (insured with Hartford) fell on my patio roof during a wind storm. My neighbor called the report in that night around 7 pm. By 12:30 the next day he had not heard from the company. When he called Hartford he spoke with Steve Domin who refused to pay for the damage. When I called the claims department and spoke with a Steve Domin, he was rude, arrogant, short, and stated he would not pay for any part of the claim; they were not responsible for the damage caused by their clients tree as it was an act of nature. Then he hung up on me. This I reported this to his supervisor Mike Long, who called me back the next day and stated their policy would not cover the damage, unless the tree was dead; they do not cover live trees and that no policy covers trees falling on their neighbor's houses.
When I called the Claims Dept to get an address for Hartford, I spoke with a Ryan who refused to give me an address until I gave him a claim number. When I stated I did not have one, I just needed an address where he was at, he stated I need to know what it is you are sending. When I asked for the executive office's address he again refused; when I asked him what his name was again, he hung up on me. This is my first and last experience with the company. Everyone in the Claims Department specializes in extreme rudeness. I will never buy insurance from Hartford.
My patio roof and house are damaged from Hartford's Insurer's tree. If I go through my insurance company my rates go up.This has caused me undo stress and put in me in a financial bind. I am being penalized for something that was not my fault. My neighbor is wonderful and is trying to resolve this situation through Hartford, but they are washing their hands of it.
James of Kalispell MT (11/05/07)
I turned in a claim to Hartford Insurance for dry rot, wet rot, and mold on a tub surround that we have coverage on. Now they refuse to pay it because of the one tile that has a hairline crack in the grout: we didn't contact them to see it. So now they deny the claim of $5,000.00 and a $500.00 deductible. We received a letter at the beginning stating the coverage is limited to $5000.00. Sounds like on any hairline crack in your house you need to notify them.
We had to replace the entire outside wall, siding, inside wall, insulation, dry wall, and tile.
Bob of East Falmouth MA (07/31/07)
JUST TO LOG one of MANY complaints concerning homeowners insurance.
My homwowners insurance policy premium has changed from $1100. previous year to $1650.00 for this years renewal.
This includes a Wind Hail 2% deductable. There is no justification for the increase. Over just 3 years I have seen my policy jump from $600. to $800. to $1100. and now $1650. This is unacceptable. Our representatives are not reacting fast enough for the already burdened homeowner. This can only mean more foreclosures before anything is done to protect the consumer from these price gouging increases.
Bill of Mcneal, AZ (10/06/05)
We had a home fire in July, 2005. Hartford insurance refuses to pay our additional living expenses, our leases for temporary housing, our inventory or our dwelling rebuild costs.
We suffered loss of our home, all our household contents, one automobile, and our income. We have no money for housing because we still have a mortgage on the home that burned.
Stacey of Washington DC (7/15/03):
Unfortunately, I had a house fire on 18 June 2002. I contacted my insurance company (The Hartford Insurance Company) about the fire and they responded very quickly to the call. On the 21st of Jun 2002, the insurance company sent an adjustor to the house to assess the damages. At the time of the assessment, the adjustor recommended a fire restoration contractor to come out and also assess the damages. I accepted the recommendation of the contractor at that time.
The adjustor and the contractor could not and did not come to an agreed upon repair cost for the damages due to the differences of opinion in the scope of work to be done. On 14 August 2002, The Hartford Insurance company sent the adjustor back to the house along with another contractor to get an agreed-upon repair cost for the damages. At this same time I contacted the original contractor and made sure he was present during this visit.
The original contractor has stated that the adjustor's recommended cost to repair the damages does not equal the scope of work that was to be done. He also stated that it would take approximately four months to complete such a job. Nevertheless, the subsequent contractor that the Hartford brought in stated that his company could and would do the repairs for the amount the adjustor assessed and would complete the job in six weeks.
The Hartford stated to me that since the second contractor stated that his company would do the repairs for the amount the adjustor stated and for a shorter time frame, they would base the repair cost payment on what he stated. Therefore, since my policy states that the insurance company would only pay living expenses for the shortest time it would take to repair the damages, I went with the second contractor the Hartford Insurance company brought in.
I signed a contract with the second contractor on 11 October 2002. The contract stated that the repairs to the home were to start on or before 15 October 2002. After months of contacting the contractor about starting the job, I notified the contractor on 11 December 2002 that the contract that was signed was to be terminated due to non-performance and that the money given as a deposit was to be returned. On that same day, the contractor stated that the delays were due to numerous issues such as sub-contractors charging more than what the repair estimate that he agreed to allowed, and to bad weather. He stated that he would be able to start work on 16 December 2002.
On 16 December 2002, the contractor did start the work that was originally contracted to start on or before 15 October 2002. Between 16 December 2002 and 1 April 2003, the contractor made very few repairs to the home. The few repairs that were made to the home had to be redone because of bad workmanship. On 1 April 2003, the contractor left the house and stated that the company was filing for bankruptcy.
Moreover, I sent the Hartford Insurance Company my personal property claim on 25 September 2002. This claim included many items that were damaged during the fire. As of today 15 Jul 2003, I have not been compensated for any of my major furniture or appliances. The Hartford has settled some of the small items.
As of today, I have had to pay a total of $10,500.00, out of my own pocket for living expenses. I have paid approximately $12,000.00 out of my own pocket for repairs. The insurance company has not paid me the $4900.00 for depreciation and overhead, nor have they paid the $2000.00 taken for the advance payment that we provided many receipts for. They have not paid me for my bedroom suit that was damaged. They kept the bedroom suit and still have not sent payment for it. I even provided a paid receipt to them for the bedroom suit that I purchased out of my own funds. I also sent an addendum to the initial claim on 9 Jun 03. As of 15 Jul 03, I have not received an acknowledgement for that claim.
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July 20 2008
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