USAA Homeowners Insurance

I am currently deployed overseas and found out the other day that USAA will not be renewing our homeowners insurance. I have been a member with them for 15 years. Back in 2009, when I had to file a claim due to damage to our roof from a major windstorm, USAA sent one of their contractors to access the damage and make their recommendation back to USAA. The recommendation from the USAA contractor was the entire roof needs to be replaced. USAA denied the request and only paid for the roof to be patched.

In September 2009, we had another major storm that came through with high winds and more damage was done to the roof along with a flood inside the house from the roof. Another claim was filed and again, USAA contracting company recommended the roof to be replaced. USAA would only pay for the roof to be patched and the damages inside house. December 2009, another major storm with high winds and the roof was damaged again by shingles being removed and lying throughout the yard. Another claim was filed and USAA contracting company again suggested that the entire roof needs to be replaced.

This time after arguing with USAA for two months on this issue, they agreed to pay for the roof to be replaced. Now if they would of listen to their contracting company the first time, we would not have had to file three claims. Due to their neglect, we, the customer have to pay for it by being dropped and having to pay a higher premium with another company. I was paying $1,959 a year. The first quote I received was for $8,900.00 a year. I thought USAA was about taking care of service members and veterans. It doesn't appear to be the case.

USAA is great until you need them to pay a claim. USAA builds its business on the idea that they take care of military members and their families. As an active duty service member, currently deployed to the Middle East, I can tell you that this is not true in my case. USAA is currently refusing to pay a $10,000 home owner's insurance claim for water damage caused by a leaking mater bathroom tub faucet. In the adjuster's opinion, the damage was caused by a long term problem, longer than 14 days, and is therefore not covered by my insurance policy. Keep in mind that: a) this leak was in a place that is impossible to be seen by the observer, and b) it was fixed as soon as it was discovered. Even USAA's contractor stated that he had seen a leak like ours that cause the amount of damage we experienced in as little as 5 days. It's a shame when the company you trust lets you down by trying to use loopholes to avoid honoring their commitment to you.

I suffered water damage due to faulty piping, wiring, etc. by the stupid contractors of the "Ranch Subdivision" here in Byram, MS. We have had USAA for about eight years. At that time, our house was robbed, didn't file a claim, had a fender bender, didn't file a claim.

Now last month, I woke up to water covering my ankles in my bedroom and everywhere else in the house except my kids' room. I placed a claim. Lord, they wanted me to get the plumber out first, then water remediation, then contractors. Well, it didn't go that route at all because of miscommunication by the representatives. It is now July 28, 2011 and I just got the plumbing fixed, and the remediation company will be out.

Oh, mind you, they sent the adjuster out on the last week--three weeks after the damage. My son has asthma. They didn't want to put me up in a hotel; I had to call every two days begging for monies to be allocated for hotel stays. I ended up spending all my savings in this tight economy on hotels (which they ended up paying seven days later). I had to spend another 1300 on plumbing myself.

Now the adjuster, Ms **, had the nastiest attitude I've ever seen. Some of my personal items were damaged such as couches, clothes, etc. I was told to take my clothes to the dry cleaner to see if they could be salvaged. Same thing with my couches. I was floored simply because of the length of time that all these items were exposed to the moisture.

I'm very disappointed, still living in a home that has an odor, just got water back a day ago, and living like a refugee. The only adjuster who was understanding and nice was Ms. **. She was initially my claims point of contact. It's a shame that we pay years on a "possibility" that something may happen, but when it's time to report a problem, you face hell and attitudes. I don't know what else to say but I will be investigating other insurance companies before I leap and say yes to one that "supposedly" caters to the military and their families.

I purchased my home in April 2008. I had homeowner insurance with USAA. One of my bedrooms caught on fire. USAA Insurance hired vendors to remodel the house and restore the contents that were in the house. USAA still owes me money for items that I need to replace. This claim has been a battle with USAA. I made contact with the Georgia Insurance Commissioner (GIC) in May 2010 on this matter. I feel that this is in retaliation because I filed a complaint with GIC. When it was time to renew my homeowner insurance policy, I received a letter from USAA dated 28 Feb 2011. The policy was due for renewal on April 2011. The policy was cancelled effective 5 April 2011. This issue has caused major stress on me and my family. I have contacted several national insurance companies to purchase homeowner insurance but their guidelines are the claims have to be 3-years-old or more. I am having difficulty finding affordable homeowner insurance. I am the only financial provider in my home.

I am refinancing my house with USAA. I was supposed to close on the house today, December 20, 2010. However, USAA has not contacted me nor have they answered repeated phone calls or emails. This is the latest in a series of events that reflects horribly on USAA. As soon as USAA received on November 5, their customer service has been nonexistent. I have dealt with three loan processing individuals all of whom simply ignore simple requests like, is my closing still scheduled for today. Refinancing a mortgage is a stressful experience. Missing this refinancing could cost me hundreds of thousands of dollars in interest fees.

I filed a claim on 10/28 that was a burglary and theft claim that included ID theft. Made the appointment to discuss the claim with the adjuster. She never called. She advised me I needed to do a phone interview with her. I advised her we were suppose to do that when she failed to call so I will provide a written statement to save us both time. She said great.

After I did that, she then transferred to another adjuster Joseph who did nothing until I contacted him. He said he needed a recorded statement. I went into detail about how the other adjuster accepted my statement instead he said, "I don't care." So I set up a time with him on Thursday to conduct this. He never called. When they were confronted today with the facts and that I spoke with the executive office and they said a written statement is sufficient, I was told, "Too bad. I am transferring your claim to be investigated."

USAA intimidation not impressive and very poor service. This is the second problem I have had with them. The first was on a car accident that they still owe me wage loss and medical that was for an accident not even my fault. Not a very good company anymore.

On 10/26/2010, I telephoned our homeowner's insurance company, USAA to report that our dishwasher had malfunctioned, and that water had leaked out in front of the dishwasher in a puddle on a plastic 1" deep mat, and that water was dripping from a can light ceiling fixture, simultaneously downstairs. We also noted two areas on the downstairs ceiling, the largest being about 9" wide by 3' long directly under the dishwasher and the other area of discoloration was around the can light, where the dripping occurred.

At no time did USAA mention, or recommend calling Servpro, or other type of water remediation service. Instead, the first of 3 adjusters told us to call one of the 3 contractors they gave us, and asked them to come out and estimate the property damage. We were finally able to arrange for a contractor on 11/3/2010, who told us that we, ourselves could not set up their visit, but that USAA had to have that contractor be placed on "a property direct repair program for assignment".

After I told this to the USAA adjuster, and that she did not tell us the correct procedure, she finally sent our info to the contractor (**), who came to our home on 11/5/2010 and only took some photos and a few measurements. I don't recall that he even asked us what happened. I have taken extensive notes to date, and photos and recordings. The contractor happened to mention something randomly in our conversation about Servpro, and I said, "shouldn't they at USAA have told us to do something about the water damage first?"

The gentleman, Ryan **, from the contractor, **, said that yes, normally the water issue is dealt with first, and that the contractor is called secondarily. I said that the USAA rep had incorrectly advised us, and had never mentioned anything about possible mold problems, or continued wet areas due t the broken dishwasher.

From there, the problems began. I have been reading books about mold, and found out that it begins within 24 to 48 hours of wetness. USAA is now trying to say that our sudden malfunction of the appliance, which caused several areas of damage to the cabinetry around the dishwasher, the kitchen floor and the ceiling downstairs, is not sudden, but a long term leak. There is mold, of course, since so much time has passed with USAA never advising us initially about mold issues, which are not covered in Virginia, or our policy. I maintain that our policy states that the ensuing property damage from the breakage of the appliance is covered (except for the dishwasher itself), and that the property damage, including the mold that has formed on the downstairs ceiling insulation (area less than 10feet by 10feet), the still wet kitchen sub-floor and surrounding wood cabinets, is caused by the covered peril,listed in our policy. I already noted from conversations, with the second of 3 adjusters, that USAA is backpedaling on what they intend to cover.

Meanwhile, we have been without the use of our dishwasher since about 10/21/2010. Servpro has had "air movers" and "dehumidifiers" for 3 days, yet the flooring still registers wet. As more time goes by, we are concerned about further mold formation, and resulting health issues. I am already immuno-compromised and disabled, and my husband is currently unemployed. There is a 6" x 6" hole cut by Servpro in our downstairs ceiling, which the initial Servpro guy said, since he saw mold on the ceiling insulation, he had to call in their certified mold guy, who came in, and took photos upstairs and downstairs, and wetness measurements, and was supposed to give us his estimate of remediation necessary, before anything else could go forward.

He came to our home on Friday, 11/12/2010. We are very concerned that USAA is trying to claim that they aren't going to cover much, due to the damage being from a long term leak, which it is definitely not. We also note that we, for several years, have been using Hunter Air Purifiers in most of our rooms, which may help dry out and help cleanse the air. Our kitchen floor still registers wet, and the sub-floor under the ceramic tile and cabinetry bottoms next to dishwasher area are discolored, and possibly wet. We are afraid for our health, that of my 11 yr old daughter, and for our wallet. What recourse do we have at this point?

USAA is canceling homeowners policy on our home that is for sale and vacant. We have been with USAA for over 25 years and no homeowners claims. No other insurance company will cover our home. USAA referred us to American Modern for four times the normal homeowners premium. Our premium went from $581 per year to $2362 per year. This is unjust and unfair business practices by USAA and I hope the law will prevent this kind of activity.

On Aug. 13, we discovered water leaking from the ceiling in our dining room. The master bathroom is above that dining room so we called a plumber who discovered that the shower pan was leaking. We called USAA and were informed that everything but actual plumbing work (work on the lines etc.) was covered by our insurance as well as any finish work (repairing the ceiling) that had to be done. The leak was due to a cracked pan. A restoration company came and put blowers. dehumidifiers, etc. in the house.

The plumber replaced the shower (an acrylic set = pan and walls) and we paid $2100. The bill was faxed to USAA. Ms.**, the USAA adjuster, then informed us that we submitted a claim from a plumber and plumbing work was not covered. The bill is very specific as to what work had been done, there's no mention of any work on the actual plumbing. When we asked who but a plumber could have done the work we did not get an answer. The claim for the dryout as well as the finish work will not be paid either! 2 1/2 years ago, we had the same problem and USAA paid the same plumber for the same work without a problem minus our $500 deductible of course. USAA at that time refunded to pay for a new shower door since that is considered a 'luxury' item. At this point we are getting ready to hire an attorney!

We then get another call a week later and were told they would not cover they pad as it was not damaged and would have to accept a lesser amount. 2 problems here, you cannot get the new carpet warrantied without replacing the pads and their replacement offer was drastically reduced. I have been trying to contact them for 3 days and no one will answer or return my calls. They seem very eager to talk when a payment is due but not so very much when they owe me.

I have been with USAA for 40+ years with both auto and house insurance. When I went to renew my house insurance, they doubled the cost. No reason given. So, I just went with another company for 1/3 the USAA cost. They claim that they hold part of your fees in case of their unexpected expense. You think that they returned this fee when I left, but they didn't. I just went with another insurance company!

I was shocked to see the wrong roof laying on top of my house. Being a rather cooperative spirit, I opted not to make a huge fuss about the wrong color but I turned my concern to USAA as a complaint to avoid this happening to others. They did nothing but turn over a check to the roofer. I paid my deductible upfront and everybody got what they wanted but me.

Over the next 2 years, I have had several problems with the roof and water damage. C&H roofing failed to properly install and seal the flashing at the chimney and outlets at the roof. I contacted USAA each time this occurred because of ongoing water from rain running in the walls of my living room. The result has been ongoing without any recompensation for the damages. I have had to pay out of pocket to have repairs done as I could afford to do so because the cost was less than my deductible.

Several weeks ago, we had heavy rains. This time my house was in standing water. USAA again promoted their preferred service providers. This turned out to be another questionable business tactic. The adjustor came to my home with one of the providers, and what occurred was insulting to me. I am the homeowner and was very clear that my selection of a service provider would be based on exactly who the service provider was really servicing. As it turns out, the provider's role is to perform work that meets USAA's standard in keeping costs to minimum. Me and my property are second rate in this equation and is further supported in the lack of any communication from either USAA or their "preferred provider" for weeks.

May 6th our home suffered water damage cause by water line breaking on the toliet. USAA is not recoginizing some damages and acusing us of of being dishonest to inflate our claim. We have provided all information,pictures letter and USSA is still dening our additional claim. Also USAA is canceling our Homeowners and Auto policy. Other information is avaiable upon request

Property Insurance claim on 10/10/2008. Still waiting for payment. Property Insurance claim on 1/24/2009. After my first claim the company changed my policy to a fire policy without my approval. My house was damaged and is unliveable. I leave several meaasges a week with no responce. I spoke to a supivisor who was rude and told me that nothing could be done that my policy was in underwriting for review.I have no place to live and I am waiting for Insurance company to tell me something either way.

I have no place to live. Extreme emotional stress due to no place to live, repair bills, bank problems beacuse i need additional funds to complete repair. I have no money to live or complete repairs. My tools were stolen so I cannot do repiars myself. More things were stolen from my home because I do not have the money to fix the damage done to the house when entry was gained PLEASE HELP!

Warning: Please do not call USAA asking if their is anything you can do to lower your Homeowners Insurance premiums? They will sweet talk you into reassessing, only to have your rate go up. As a lifelong member, this is the angriest I've ever been at USAA for misleading me.

Increase premium by $120

Is there anything that can be done to help me?