AARP/Hartford Homeowners Insurance Reviews

To cite an examples: Before installing a brick wall around my home, I had a wooden fence surrounding my yard. There happened to be a severe wind storm that caused it to fall down. When calling this old company, I was rudely told "You should have replaced it with something more sturdy." If one was on limited funds, replacement is not an option. Finally, they were going to not insure my home unless the paint around the bottom of the roof (facia) was repainted. Again: no MONEY, no Painting. I feel the bigger the company, the more they tend to gouge the homeowner.

Contractor finished work as quickly as possible…bill was over $1,000. Sent pictures to Harford to show work was completed two weeks before cancelation date. Got letter from Hartford stating we just did not get work done quickly enough and after 35 years of business with them that they would cancel the policy and to not apply to them again. Numerous calls to Hartford all lead to the same response...a decision had been made and could not/would not be reviewed.

At nearly 90 years old am forced to find a new insurance company. This company is sponsored by AARP but when contacting AARP they simply say we do not get involved with companies we sponsor. A black eye for AARP and a very sad statement for Hartford Insurance. If you are over 50 would be very leery of doing any kind of business with this insurance company! 35 years of business and then this type of treatment towards the elderly speaks volumes about this company. Don't you think?

They are insisting I have to clean the carpet before they would consider replacing the carpet. Totally illogical to me to clean a carpet when two independent contractors have advised it should be replaced. They send some $$ towards the damage with no clear explanation what the $$ are for and how they calculated the amount. Wish I had known that Hartford is in the top FIVE insurance companies known to operate in BAD Faith before I purchased this policy. AARP members should be alerted to this and AARP should find a better insurance company to partner with for insurance needs of their members.

After his initial evaluation he determined that he needed to get an engineer here to assess the roof as he wasn't quite sure (even though he told me he had been doing this for 15 years.) An independent engineering firm was hired by the Hartford adjuster (and paid for by The Hartford) to come out and assess my roof. Both our contractor and one of his assistants felt certain that we have hail damage and were totally baffled as to how the Hartford Adjuster and Donan Engineering have come to the conclusion that we have no damage to the roof.

I might add that EVERY home surrounding us has or will be receiving new roofs. This includes both homes to our immediate right and left, behind us and directly across the street. Several others in our neighborhood and the neighborhoods immediately behind and next to us are getting roof replacements as well. In all practicality, how is it possible that JUST our house while also sustaining siding damage was able to avoid damage to the roof?? Do we have a special dome???

As a side note, we were apologized to several times in the manner of how our claim has been handled. Our claim initially was sent to the wrong department, then I was given an incorrect phone number that I had to follow up on, the curtness of the Hartford adjuster and his unprofessional appearance. Obviously there is an issue with our adjuster. Our Hartford claim representative, stated that we would have our reports promptly. It took four weeks to receive the written assessment for our claim and the engineering report from Donan engineering regarding our roof. I was under the impression that the AARP Homeowners Insurance Program stands behind it promise to go the extra mile and exceed my claim service expectations. It is sad to see that these expectations has not been met.

To assess the validity of the Donan Engineering report on my roof, I paid $500.00 to have had another inspection of my roof by a HIAAG Certified Roof Inspector from the Claims Assistance Team. The detailed report provided by the Claims Assistance Team on my home identified that not only does my roof have hail damage, but the assessment of overall damage costs provided by The Hartford Insurance Company were substantially lower than the damages identified by the adjuster and certified HIAAG roof inspector from the Claims Assistance Team. There were many items either missed or left off the by the Hartford adjuster and Donan Engineering.

I contacted my states department of insurance and filled out a complaint form. I contacted the regional director at the Hartford and provided my complaint Form, Claims Assistance Team's detailed report of damages and estimate cost. I requested fair and equitable compensation for damages sustained to my dwelling, structures, and contents based on the damage assessment and associated cost provided by the Claims Assistance Team. Given the overwhelming evidence and the threat of taking this issue to the states department of insurance, the Hartford had no choice but to award me me the full amount of my request. By being persistent on my request, obtaining a second opinion, and not taking the first offer, I was able to increase my recovery from $7600.00 to $27,500.00.

I called them immediately and they said the reason for cancellation was a failure to pay. I explained that I had updated the address when I paid it in full previously and was happy to go through the process again as well as pay up in full as well as set up an auto-pay feature if they had it. I asked what the billing address they had on file was and they gave the old billing address. They then said that the initial failure to pay allowed them to "review" our policy and they had decided to cancel us. I mentioned our willingness to pay in full and to avoid the same problem in the future but they said no, search for coverage locally, and that they do apologize. No customer loyalty, care, or concern of any kind. A company with a total lack of character or morals.

To be honest, we have an insurance claim that was called in about four years ago for damage caused by a water heater, which based on the reaction of the insurance industry, I must have planned and executed. Since then, it has been my destiny to be punished with higher home insurance rates for five years until I learn my lesson (obviously, to never file a claim). It is worth mentioning that I no longer own the home that the damage occurred in (no matter, the person is being held accountable, not the house). Also, one of us in the household has a moving violation, also four years old. That too, is an excuse for higher insurance rates for five years. The game being played here, is "risk". No, not the board game... rather the means to an end for higher rates and profit for the insurance industry. Again, to be fair, AARP/Hartford did not invent the higher rate category due to claims and tickets... all companies do this.

Back to present day. I saw the bus coming (based on a previous history with this company), but got run over nonetheless. Our home insurance premium rose twenty percent (in our case ~$400.00). Our auto insurance premium rose a modest one percent. All of this after applying all the "discounts" that they offer, to include the plug-in gadget that gathered driving profiles in our cars for six months, excellent credit ratings for both of us, etc. So, I called the company to ask why the rates, regardless of all the discounts, increased. The answers... get ready because some of this not new information for some of you... we live in the mid-west, with lots of storms, so home insurance rates will increase due to bad weather, plus the representative let slip the word "lawsuits", but quickly recovered and never mentioned that word again. There was no clear answer for the slight increase of the auto insurance.

Being curious and playing along with the "mid-west" theory, I asked what the average increase of home insurance was for the past couple of years in our area. The answer was "fifteen percent". If true, then I have a fair idea of what will happen to our home insurance rates for the forthcoming years should we stay with this company. Where do we go from here one might ask? We decided to suffer with this insurance company for at least one more year. Why? We want to rid ourselves of the insurance claim and ticket burdens before we switch to another company.

Those two issues need to go away before we start this process all over again. Meanwhile, we will shop for another company that MIGHT... actually offer a good rate for home and auto, then stick with their offer of reasonable rates in the years thereafter. I understand increases in price due to replacement costs, etc, but not in the $400 range. We'll see what comes up and hopefully I have not just described the quest for the holy grail of the insurance world! My recommendation for this particular company? Look elsewhere or try them for a year with the idea of shopping for another company before renewal. Who knows, they may get the hint and actually follow through with rates that make sense for more than one year. Good luck!

UPDATED ON 06/14/2016: This is an update to a review I posted last year 2015 regarding premium increases of our homeowners and auto insurance policies from 2014 to 2015. As expected, there was an increase of the homeowners premium of 25% for 2016. This "bill" was sent to us after the policy had been cancelled and replaced by another policy/company. It seems once you become a customer of Hartford, it is hard to rid yourself of them and their emails. I have already contacted Hartford to confirm our cancellations of the policies (home and auto), however, the policy bill notices continue to arrive.

Fortunately, we have not suffered any loss of escrow funds through our mortgage company (they acknowledged the change of insurance provider), plus we did not have any automatic payments set up for auto premiums. A brief history of premium increases from 2014 to this year include an increase of 20% in year 2015, and the latest, 25% for this year (had we continued with Hartford). Overall, from the beginning, year 2014, to this year, there was an increase of 32%. This, with no claims, late payments, or anything else that would have prompted an increase of this magnitude.

We have since clarified through our new/current insurance provider, what a reasonable increase of premium can be (specifically the homeowners policy) and the answer is... ~5%. This due to replacement cost increases (materials, labor, home valuation, etc). Our current insurance provider has a local office and agent, that has made the communication between ourselves and them, much easier and less stressful. We cannot emphasis more, how this type of business relationship/communication has helped us, to understand our insurance needs, clarify our expectations and establish long term goals. Again, good luck!!

In 23 years with Hartford for our homeowners, we have Never had one claim. I felt like our claim rep, **, was rude and very cold and calculating. We had just had our beautiful perfect house flooded and she lacked empathy and did what she was trained to do - save the company as much money as she could, I even suspected age discrimination because we were seniors. She was quick with smart answers - which I didn't appreciate. I hope nothing more traumatic than that happens to our house and I especially hope we never have to deal with ** again. I was so disappointed in this experience because we have had car claims with Hartford and everyone has always been so nice and caring about our loss..

On January 31st via regular mail, we received a notice of cancellation.. and when we called we were told: 1) we were located in a "CAT" zone (the house is on the north shore of Long Island); 2) we made 1 claim in 15 years with our previous ins. company and the Hartford has very strict guidelines and we obviously did not fit within their guidelines. I pressed the rep as to what a "CAT" zone is (as we are not in a flood zone, etc. ) and his answer was that we were in a high wind area. I asked why we weren't advised that there was a possibility that the policy, while in underwriting, could be cancelled and again no satisfactory answer. Which leads me to believe this was nothing more than a bait and switch; although they had nothing to switch us to. Their big accommodation is that they are giving us until 3/1/2015 to find other coverage. We went to The Hartford because we felt that AARP vetted them ..but apparently not.

This is out-and-out fraud; We gave up our other insurance only to now have to scramble to find coverage. One can only imagine if this happened to an elderly person how confusing & scary this would be. My other thought was that they do not want to write insurance for homes on Long Island and I would ask AARP if they follow up to investigate how many LI policies they've written within the past year. With Google earth and websites in abundance The Hartford could have easily googled the address and determined very early on that we were in a "CAT" zone or not an insurable property. This is incompetency at its highest and I'm disappointed in AARP for sponsoring/lending their good name and reputation to such an inept group. Again we are not questioning The Hartford's guidelines as governed by the State of NY but omitting such pertinent information is deceitful not to mention harmful.

WOW! Did we get a surprise when they started repairs, a lot of inside damage. So we once again reached out to the insurance company to help with inside repairs. Nope not covered, not due to natural causes. To make a longer story shorter HARTFORD AARP HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE is not worth the thousands you give them every year. So you're welcome for my donation AARP...Inside damage, replace 2 walls inner and outer and carpeting three foot of flooring and framing, one entire bathroom outer wall and replace rotting floor, had to take off siding and windows to replace both walls inner and outer. And oh the ceiling repairs. So guess what all this cost us and saved AARP. Would not and making sure to let every contractor and repairman, and salesperson that I have dealt with that has said you have homeowners insurance just how good my trusty insurance that is exposed to ease my mind is.

When I called the Hartford, I was told not only was the policy cancelled immediately when the check did not arrive on the due date (no grace period even after years of faithful on-time payment), but that they would not even consider reinstating the policy. I was told to find someone else. I do realize my dear old mom did send the money late, but I find the Harford's actions, while perhaps within the letter of the law, callous on a personal level. I hope that no one else makes the mistake of doing business with them and that all those connected with the AARP/Hartford program, and their families, get treated in life exactly as they treated my 91 year old mother.

I told him I have a hearing loss. He asked me why didn't I get hearing aids then! He made fun of me having hearing loss and not having hearing aids, called my daughter a young man. Embarrassed her! He told me what he wanted me to do with my child. She was busy, quietly listening to the radio in the back of my office. Told me she could not listen to the radio. Blocked my wheelchair, then my passage to turn it down. Claimed this was all because I didn't have good enough handwriting on a form, that he had to record me in person.

I have Parkinson like tremors in my hands and arthritis. I wanted limits on the form he insisted I sign. That said, he could access any and all documents on me including medical, financial, private mail, everything without limits. And he yelled at me. He told me that I couldn't have any choice about it and if I refused access to any private information, they would cancel my claim. And he told me I had to release medical information. I said it wasn't fair, that I could show him my medicine, that my medical was private. I tried to give him the medicine and he said he was done! He left threatening me.

Servpro came out on Monday, May 19, and began extracting and manipulating my contents (as they call it). Wasting time extracting water out of throw rugs, which we told them we were throwing away and could have been thrown in a garbage bag and removed. Puts all area rugs out on our lawn, was going to throw them rolled up in our garage. Threw our contents everywhere, without respect for our personal property. Wet stuff on floor now on couch and furniture. Never had any other equipment to check anything.

My daughter was trying to call adjuster, but couldn't get a hold of him. In walks supervisor, who asked where she was and they told her and she says I'm talking to him now. WOW, we have no idea who it was and never even talked to him, yet, but she was. Kinda unethical if you ask me. Daughter talks to him, tells him they have no place to sleep, he says you have running water, she says yes, you have a place to cook, yes well he says we will get you a cot or mattress and throw it on the floor for you to sleep on. This is before we find out we have no HOT water!!

Servpro's supervisor talks to our adjuster again, then comes outside and says insurance isn't covering it. It will cost $4200 finish job, but she would take $3500. But we owed her $1700 for what they did as of NOW. Husband heard them talking in garage saying they could make interest off us if we couldn't pay. Told us she would walk away for $1000... Gave her the money, got a HANDWRITTEN receipt, claims she would send one to us in the mail, month later, no receipt. Told us we would need 20 fans to rent and 4 dehumidifiers. Called her back and asked how much it would cost just to dry out our finished basement. Have never received a call back or estimate to it.

Had to called another company who came out on May 20. Found out we had no hot water, stayed in a Motel from May 18 - 27 due to no hot water. Told our adjuster, told my daughter what our responsibilities were, first priority was to get the water and basement dry, told him we were and then we needed to get an electrician, plumber, heating, and air techs out to check our appliances out. And he was sending an independent adjuster out. And stated they were not covering any water damage because it was considered water backup. Lightning hit our home and knocked out sump, but yet would not cover damage. Very rude.

She called his supervisor, and asked for another person to handle our claim, which they did, but she isn't any better than he was. Now we owe this new company $3,974. They ended up removing 4 feet of our drywall, chair railing, wallpaper, and baseboard. Have complied with everything Hartford wants, had water heater fixed, had electrician out, has been verified lightning hit our home, water heater, sump and basement. Lost 85% of contents in basement. Had plumber out, even stating water heater contributed to water damage. Their independent adjuster even told us water heater contributed. Waiting on heating and air.

Talked to our new claim rep on June 6, said she was unfortunately unable to get claim reviewed that day and hung up. Needless to say, she forgot to tell us she was going to be gone until June 17. Called her supervisor, and he has yet to respond back. She calls on June 17 late afternoon and informs us that they would only be paying 2 days of our motel bills, cuz there was no reason a tech could not have fixed that water heater in a day but would give us 2 days (like she was doing us a favor) and that none of the water damage would be covered even after a MASTER Plumber and their adjuster said the water heater contributed to the damage. She called it co-mingled and would not cover anything water damage related. And we spent half the day on June 16 and almost all day on June 17 faxing her all her required things she wanted, receipts, estimates, electronics diagnostically tested, bills we had to pay and pictures. Only to be told she was discarding it all. Only wants lightning damaged and nothing water damage.

Back to square one. So needless to say a month later, over $10,000 out of pocket and still wants us to hand out more money and to be told nothing's covered except lightning damaged items and it must say that and has been emphasized many times or it won't be covered. Rates have also gone up due to their new fire station rules and inflation. Funny how everything goes up, but your retirement savings are being dwindled by these companies demanding higher rates year after year. We will be getting a new insurance company after this is resolved, if it ever is.

Their grandmother was then put in the local hospital, and then transferred to a Hospice facility for about 5 days, all the while in a coma, eventually passing away Nov. 30, 2013. On Jan 1, 2014, my niece called The Hartford explaining that the property had been transferred to In The Estate of XYZ on Nov 27, 2013, (which is oddly while mom was in a coma in Hospice, 3 days before she died Nov 30, 2013) promising to send validating documents shortly. She went on to explain that since she was the trustee, and that the property was in a revocable trust, she as trustee, was immediately cancelling the insurance policy and instructing The Hartford to issue a refund of the balance of the unused prepaid annual premium, sending it to her.

The Hartford was unable to issue the $1,370.06 unused prepaid premium as a credit to the charge card, and instead sent a check payable to the trust in C/O my niece. Without telling or asking me, or even subsequently informing me, The Hartford followed phone instructions of an unrelated 3rd party, cancelling my homeowners insurance coverage, issuing a refund of prepaid insurance premium to this unrelated 3rd party, leaving me uninsured and unnecessary subject to needless liability and failing to inform me afterwards. Just to be clear: The property was never part of the estate, nor was it ever in the name of a trust. Any documents submitted to The Hartford showing otherwise are fraudulent and invalid.

Hartford's phone agent told me that all of these phone conversations are recorded by The Hartford, and that they can easily be reviewed at any time, even ones from back in Jan 2014. The Hartford phone agent also said all of the related documents including ones validating the trust transfer submitted by my niece, and a copy of the refund check are all on file and readily obtainable without difficulty. I would like to see any and all related documents, correspondence and have made available, all recordings of these phone conversations cancelling my insurance as soon as possible. I am now without insurance, an intolerable situation. I suggest The Hartford replace coverage, and because the refund money is likely gone. I am willing pay the refunded balance to The Hartford right now, if The Hartford is willing to reinstate coverage until Aug 23, 2014 as was our original arrangement. This matter should have been verified with me, their insured, well before taking any such drastic action. I trust they agree. I sure hope so.

The puppy did not intend to bit me, she was trying to get out of the carrier. Did I explain she is 4 lbs. If any human being can not manage to get away from a 4 lb. puppy, they are not welcome in my home. Are you kidding. The agent told me they could not insure me because my vicious canine. What???? Just to really irritate me, they then sent me a letter, again explaining they could not insure me because of the biting canine. You have to be kidding. I guess they cannot handle any risk. They should not be in the insurance business. Cannot imagine what they are like if you put in any kind of claim. Probably much like Allstate, one claim they will likely drop you. So what is the point of paying premiums. They like the money, but with no risk.

In the meantime, we were bracing for another cold-wave so I had the repair done, the cost $1500. The agent was advised and faxed the invoice, promising to send out an adjuster who didn't show up for 2 weeks. (Imagine if I had waited all that time!) Still wary, it seemed to take the ground an incredible amount of time to dry, so I called the plumber out again to re-inspect. After a few fretful calls due to scheduling conflicts, they left me a bad message and stated that there was no continued leak. Assured, I waited for the agent to call back. When she did, she wanted the plumber to call her with the details. I contacted the plumber who didn't seem still angry, and he agreed to notify her of the details.

Well after following up with him for 3 more days, they finally connected. She left me a message that she had all the information she needed and was ready to proceed to process my claim. Some more weeks pass and I get a call from another agent telling me she was newly assigned to my case, and that the plumber told her the cold temperatures had nothing to do with my pipe bursting, that it was due to "wear and tear" (underground?), and that my claim was denied. She assured me the decision was final, and there was no appeal process. I felt the plumber's embittered attitude towards me, sabotaged my claim and Hartford let me down in their unprofessionalism. I will be seeking other alternatives for homeowners and auto coverage immediately.

During all the interactions I had with the people I spoke with, NONE of them expressed any sense of compassion or urgency to help me get the policy activated except for one person; I believe her name was Lucinda. The others were more interested in talking over me and defending their position. As I waited to speak with a manager I started thinking what kind of service would I get if I ever had to file a claim. That's when I made the decision to return to the company I had been with for years and knew I could trust. Within a half hour I had the quotes and policies activated for 2 auto, 2 homeowner and 1 umbrella coverage.

For a company who is targeting the Senior population they need some help in listening, compassion, empathy and offering solutions with options rather than coping attitudes, talking over people and being down right rude. Even better when I called to cancel, they were again rude and only emailed the forms to cancel my auto policies. I have news for them, I stopped the EFT on ALL policies and expect to get refunds for all policies. If not, I will be contacting the WA State OIC and a local consumer advocate thru our local television station KING 5 in Seattle. Do Not do business with The Harford.

However, I just refinanced my home mortgage and the person who was working with me to do this was shocked at how much I was paying, which encouraged me to finally find the time to comparison shop. To make a long story short, as embarrassing as this is, I've been paying over $2000/yr more for auto insurance than anyone else is quoting (Liberty Mutual, Geico, Progressive, Safeco) and over $1000/yr more for homeowners. That's over $3000/yr more than I should be paying - for basically the same policies. I've been with them for 8 1/2 years! How long have I been overpaying like that? How many trips around the world does that make? Frankly, I feel betrayed. "Never give a (good customer) an even break." I can't help but think they are equating "good customer" with "sucker."

During early Dec. 2013 the upstairs portion of the home became livable and the tenant moved back in and paid 1/2 of rent for Dec and Jan 2014, as MT law requires. I sent a request to Hartford and requested the other 1/2 rent for Dec and Jan. They flat out refused. This is a total abuse of normal standards by an insurance company. The repair payment is at least $20,000 short of actual repair/replacement and $1,500 of unpaid rent. Thank you Delano ** (DAMAGED HOME WAS A RENTAL PROPERTY I OWN IN BILLINGS, MT).

This is not the first time HARTFORD HAS DENIED A CLAIM. During that tornado our storm drains backed up into our basement. Hartford hired SERVE PRO to clean our basement and they stole us blind. Computers, laptops, Liquor, tools, Glass ware, monitors, programs, DVDs, X-box and games, etc. None of which was in the water. But Hartford wouldn't pay the theft claim. We didn't hire Serve Pro, Hartford did. We were included in a Class Action lawsuit brought by the state of Oregon against Hartford for failure to pay claims. Hartford settled and squashed the Class Action Suit. My son will be graduating in May from Law school. It's time for another Class Action Law Suit.

May 22, 2011, a tornado hit North Minneapolis, Minnesota. My garage was wiped off of its foundation, and all contents gone. My Range Rover parked in front of my house was impaled with a six-inch log through the windshield and the dashboard to the gas pedal. My house, built in 2002, roof, walls, and windows were impaled with tree limbs, 2 x 4s, and parts of other people's houses and all kinds of debris. Rain and mud entered my house and filled the attic, and proceeded to take the path of least resistance draining to main floor where it ran inside the walls and underneath newly installed vinyl and hardwood floors and into the basement where it's settled in pools of fluid resembling swamp muck.

The vinyl floors squished, and the hardwood floors swelled, resembling waves on a body of water. Everything, all of my personal property inside my house got soaking dripping wet from smelly stinking infiltrated tornado water. Cabinets, appliances, furniture, clothing, electronics were all contaminated with this muck. The north wall of my house was sucked out 2 inches. Windows unbroken steamed from broken seals Four days after the tornado with electric poles still down and temperatures in the 90s, two Hartford managers showed up and capped my total claim at $200,000. One collected pieces of vinyl siding, he said was to be used to patch my siding. My policy reads 150% coverage well over the capped amount.

Two weeks passed before an adjuster came to my home to begin the claims process. He hired Servpro, a company that dries out flooded structures. They opened the walls and positioned ten high velocity fans on the walls, and my six-month-old puppy. You could see new mold growth inside the walls. Servpro said they did not protect or cover anything, because everything had to be replaced anyway from water damage. They stated upholstered furniture and mattress cannot be cleaned, and wood will warp. They said my adjuster knows this, because they work with him all of the time and this was a standard operating practice. Tectron, an environmental remediation company hired by the Hartford, instructed the remediation team, the Hartford, and me that everything that could not be wiped down with a 10% bleach solution, had to be discarded and replaced. Envirobate, another environmental remediation company hired by the Hartford instructed the Hartford that all wood, sheetrock, and biologicals inside the house would have to be replaced including the swelled and damaged subfloor.

The adjuster planned to dry the walls and repaint them. There were water bubbles under the paint. My 3/4 inch red oak floors - he planned to have them shaved down to barely nothing. And he had no intention of replacing any of my personal property inside of my house. I know this because he told me that he doubted anything of my personal property inside the house was damaged, and he did not want to see them on my loss list. I told the adjuster he was forcing me to hire a public adjuster, to which he said was a waste of money, because anyone I hired had to deal with him, and he would defend his position and not change his mind.

The house sat for eight months before the adjuster would come up with enough money for a contractor to start work on my house. Even then he said he knew the estimate was short, but the contractor could ask him for more money as they worked on my house. When the contractor requested more material and labor money, he refused them. He said that was on the contractor, because he accepted the job. The contractor put a new hardwood floor over badly damaged subfloor, which failed to hold down the hardwood. It is now October 2013, and I am still fighting the Hartford to cover the damage to my house and garage and replace my lost and/or damaged personal property. I had to hire a law firm to which the Hartford arrogantly refuses to stand behind their AARP Auto and Home Insurance Policy.

When I went to Lowe's they could not get the purchase record. I also shopped Home Depot, Big Lots, Walmart and more. I paid a contractor to do some of the work as also the HVAC to certify plumbing, chimney, heater, hot water but, don't have the receipts. Upon going to the Claims Manager explaining the unusual situation, he said he would work with me, only to state again he needs receipts. I cannot produce something I do not have anymore. So, he sent an agent (Andy) from pretty far away, to take pictures of the work done to help me in trying to get reimbursed and still have not settled. Don't pictures tell 1000 words? Not in this case.

The first claims rep retired and didn't not clean up his open claims and the replacement claims rep, Quintin, was trying, I guess. I have a hard time personally talking to someone for it is so upsetting to me I am in tears always on how they can take my money and did me wrong, when I honestly did replace the damage done, but have not be able to get reimbursed. I now am looking for new insurance and found several at cheaper rates thinking they are out to take advantage of the elderly instead of taking care of them.

Oh, on my own homeowners, Hartford had my home as $400K to rebuild for a higher charge to me when online Zestimate would tell the company exactly how much my home would be worth.. I do not live in a home worth that and actually spoke to someone rebuilding in my area for approx $100K and most houses are not worth over $250K. That's at the high end value. I called last year to hear it is what it is and paid the year. I want everybody to check around for cheaper rates before committing to Hartford because my experience is they are not about working with their customers. Someone please help me get my balance. I have filed a complaint with the Attorney General or Better Business Bureau. I don't remember now. I have proof pictures of the work done and more damage that was never reported by the first claims rep in email but need an email to send pictures to.

Unfortunately, due to their constant assurance that we would be taken care of quickly, we hadn't planned to be closed for that long, much less still dealing with it after 5 months. Now due to their delays, we are being forced to re-clean everything that was done earlier since the main part of the building was never even touched. They are denying their responsibility saying that we need to take every reasonable effort to keep the stuff that was previously cleaned clean. How we are supposed to do that in a smoky, sooty structure is beyond me but they obviously don't care about their customers.

I called Hartford and asked what the change of property insurance to $265,000 would be. He told me it would increase $248.00. I advised that I wanted to keep the insurance at $189,000 and not to increase. He proceeded to tell me that if I did not increase the value, Hartford will take away my "Lifetime Continuation Agreement" and the Replacement Cost Coverage endorsement. On top of that, they were still going to increase my insurance rate by $71.00. I have had no claims with Hartford and have excellent credit, so there is absolutely no reason that Harford should be playing this kind of game. Why isn't AARP getting involved with Hartford to stop screwing their members of trying to increase their premium by 50%! That is absurd. And if you don't go along with their antics, they still increase your rate 15% and subject you to scare tactics by taking away your "Lifetime Continuation Agreement" and "replacement cost coverage if your loss exceeded the stated dwelling limit on the policy". We need AARP to fight these battles - not getting money compensation from Hartford.

I asked Eric if there was an appeal process and he told me I could request that The Hartford send out an "independent" engineer to evaluate the roof. However, he said that it would take forever to get that done and I should simply accept what he said. He was insistent that The Hartford would take several months to get an engineer out to evaluate the roof. After he left, I called The Hartford and was told they would have an engineer out the next week. Nearly a week later, I was told that the engineer could not make it and it ended up being several weeks before they actually got the engineer out. The engineer wanted to make sure the roofer was there as he needed to use his ladder, so I arranged for the roofer to come out again to help the engineer.

My roof is fairly steep and when the engineer got on the roof, he freaked out. My house has a garage roof and a main roof. He climbed to the top of the garage roof and sat on the top and would not move. The roofer asked him if he was going to inspect the roof and he was too afraid to move so the roofer took his camera and took pictures of both the garage and main roof to show the hail damage. Then both the engineer and the roofer went back down the garage roof and got down. The engineer had only crawled from the ladder, straight up one side of my garage roof to the top and then back down the same path he took to get up there. I expected him to file a report that said he could not evaluate the roof. Instead he filed a report that said he saw no hail damage and the roof should not be replaced.

Now, I am a certified home inspector (which they do not know) and I can tell you that the roof had a lot of hail damage. Even the metal flashing around my vents has dents from the hailstorm. So, first Eric ** lied to me about the engineer being able to come out and then the "independent" engineer lied about his evaluation of the roof. At this point, I did not expect anything resembling an honest evaluation from The Hartford. I complained about the engineer's report being fraudulent and after several months, got The Hartford to agree to send another engineer who was not afraid to get on the roof. After another many weeks, he came out and once again my roofer had to come out to escort him onto my roof. He took pictures and went on his way. He submitted a report similar to the first one, but this time said that half the roof was damaged.

Eric ** agreed to replace the rear half of my roof but not the front. I told him that I did not believe the "independent" engineers were so "independent" as they were being paid by The Hartford to help them deny claims. I asked him if I had any other appeals process. He said I could hire my own engineer and if that report said I needed to replace the roof, then The Hartford would not only replace the entire roof, but would pay for the engineer. However, he also said it would cost me a fortune to get an engineer to evaluate my roof if I was able to find one at all. He was right about finding one, but I was diligent and finally found a certified and licensed structural engineer who looked at my roof and submitted a report to me that said the entire roof needed to be replaced.

I sent this to The Hartford and they still denied my claim. Interesting to note that during the year that all of this has been taking place, two of my neighbors have had their entire roofs replaced due to this storm. Also, about midway through all of this, I received a letter from the President of The Hartford asking if I was happy with the service I received from The Hartford in having my "entire roof replaced"! When I called to ask why the President of The Hartford seemed to think I should have my entire roof replaced while the adjusters did not, I was told it was only a form letter and was not worded correctly.

So now I am stuck. I have plenty of evidence to present to a judge and am confident I will win. However, the dollar amount of my claim is too much to use small claims court so I would need to hire an attorney. I am certain that The Hartford has used deceptive business practices with many people, so I am looking for anyone who has a legitimate complaint with The Hartford to contact me so we can look at getting a class action against them. Please send me your complaint and contact info and I will start looking for a good law firm to handle the case.

We finally broke away from them this month and glad we did, as we were under-insured and were paying high monthly charges. This company has been around for over 200 years and it is sure to go down the drain like all others. It is sad but do not use them. We went with another company that has our auto and received quick service and are saving over $200 a month. The rude customer service department and the management of this company are horrible. They make you feel like you were dog ** on the street.

We called Amanda to get this cleared up. She told us that Hartford would not warranty it but the shop would. We then talk to the repair shop. He told us that he would not warranty it because he felt it would leak. Again called Amanda to see what protection we would have. She told us if we could file new claim if it leak and they may or may not repair the leak. They final came out on December the 6 and took off the old roof and told us that it would need to dry out. They would come back on Thursday, December 8. No one showed up. They did not come on Friday December 9. They came back out on Sat December 10. Put the new roof on the part of the roof they only could fix which is a 4x8 section of the roof. It then rain on Monday and we had a leak not on the part that the shop would not warranty so we call the repair shop. They came out and look at it and told us two ways to fix the roof was to either replace the whole roof or to total out the motor home.

We called Amanda ** several time the next few days. Left several messages. We also called Dean ** and left message. No one called us back. We on December 15, we talk to Caroline ** who is Amanda supervisor. She told us that it was our problem. Want it fix, pay for it. That they paid for all they would pay for and all we want was a new motor home. All we want is this one fix so it does not leak. We also talk to a Brian **. Explained to him the whole story. He said he would call back. He did call us back and told us that he was told that we told them to send the check to repair shop which we did not tell them to mail it to any one.

Also he said that we told them that we would cover the cost of the rest of the roof. Which is not true either. We live on a fix income and could not cover the cost which we told could be over 5,000.00. They are going to send someone from Hartford to look at roof again on Wednesday, December 21. We want to clear that we did not tell them to send the check to the repair shop. We did not sign anything with Hartford or with the shop to give them authorization to do the repairs.

They try taking advantage of seniors. If I would not have caught this she would have been shorted a great deal of money. I refused to cash the check as they hurried as sent the check and if we would have cashed it, it would have meant acceptance. Their bill was extremely low. They made a big deal about going through a company named ITEL for the carpet, pad and vinyl. They sent me their bid without the ITEL bid they put pending. I requested that by writing numerous times and they would not send it. He put in writing he would but did not. I finally called the supervisor and he finally sent it and it was dated 8-7-11 and I got it on 9-15-11, they had it when they sent me the bid. How many senior have they done this to? This is really low. I have full power of attorney so fortunately for my mother I am watching over her. This is still pending as we cannot agree on what the job will cost.

I called Hartford and all they could tell me is that they changed the way they are rating homeowner policies. I asked for them to send me something in writing to explain the change but they declined, stating that they had nothing available to send me. I am changing my homeowners and auto insurance tomorrow afternoon and I have notified my mortgage lender not to forward any insurance escrow payment to the Hartford in the future.

You should check your bill carefully and then find a new insurance provider, preferably one that will treat you like a valued customer. All Hartford AARP wants to do is rip you off and hope you don't notice. Go with a local company agent.

The Hartford did not return my first call for two days and then during the call they seemed only interested that we were not at the house but on a long trip. Nicole asked me twenty different ways about where I lived and I always said I only have one house and live there. She was not concerned about what was missing or damaged and she just tried to make me say that my house is vacant and I live somewhere else. She finally assigned me an adjustor that would come out in ten days.

I called her supervisor, Brian ** the next day to complain about the treatment and my concern for water damage from destroyed plumbing and he only said that I have admitted that I do not live there. I could not believe what I was hearing and told him that I never said that, I only have one house, I live, pay taxes, vote and have my mail there, and I am only on vacation.

The next day, I received a notice of cancellation from The Hartford and a letter from an outside adjustor, Reggie **, saying that all correspondence was to be with him. He also went to my house and my neighbor let him in to see the burglary. During his time there, he accused my neighbor of the burglary.

I called Derrick **, the head adjustor for the west coast at Hartford, to complain about their treatment and after listening to me, he said that I have already admitted to them that I don't live there. I told him that is not true. We have cut our trip short and are home now but we can't stay at the house because of the plumbing/electrical damage from the burglary.

Four weeks from the crime, Hartford quit returning my calls. We also have someone who wants to buy our house but on the condition that it is put back to how it was. We would like to sell it to them but need the insurance money to fix it.

AARP does not help retired persons, they are a business making money from retired persons.

A few weeks later, the lady showed up at our door requesting some assistance with her therapy bills. A claims adjuster came to the house to view our sidewalk. The neighbor's sidewalk had sunk approximately 3/4 of an inch which is where the lady tripped and fell onto our property. The claims adjuster stated that this did not warrant fixing since the area was not significant. July 29, 2011, we received a letter informing us that our insurance is being discontinued as of August 30, 2011.

Hartford claimed a letter was sent out that we did not respond to; We never received the letter. We asked for a 30 to 90-day extension which we were denied. The individual we spoke to was rude and stated that she was 100% sure the letter was sent and we received it even though it was not sent registered or certified and she had no receipt. The claim was for $7,000. We were told that we were high-risk client and that Hartford was not willing to renew our policy. Even if we made the repairs to the sidewalk, which is not on our property, they could not guarantee us that the underwriters would approve the repairs and keep us as clients.

When I called another company to seek other insurance, they were amazed at the information we were given. Hartford was inflexible and there was no customer service of any kind from them. We chose Hartford because of their affiliation with AARP. Little did we know that their poor response to a claim was going to result in this problem. I will never recommend Hartford to anyone.

When I filed the claim, I asked them if I need to get more than one estimate and they told me no. They had three adjusters and all had different opinions about the damage. The Hartford only wanted to give us $6,000 but my contractors knew they were shorting us money and that we would be paying a lot out of our own pocket if we accept it. This claim has been going on for six months and they finally agreed to $21,774 so far.

I received a cancellation notice this week saying they have cancelled our insurance because we haven't fixed our house in a timely matter. We would have had our house fixed if they would have agreed to that amount from the beginning.

have a great credit score and I have never had any claims on my home or my car. The Hartford Insurance is like a bunch of thieves. Right after I filed a claim, they raised my rate over $400 and now they've cancelled me for no other reason other than this claim. That is why you pay your homeowners insurance. They are thieves!

I was not allowed to choose what I wished to be insured for and was punished for trying to do this. Do not do business with The Hartford or take the low rates for 2 years and have a back-up plan after that. Consequences are: I packaged my home with my car with another company and saved $608. I would not like to see anyone being taken advantage of, which is why I am filing this complaint against them. They tend to bully and there are people who could suffer from their tactics.

This doesn't seem likely to me! I recently tried to purchase a rider for a second ring. They refused because they said I had two "occurrences" on the first ring. What was this second occurrence? I had phoned to inform them that the band of the ring had split and that I might want to submit a claim for it. I called back the very next day to tell them that my jeweler was repairing it gratis and that I would not be submitting a claim.

Needless to say more, I am looking for a new insurance company. It seems to me that they are being penny-wise, pound-foolish to lose the business of a customer who pays $2275/year, always on time, over an occurrence that cost them nothing.

Finally, she told me she could just put it in as an "inquiry." I finally agreed as she told me it had to be done like this in order for someone to contact me back. I asked to just speak to sales and she told me that it would not do me any good as they would just shoot the call back to her. On Thursday, October 21, 2010, an insurance agent, Nick ***, came to my home while the work was being done to correct this leak. He came into my living room and told me that there was an "open claim" for me. This was after he stood outside and took pictures of the water leak in my driveway.

He told myself and my brother that I indeed was "not covered" for this repair. He showed both of us the claim number and said that it was put in as a "claim" against my insurance coverage. I really got angry and insisted that I only made a call to see if my insurance covered such a damage. He apologized, told us both that this happens a lot with young people that they hire there and can't communicate the correct data into the computer. I asked Mr. *** if this was going to impact my insurance in any way (show a claim that I did not even place). He told me to call the home office and complain to them, constantly shaking his head in disgust.

Well, the next day, Friday, Oct. 22, I called the Hartford, spoke with 6 different people. They all gave me the runaround, put me on long long holds and told me that if my insurance goes up next year to just explain it to the office at that time. I told them I did not want to explain anything. It was them that should be explaining to me how they could have treated me like this. They finally concluded that the case was just an inquiry and "it would be okay." Don't get all upset. I insisted that I would please like to speak with a supervisor, many many times and they did not provide one for me.

This is so outrageous that I am just disgusted and disappointed, to the highest degree, that this company would treat their policyholders like this. When Nick *** finally called me later that day, Friday, he told me he would send me a "discharge letter." Discharge of what? I simply asked to speak to someone that could help me with my policy. This has become so blown out of proportion as I honestly believe I am not comfortable doing business with this outfit.

Not sure what to do about this. I do need coverage for my home. Never made a claim ever with my home or auto. f someone there could help me with this, I would be so grateful to you. Thank you for reading all this. I hope I made it easy to understand. Turned out to be a much bigger nightmare than even the pipe bursting.

Alright, I was told the water heater was not covered but the water damage was. We called a plumber, had the water heater replaced out of our own pockets, only to find out the source of water throughout the house was not from the water heater but a hole in the foundation plumbing. I called the insurance company back with this information. They said I would be charged with two different deductibles. They sent an adjuster out to assess the damages and he determined that the water leak was responsible for all the flooring and wall damage. So since I had already paid for the new water heater to make a single claim on the leak, which I did. The insurance company sent Service Master to dry out water from walls, etc. They ran those blowers and dehumidifiers day and night, no way to hear nor sleep here with so much noise. No one told us what to do next. No one advised us of step two. We were just supposed to know I suppose, but if you have never been through this, I doubt anyone knows where to begin.

Finally, on my own, I went out to find replacement flooring. I still don't know what other things were needed to be ready for the flooring, such as painting etc. In the meantime, I began noticing huge cracks appearing on some of the walls that were not there prior to water leak. Oh, left out the part where we hired a plumber to jack hammer up the floor searching for water leak. After 4 holes he found it and repaired it to the cost to us of $4,200.00 of which Hartford paid back.

The flooring company came to measure the affected areas and bid the flooring. In the meantime, we decided to go ahead and replace kitchen and laundry room out of our own pockets. When they got here to remove existing flooring in kitchen and laundry room, they found them both very wet and was unable to begin process. I called back with this new information only to be a bit challenged to the validity of that report. At which point, I spoke to two different agents and explained all the damage to the wallpapers on the kitchen and laundry room. I was told only the affected area would be paid for, not the cracks that they were foundational issues. That did not exist prior to the water incident. They are using a meter to detect moisture still under slab and it is too much to risk laying the flooring.

I called a leak detection service out to make sure there were no other leaks and there were none. Meantime, in order to have flooring restored, we have had to hire a foundation company out of our own pocket to fix the damage. They say was brought about by water standing under the sub floor and water barrier. This has been going on for more than a month now. We are living on bare floors, broken Sheetrock and moisture under the floors, our furniture, outside on patios and porches. No one is calling us to further instruct us as to where to go from here. I have lost more than a month of work since my husband was recently very ill and cannot cope with all these problems.

I Recently asked for a quote on auto insurance on two vehicles. Their reps cannot even handle the quote correctly. I gave them all the info that they asked for and they send an email asking for the same thing again. They try to gather info via unsecure email instead of from their website. I filled out the forms online and it then went to email. Someone needs to investigate the practices of this company and see who they are scamming by employees internally.

Are they a legitimate company or sailing off a cliff and everyone needs to jump ship before they disappear with all your money? Have no home insurance and wonder if I could even get help when needed if I keep their auto insurance.

Get it? A "senior-oriented” company has penalized my dad for living too long. I should mention that my dad has never had an accident or a violation, but that means nothing with AARP The Hartford. I've heard their commercials,"We take care of seniors", they should add, "until you get too senior". They also said that his mileage had gone way up. His mileage is all the way up to 3214 miles a year. The reason it's up, is because he has been taking my mom to the chemo center, the radiation center, the cardiologist, the neurologist, etc. And he does like to go the grocery store almost 2 miles away.

I wonder which excursion AARP The Hartford would like him to discontinue? The cancer doctors or the food store? The representative told me the rates are based on statistics. I told them my dad is many things, but a statistic is not one of them. He is a WWII hero, a dedicated and loving husband and father. He is the kindest human being on the planet and he has never cost an insurance company one thin dime! He has faithfully paid his premiums for some 75+ years. In fact, I would think they owe him money right about now.

Thinking that this was a mistake, I called and spoke with a real person and was told the quote was correct who went on to tell me that when I move and cancel my current policy, I will be charged a 10% surcharge on the unused portion of my policy, Yep, the Hartford is a great deal for AARP members that are either very rich or stupid! Because I'm up for renewal, I went back to Geico and got a quote for the remainder of my Colorado stay and was quoted approximately $375 per year less and my policy can be transferred with no penalty except for the difference of premium cost when I move. Now that I have seen the light, I will be changing my insurance company as of today. In a word, AARP deals are not what they are cracked up to be! I changed companies.

Since the payment, I have repeatedly questioned why my appraisal wasn't good enough for the amount to be paid in full as it had been when another ring was lost several years ago (the previous ring was not as high in value as the anniversary ring and my appraisal value was paid in full by Hartford). After not getting an answer from the reps I had previously spoken to, I took my complaint to the Vice President of Claims for the district I live in. After a few "vague" tries at correspondence, he, on behalf of Hartford, had repeatedly denied the remainder of this claim. I reminded him that previous claims had always been paid in full without incident to no avail. I further asked him why I had to spend money for an appraisal when Hartford didn't even pay attention to it.

My appraisal was a fair one, obtained from a certified gemologist prior to the recent rise of gold, but I never got a straight answer for this question. I am now proceeding up the administrative ladder of Hartford, AARP, senior citizen groups, insurance commissioners, etc. to try and resolve this matter.

At the same time, I filed another complaint with the D.O.I. that Hartford had not notified me in a timely fashion as required by state law. The D.O.I. agreed that Hartford had not followed the law. Then, The Hartford sent me a letter claiming there were moving violations on my driving record and they were going to raise my auto insurance premium by a "large amount." I called them and told them that they were wrong and to please check with Nevada DMV. The said they did check and that is how they came to know of this. This was a lie. I had to personally go to Nevada DMV and get a certified copy of my clear record and send it to The Hartford who then denied receiving it. But after several more calls, I got a supervisor who corrected the mistake.

Ms. ** called me in about 2 hours, and I explained what I had found. She put me on hold and came back to say I was not covered because the wall had not collapsed. I said, “So I have to put my family at risk and let the wall collapse before you would do anything about it?” Ms. ** then informed me that I had already filed a claim, and that they would not cover it after it collapsed. So I stopped the wall from falling and provided someone from getting hurt and reduced the repair costs only to be told, “Because it didn't collapse, I'm not covered.” I am going to repair the wall and our walls, get someone to treat my house and look for another insurance company. Thanks AARP.

The 6-page Handy Reference Guide enclosed each year is also a huge waste unless there have been changes to the terms of the policy. Even so, an attachable page to the previous years' guide would be sufficient. If these items were eliminated or reduced to NEW policyholders, not only would the cost of the materials be greatly reduced, but also the postage, WHICH I END UP PAYING FOR!

By the way, regarding another full-color brochure - I have already told many, many friends about this ins. program, and many have purchased policies as a result. DO NOT WASTE MY MONEY SENDING ME EXPENSIVE BROCHURES TELLING ME TO DO THIS!!!! ALSO, and I think this is crucial - HARTFORD is such a big Blue State, that I'm sure you are aware of Global Warming issues. SO WHY ARE YOU WASTING PAPER that must ultimately be destroyed????

The 6-page Handy Reference Guide enclosed each year is also a huge waste unless there have been changes to the terms of the policy. Even so, an attachable page to the previous years' guide would be sufficient. If these items were eliminated or reduced to NEW policyholders, not only would the cost of the materials be greatly reduced, but also the postage, WHICH I END UP PAYING FOR! By the way, regarding another full-color brochure - I have already told many, many friends about this ins. program, and many have purchased policies as a result. DO NOT WASTE MY MONEY SENDING ME EXPENSIVE BROCHURES TELLING ME TO DO THIS!!!! ALSO, and I think this is crucial - HARTFORD is such a big Blue State, that I'm sure you are aware of Global Warming issues. SO WHY ARE YOU WASTING PAPER that must ultimately be destroyed????

The physical damage wasn't to my mother as she was physically unable to do anything about the situation. That became my problem. The financial damage was that after cancelling her insurance the refund from hartford will be a LONG TIME coming while my mother still needs to spend $1206 immediately to insure her house.

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.

they sent me a check for $700.00 within a week, I have a $500.00 deductible, the party that caused the damage had their insur co pay the hartford $1,200.00 on 4-7-06, as of this date (5/25/06) the hartford has not sent me the $500.00, I have called and called and all I get is the run around. Also since this happened I have cancelled all my insur with the hartford and am now paying 50% less for the same coverage. AARP is getting a kickback from the Hartford of 50% of each and every premium that is paid to them. AARP is nothing but an insurance company

As a retired person, I live on two checks per month. My annuity payout, and my small Social Security check. Thus, I am able to pay my bills once a month. This seems to have been a problem for Hartford, as their billing date for my homeowners policy assured that I would get their statement too late for the date I pay my bills. As with many retired people the income does not stretch far enough to cover all the outgo. Over the past 7 1/2 years I have asked Hartford to change the statement date so that I would get the statement towards the end of the previous month in which the premium was due. They refused.

As a result, about every 8 or 9 months I would get a certified letter from them cancelling my policy because of non-payment of premiums. Of course, usually, my payment the following first of the month would cross the certified letter in the mail. They would then reinstate my policy. Most recently, this happened, and they started asking for payment of two premiums at once to reinstate. When I called they informed me I had to pay them the equivalent of three premium payments to get reinstated.

I told them I couldn't afford that. Their agent, "Jeff" was demeaning to me, and insulting and nasty. I asked to speak with a supervisor, and was told one would call me. Eventually a "Danielle" called me from San Diego office. She claimed she would try to arrange to have me reinstated by paying two premiums and spreading the payment for the others over the next number of months. She promised to call back within the hour, or next day latest. Never heard from her again.

I have since gotten a policy with Country Insurance, and will never do business with HARTFORD again. With the auto policy, after an accident at which I was to blame, they increased my policy rate with so large a surcharge as to make it impossible to maintain the policy. I got coverage elsewhere at about half the cost.