USAA Homeowners Insurance

I asked if we could set up payment plan, and they said no. I then informed them that I could not pay it now due to the fact that wife was not working due to COVID. I then informed them that we would send our regular home insurance premium, but we could not pay the outstanding fee (which they could not provide a detailed accounting of why we owed it). I paid my premium only. We then receive a notice in the mail that they are cancelling our home insurance the following day if we don't pay the entire balance now. Apparently they put our policy premium payment towards the mysterious outstanding $1009 dollars we owed, and did not credit it instead to our policy premium. They told us that in their notes from our last phone call they informed us that any payments would towards our outstanding mystery debt first. I asked them to please pull up the voice recording of the call and that they would see this to not be the case.

Well, we are still waiting for the phone call back from them. However we could not risk not having home insurance, so we called around for other quotes. We received a lower premium, with lower deductibles for the exact same policy coverage. We are officially USAA free. We went from using USAA for banking, auto insurance, and homeowner insurance to now not using them for anything due to their high pricing and poor customer service. If you have been a USAA member for a long time, please shop around. You will quickly find out that USAA is overpriced. Sometimes paying a little more for better service is warranted. However it is no longer the case with USAA. I have recommended that my parents and siblings also shop around.

Then I am told to contact a general contractor to get an estimate for the repair and/or replacement of everything that was damaged. I do as they ask, get the estimate and send it in, and it’s not good enough as they want more details, down to the cost of every last screw that will be used. So, my contractor comes back out and gets more details for them, and it’s still not good enough. My guess is they didn’t like the amount of the estimate. At this point they decide to send out an “independent adjuster” that they basically hire to do an estimate. He completes this and I am told he puts his measurements and the quality of materials into a USAA software program, and it’s supposed to spit out what materials cost in my area. Needless to say that estimate came back at 30% of what the contractor that will actually be doing the works is at. He missed around 60% of the items that need to be replaced or repaired.

They again, tell me that if my contractor can send them an itemized list of materials that can justify the cost that they would pay the difference. So, my contractor spends 12 hours putting together what they are asking for and send it in. I get a call from USAA saying that the amount is still more than 50% of their estimate, and that they need to send another “independent” adjuster out for a 2nd look. That was 5 days ago, and I haven’t heard from anyone. I can’t get a hold of my adjuster, they aren’t answering messages on their app, and I have called the Claims Manager 4 times and he won’t call me back.

My wife, 2 kids, and I have been sitting in a house with no kitchen at all. No sink, no dishwasher, no oven, no countertops...nothing for 2 months with no end in sight. We have to take dirty dishes to friends or family members house to wash them. Nobody from USAA even cares or has any sense of urgency to help us at this point. I was also told by my previous adjuster that it appears I am trying to get upgrades to my house by the price difference!!! The issue is your software program you have is from the 1950’s as far as prices for materials, and the “independent” adjusters you pay to screw your customers over are inadequate at best.

We currently have four customers filing complaints with the state insurance commissioner for USAA violating the Consumer Protection act. USAA uses a program called Xactimate that has the "average" costs for an area built into it. USAA will not allow or pay for any contractors cost that is above this program. We have seen price differences of $2000.00 to $10,000.00 between what USAA says they will pay for and what a general contractor says it will take to do the job correctly. Four of our customers now have their homes in disrepairs because USAA refuses to pay. I used to refer people to USAA because of how well they took care of their customers, no longer is this the case and I will be moving all my insurance needs to another company.

Weeks later I received an email stating they’re not refunding anything and I should have caught it sooner. I immediately moved all my insurance to Geico and all policies had much lower premiums. I moved all my money to a local credit union with better interest rates. I also refinanced a car and motorcycle at much lower interest rates. If you have been with USAA for a long time you will find your rates are all higher in their favor than you can get anywhere else. I will never even contemplate using them again.

Imagine my surprise when my agent promptly called me back (the day after I filed the claim) and replied that my valuation was too low, and they were going to pay me nearly double what I had requested. I am extremely impressed with the honesty and customer service of USAA. I've tried to beat their prices with some online comparison tools and I never could. From my experience, their low price tag comes with a high value.

In my case, that was all nothing but smoke & mirrors, they provided me with a contractor, Guarantee Restoration located Baton Rouge, Louisiana that has been proven incompetent from start (but nothing was finish). Their workmanship was poor, they damaged personal property, very poor-to-no communication, unreturned telephone calls/emails/text messages, they no-shows, nor follow-up on anything. There have been more than one instances where they just stopped work without reason or communication, sometimes a month or more at a time.

To date, Guarantee Restoration located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana left my home completely gutted and unfinished (no cabinets, toilets, nor floor) because this contractor recently won a State of Louisiana bid to clean office building during COVID19. A job that paid more money. And all the hardships my family, my pets, and I have had to endure due their mistakes and negligence. USAA ends their messages saying, "Thank you for trusting USAA." How could one possibly trust USAA anymore? USAA has been solid for us in the past, but they suckered me in to believing this was a worthy contractor despite our repeated requests for help. The length of this ordeal has dragged out for six months now and trust me when I say there is no urgency to be found from anyone with either USAA nor its preferred contractor, Guarantee Restoration located Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

I submitted a burglary claim since it was stolen from my driveway, and I am still fighting for reimbursement & coverage. USAA came back and said, well we have a small, tiny, minuscule clause in my home owners insurance policy which limits their coverage of ANY trailer to $1,500.00; although on the report that I received from them, which listed all the items that I submitted for reimbursement on, they DID acknowledge that the replacement value of my trailer was $6,300.00. SO THEY LITERALLY DEFRAUDED ME OF $4,800.00, AND I CANNOT REPLACE MY ENCLOSED TRAILER. Not only did they ALSO reduce the reimbursement prices for each individual item for “depreciation”, but they ALSO reduced a percentage of the remaining post-depreciation prices by a percentage until each item was repurchased; at which point you have to send in a receipt showing the repurchase of the item for full reimbursement.

After paying my $2,000.00 deductible, they still REFUSE TO COVER my enclosed trailer fully, after almost a year of fighting with them!! I have called and pleaded with them, informing them that I am still searching for a job, and am a 100% service-connected, permanent & total rated, disabled USMC Veteran; and am on a very limited income; and therefore have not been able to fully replace everything that was stolen, since I have only been reimbursed approximately 2/3 of the value of all the items, because I had to pay the $2,000.00 deductible out of my minuscule “reimbursement” amount.