rip off
by just being honest on Jul 6, 2016
1 out of 5 stars
We were totally ripped off by this incompetent scam of a company. We were sold a home owner tenant insurance policy. Our house was damaged by a tenant but when we tried to claim they told us we had to pay a deductible fee for every individual piece/ incidence of damage making it impossible to claim. Example there were 3 holes in one wall and they wanted to apply the deductible to each one ! Total scam stay away completely from this unethical business. The adjuster was arrogant and rude and sniggered at us when we were outraged at what they did. Totally horrible company.
I have comments on my Intact Insurance policy. I insured a house in Lindsay that was a rental property. The tenants trashed the place. I had to replace all of the flooring, truck out garbage by the ton, replace closet doors, reinstall kitchen cupboards, clean and paint every square inch, etc. etc. It took us 3 months and cost over $23,000, and that was with our free labour. What did Intact cover? Nothing. I guess it has to be burned to the ground before they'll come to the party. I should have put a match to it.
INTACT commercials - your claims process starts when they get your phone call - but that does not mean they will help you or pay people. It just means they type it in the computer. Then you deal with the adjuster which is trying an experience from HELL! I had the absolute worst experience with this company and my neighbour across the street did too! Our basement flooded due to a water main break. We had top of the line coverage. Adjuster got mad at me and smashed my front door! Put a claim in for that and finally got paid one year later. Adjuster told me he did not like me, and promised to give me a hard time. He sent threatening letters that they were considering denying my claim. He offered me 1/7 the actual cost to repair the damage 2 months of the flood. I had already spent double hiring myown contractors to start repairs, not wanting to wait for the insurance company to take action. I had tenants.The fighting over coverage went on for nearly 6 months and finally I got a cheque for double what he first offered. I said this is not enough to cover all the invoices I submitted and complained to Intact Ombudsman. They did nothing. Then I reported unfair insurance practices, bad faith, to FSCO = Financial Services Commission of Ontario. This forced the matter into ARBITRATION! I recommend this to anyone not satisfied with money the insurance company is trying to get you to accept. Take the money they offer but do NOT sign a final release. Tell them you disagree with their calculation of your loss total. At arbitration, I got to present all the invoices for the actual repairs of the damage (not the adjuster's guesstimate) + lost rent. The whole process took about 9 months, but I finally got nearly everthing I asked for. INTACT gave my neighbour across the street a hard time. After his semi detached home was involved in a fire, it took twice as long for Intact to repair his house compared to the equally affected neighbour nest door. Fire was in January and the neighbour with CAA insurance was back in his house by August. The other neighbour with Intact is still waiting for drywall work to be completed. Estimated re-occupation could be 1 1/2 - 2 years because the approval during the claims process goes at a snails pace at Intact. INTACT SUCKS! Maybe their rate could be cheaper, but the attempts to deny coverage and delays in the claims process do not make it worth the savings! Go for a insurance company with a good reputation for claims processing - even if they charge more. I don't know how some insurance adjusters can look themselves in the mirror each morning after doing such horrible things to claimants - I know they get a bonus for paying out less. It's dirty money. I don't want to profit from other people's misery! SHAME on YOU INTACT Insurance Adjuster!
After my house got broken into, I reported a claim. I got parts of it back and when I emailed them, they said in the email if I bought the original item again, the company will refund me the whole price of the original item that was stolen. A week later, I went on and bought another pair of sunglasses to replace the one that was stolen, and a laptop to replace the one that was stolen. I am almost a year in, I sent multiple messages and not one reply. They are quick to remind me of bill payments and contract continuation, but when I ask for my claims they refuse to answer me.
We've been insured with Intact for over 5 years. Homeowner's coverage has included a city home, a vacation home, and a small home-based business. Both homes were covered under identical, comprehensive policies.
In December 2010 we had a burglary at our vacation property and the claim of $3000 was paid out without any hassle. We were then promised that we would not be penalized with higher rates because of this single claim.
However, consider the following table that shows our total premium each year over the past 5:
2010 - $1349
2011 - $1790
2012 - $2162
2013 - $2201
2014 - $2742
You can see that in 5 years the total premium doubled. Two insurance agents told us that Intact had huge claims losses over the Calgary flooding in 2013 and had raised premiums for all customers in Canada as a result. That alone seems unfair; yet it doesn't explain the huge increases, far above the inflation rate, between spring 2010 and spring 2013.
We were prepared to pay the exorbitant premium of $2742 this year because it is very difficult to find companies that would include liability on our home-based business in the regular homeowner's policy. However, the Intact underwriter was obviously intent on getting rid of us because he told our insurance agent that the company would only insure us if we could prove that we were living in our vacation home 2 days out of every week in the year. That was an absolutely ridiculous request so we switched to another insurance company.
The moral of this story: Beware if you are offered homeowner's insurance with Intact. They do a lot of TV advertising and everything sounds rosy. However, we have never been treated so unfairly by an insurance company in 45 years of owing a home.
I have had two claims with Intact. First was when my car was broken into and all of my music gear was stolen. The cost was substantial with a $3200 guitar, $2200 amplifier, $1000 microphone and a lot more for accessories. My auto insurance (comprehensive) had to take care of the smashed rear window, but minus the deductible, Intact cut a check for the rest, asking only for quotes for replacement. For most, I was able to provide receipts and those values were covered. For my guitar, I showed online prices in Canada from music shops and that was covered as well, all with the amount for sales tax and GST. The adjuster was polite, stayed in contact and the whole process was over with very quickly. The 2nd was a water damage claim. When replacing my carpets, I was installing new carpet rack strips where the old ones were but had to put the nails in the concrete sun-floor about an inch from the holes left by the old ones. On the LAST strip, the nail hit a water line, sending a stream of water up like a fountain. In my condo, the water shut off valve was hard to get to, with my hand too big to reach between the wall stud and another pipe between the opening and the valve. By the time I forced my hand through by dislocating three fingers at the top knuckle, my hall was under inches of water and the two suites below me were just disaster areas. I have done everything from building condos from the foundation up to roofing, flooring/tiling, carpentry, drywall, electrical and owner's side plumbing. What I found when the subflooring was chipped away to repair the water line was that it was left free-floating when the sun floor was poured and was only less than a 1/4 of an inch under the floor. The nails for carpet tack strips are 5/16" long, with just the tip puncturing the line. How the original installers never hit the line is beyond me, but at that exact spot, it crossed the line where the strips are and was raised just enough in that spot to create that flukey situation. I described this scenario because Intact could have been total assholes, looking for negligence to skirt their involvement. Instead, they went to bat for me. They sent crews and an adjuster immediately, said they would cover the costs of food, hotel, pay me for any work I did, cut me a $1000 check for the condo's $10k deductible I had to pay a thousand of, reimbursed me for the ruined carpet and underlay I just installed and compensated me and my son for each hour we had to move things around and get the house back to normal. They even calculated an amount for my inconvenience that covered my $1000 deductible. All funds were paid quickly and they kept my file open until everything was settled just in case there were any further out of pocket costs. The crews and plumber were paid directly as well. So, in both experiences, I have very little to complain about. One minor disagreement on value, but a far cry from getting ripped off by them. Remember, out of millions of consumers, only a few with bad experiences are usually motivated to post their experiences, usually out of spite. If everyone with good experiences posted, the few with complaints would be lost in the shuffle. My previous insurance company was terrible and their lack of value to me led to the switch to Intact, where I have been very pleased by their rates (in comparison of course), customer service and their follow-through during both claims. My second claim adjuster was brand new to the business and offering her a little patience didn't hurt while she consulted her way through the job and in the end, she did fantastically. The first was just pro all the way through.
No slight on the customer service side as they were great. However, when i purchased tenant insurance for 40$ a month throughout this past year and had a few tools and a bike stolen from the garage, I was informed there would be a $500 deductible due on $630. It's a good idea if you are prone to starting fires or live in a flood plain, but don't expect it to cover your run of the day item theft. If the deductible had been discussed at the time of purchasing the policy I never would have went for it.
Been with Intact for over 25 years, and in 2012 had hail damage on house, was very dissatisfied with their adjuster and was a fight. Now on top of that have increased deductables on hail and water damage, in checking around seems only company to do this. Have checked with TD, and a couple others, yearly price about the same but for better coverage and lower deductables. Going to change.
On the auto side, fantastic service and coverage, but since are polices are bundled will also be changing.
I had been with ING for years and years and actually had my claim with them. I had a break-in and the adjustor was there within an hour and worked with me to get necessary items quickly. The break-in didn't even leave any shoes or cleaning supplies - they cleaned the place out. A few years later I had a flood from a really quick thaw. All work done quickly and professionally.
Rates went up when they changed to Intact, and I haven't been as happy with the service, but only minor things like trying to get policy information by phone - no claims with them.
However, I do see that all the reviews were very good until 2012, when they dropped like a rocket. What on earth happened? New management?
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I was given false and misleading info from their broker Landing insurance in vernon bc I was over charged and have a credit they will not return and they refused to sell me insurance when I tried to recover the money they stole from me. They only care about taking your money. In my opinion their tv commercial are very misleading.