Quick to cancel policy
by VicBodnar on May 3, 2019
1 out of 5 stars
We had a leak in the condo more than 4 weeks ago, the insurance showed up once to see and since then nothing happened, they don't even take our calls. This leak is affecting 4 apartments. Now we're on our 5th week still waiting. Worst experience ever.
I have had two dealings with the claims department, first was our whole neighbourhood was flooded, all my neighbours got paid by their insurance but Intact denied my claim. I went to change insurance companies but was denied because I had a recent claim. Even though I did not receive a payout. 7 months ago I had a break in while on holidays. Did my due diligence and made the police report, the list of loss, got all the prices, then they made me do it a second time and have it notarized. In 7 month I have talked to the adjuster twice, she fails to return phone calls or emails. Called and asked for her supervision, left a message for him to no avail. He never returned my call. Sent an email that I was going to make a formal complaint if I did not get a response, a month later still nothing. Called the complaints officer and was told I could not make a formal complaint until I tried to deal with her manager, proved I did that already and then the story changed so I couldn't make a formal complaint until they did an investigation. I have now had to hire a lawyer and still can't get anywhere with these crooks. The law states you have to have insurance but it appears the insurance company doesn't have to follow the laws or pay you for your losses. I have gone as far as sending them a copy of the insurance laws and highlighted the multiple ones they are breaking or bending, they do not care.They hope you will run out of money to fight them and just go away
Don't bother making a complaint. They don't care. Intact insurance is only available through brokers and when the broker isn't available or doesn't call back when you need them... Intact doesn't care! You can complain until you are spitless. In Québec you have access to a level 1 customer support person who will just take notes and call back...guess who??? Your broker! Perhaps in Ontario where you have access to an Ombudsman when level one is not satisfactory... it might be better. In Québec service is pathetic. I can't even imagine if I was making a claim...I was just trying to give them more business and they don't seem to care whether they get it or not. What a waste of my time!
If I could give Intact a - rating, I would. After the loss of our home, garage and all contents in a wildfire event, Intact opened a claim immediately. If not for the fact that it was a nationally recognized catastrophic event well within the public's, I feel that this would have been a nightmare to deal with as well.
How bad are they? Where do I start?
Our first encounter with an Intact representative was our adjuster. She explained that it was Intact policy that items such as fridge, stove, dishwasher, custom blinds etc, pretty much "what ever you would normally leave in a house when you sold it would be covered under house rebuild. The adjuster gave us a nice glossy phamplet stating as much. After submitting our schedule of loss for our contents, which showed an $80,000 loss on our part, our adjuster told us that due to the fact that "people in our particular region had "upscale appliances, intact would now be submitting our appliances and custom blinds in to our contents coverage which would have resulted in an addition $20,000 loss on our part. This decision was only made by Intact after they were provided our contents list. Apperntly, changing the "rules mid game is alright if you are an insurance firm".
Second major issue arose when I analyzed our policy and noticed that we had been charged for a provision that allowed for a cash settlement. When I inquired about this provision , it was stated that I was not eligible for this provision. I then argued as to why we weee being charged for it then.
Third major issue arose when we provided economic evidence of a specific type of inflation that results only after catastrophic events. Based on the standard provision of "inflation protection", our limits of insurance were subject to charge based on the "inflation rate" at play. After repeated shady responses for Intact representatives, basically, they did not acknowledge our concerns or questions what so ever and just pressed forward with out explaination or cause, I researched and read the intro to insurance law and the first principal of insurance law states, "if any provision in a policy is ambiguous by nature, the definition that is in the best interest of the policy holder is used as the contract/policy is written by the insurance firm and it is their due diligence to explicit in their meanings. This became an issue as rebuilding costs increased over 100% due to the magnitude of the catastrophic event, the already hyperinflated economy in this particular region, the remoteness of the affected region and the fact that the house building industry has been flatlined due to the current economic recession. Intact instead offered 1% inflation as this was "national average" but we were not experiencing "national average" inflation but rather demand surge inflation.
Forth and most aggravating issue we have encountered was after filing our proof of loss and commencing legal proceedings, a year in to this process, after receiving delayed and overdue by sometimes 5-6 months ALE payments the entire time, resulting in immense financial pressure, Intact stated that they would cease all ALE payments from this point onward and withhold any and all other coverages due to the fact that we would be going to court to argue the amounts. Even though this is a clear breach of contract, Intact is well aware of the fact that it will take close to 8-9 months to seek an intermediate court date to get a ruling on the ALE payments that we would most likely never get to as we will have been bankrupted by that time. How this can be considered "negotiating in good faith" is beyond me.
If this is how they treat customers who have lost everything in the world, I can not imagine how they would treat those who sustained smaller losses.
Horrible firm and STAY AWAY!!!!!!!
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 been with the same broker for 25 Years and with Intact for 12 Years.
I have never made a claim, always paid my premium in full.
When I received my 2014 policy renewal I noticed extra charges for Identity Theft.
After reviewing the coverage I concluded the amount and what Intact would cover was nonsense and terrible value. I contacted my broker and requested Identity Theft coverage be deleted.
My broker said OK no problem. Next day my broker called and said Intact Insurance wants Identity Theft coverage deletion in writing otherwise they will not delete coverage. I sent my broker the request in writing. Next day my broker calls to say that Intact will not accept my request because it must be signed by all named in the policy. I sent my broker a second request in writing signed by all named in the policy. Finally request to remove Identity Theft coverage removed. Thanks for wasting my valuable time Intact Insurance.
When I received my 2015 policy renewal I had to go through the above process all over again.
Thanks for wasting my valuable time again Intact Insurance.
I have just received my 2016 policy renewal. Identity Theft has again been included in my policy the only thing I will be signing is a Cancellation Notice of the entire policy.
Intact Insurance is a Ridicules Company and one has to wonder if you have so many problems with Intact with an absolutely claim free history. They must be absolutely terrible to deal with if someone ever has the unfortunate situation of dealing with a loss!
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!
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I am a single Mom, who had a terrible experience with Intact after smoke damage to our home. Intact left the restoration work unfinished to the point where it was making myself, my family, our pets and others sick. They have had excuse after excuse and have delayed our claim for over a year. Now, over a year later, I am still trying to get them to rectify the situation. We had to beg, borrow and plead for help from the community, family and credit to fix what we could after living away from home for months. It has caused us so much distress and financial hardship, that I am not sure how I am going to survive this, other than through my faith in God.
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While I would have rated Intact higher on customer service for the people who I actually worked with while processing a claim, their follow-up dismissal of me as a client after only one processed claim and refusal to work with me to maintain my status as their client is ridiculous. As new homeowners, we called our insurance provider, at the time Intact, to ask for advice on our policy after finding water in the basement. After speaking with the Intact personnel, and discovering that the claim was not eligible we did not process one. Due to their system of automatically opening a claim we officially "withdrew the claim" within 1 hour of opening it. We then fixed the water issue out of pocket to avoid future issues. One year later we received a letter that Intact was cancelling our policy for multiple claims within a three year period, even though they acknowledged that we only actually processed one claim. When we tried to work with the company by informing them that we had fixed the issue out of pocket within one month of getting their dismissal letter (and hadn't had time yet to inform them of the upgrade) they still refused to keep us as clients. Due to the dismissal of an insurance company against us, we are now paying for alternative insurance at a higher rate as a penalty. Intact never reached out to us and wouldn't work with us on how to maintain our client status and although we paid much more for their service than we ever received in the one claim, they removed us with very little notice. Would never recommend Intact insurance.