Intact Insurance Home Insurance Reviews

We had a pipe burst in our bathroom and called Intact immediately. This was on a Saturday. They said they would send an emergency team that evening to assess damage and help with cleanup. No one came Saturday, Sunday, or Monday. On Tuesday a contractor finally showed up to take measurements and then no one came back until Thursday. They still didn't start work for several days and even then, only put on some heaters and took down half of the drywall and floor (leaving me to do the rest). When Intact got back to me about the contractor's estimate, they basically gave me the option of paying $2000 out of pocket to have the room put back by the contractor, or I could take a $2200 cheque to do the job myself. This was based on an estimate of over $9000 for the work. I went over and over with the adjuster that I shouldn't have to be out of pocket to simply put my bathroom back to how it was, but I received no help and terse answers to every question I had. No flexibility was shown, nor any sort of empathy or concern. When I said that no one could redo an entire bathroom (including buying a new shower and vanity, and all drywall, insulation, flooring etc.) I was told, "You're right, but you still have to pay."

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.

My mother and my in-laws both had the very unfortunate experience of having Intact insurance covering their homes, when they were flooded last summer.

Insurance is supposed to be for peace of mind, in case something goes wrong. Both my mother and my in-laws never missed any payments, and have been paying insurance for decades and decades with no claims. Then they experienced severe flooding this past summer. That's when the horrible problems began.

We all understood that there were probably thousands of homes flooded so everyone was trying to be very sympathetic. Nonetheless, BOTH sets of my relatives are STILL waiting for completion of the repairs (April '14) and the flooding happened 9 months ago (July).

Work didn't even begin until after Christmas. Work crews appear for a day or two and then disappear. The work is shoddy. The products (like the replacement carpeting) is very inferior. The assessments of the damage were unbelievably ridiculous. At my mother's house, I was walking around in water above my knees in her fully finished basement. Walls, doors, washing machine, dryer, gas fireplace insert, wash basin, shelving, the furnace - all was destroyed or damaged. Can you believe that the estimate for all repairs (including supplies) was $5,000. How ridiculous is that?? Then to keep within this absurd budget, corners are being cut left and right. The work crew keeps trying to foist left over materials onto my mom. Most recently, she found out that the replacement knobs on the doors had been allocated an amount of $1 (no this is NOT a typo). I don't have a clue where you get a replacement knob for $1 unless you are getting knobs from a demolition of another house. My mother's original knobs were fancy, relatively new and certainly were at least $30 to $40 to replace (conservatively). With my in-laws, though the bathroom in the basement was destroyed (the actual floor beneath the bathroom actually completely warped) the insurance company refused to repair the bathroom and told my in-laws they must pay extra. My in-laws (far too nice folks) agreed and despite that, the crew didn't let them select their own tiles. They just showed up with some tiles (seriously) and my kindly relatives let them install the times. (You'd better believe they wouldn't have gotten away with that with me.) My mother's crew tried the same thing - showing up with paint in a colour she hadn't chosen.

It is really unbelievable.

Because all of the neighbours are equally fed up, all these folks are just agreeing to anything in sheer desperation to finally wrap this trauma up, and to get their homes back and the crews out of their lives.

In the meantime, Intact Insurance posted a $100 million dollar profit in the last quarter of last year. They sure aren't suffering. They are making that profit on the backs of seniors like my in-laws (who are in their 90's for goodness sake) and my mother who is simultaneously fighting cancer while she tries to get her home back.

I have never seen anything so shameful and you'd better believe I shall never, ever insure with Intact after witnessing what my family has gone through.

Find someone else folks. Intact is really happy to take your money, but when the unthinkable happens, you'll be facing a terrible battle to get a fair settlement out of this insurance company.

I would have given hem a 0.5 star rating, but the Claim Exerience doesn't have a 0 star.

I have been with them 20+ years - never made a claim before. Tenant above my condo left window open, froze water pipes which burst and 1000+ liters of water entered my condo. My large furniture got hit and Intact said they would replace it.

Event though it's not my fault, Intact says that I have to pay $500 deductible because tenant had no insurance / fled the province so Intact can't find them (or so they say) and the owner of the condo above me is an intact customer - they don't sue themselves.

Have been waiting for 2 weeks now on an estimate for replacement cost of one couch, one cloth chair and bed. Gave them brand info and what I paid for them before as I have replacement cost insurance. All I get is a run around so they don't have to pay out. Not one expense has been paid as of yet and I am in a hotel on my dime - with mounting credit card bills coming due soon.

Had made a small claim with Co-Op and Wawanesa insurance 20+ years ago, which were dealt with immediately and quickly. Once this ordeal is over, will never deal with Intact again - regardless of the premiums I have to pay - Intact is cheap - but you get what you pay for and they have ZERO Service when you need them.

Not covering home after high river flood

If your in a disaster they will abandon you