Intact Insurance Home Insurance Reviews

Intact Insurance

Let down and disappointed, are the two words I would use to best describe my interactions and experience with Intact Insurance and particularly my adjuster John Beaver.

I am a new business owner in the Okanagan. Have a plan to provide a chain of Air BNB accommodations, carefully selected and thoughtfully decorated. I found a beautiful home on the North Westside of Okanagan Lake, in a small lakeside community named Valley of The Sun . Purchased in January of 2021, I spent the entire spring and a great deal of capital, renovating, landscaping, furnishing and decorating the entire homes two upper levels in order to have a great first season in the Air BnB Rentals. I hired a professional host to design, stage and host the property for the maximum guest experience. By doing all of the above I was fully booked up for most of June, July and August!
Being very concerned about the risk of a wildfire and also to have complete liability coverage for my Rentals and Guests. I enquired and upgraded my plan for Air BnB added liability coverage and loss of use and loss of fair rental income coverage for an additional charge. Believing I had covered all ends, I relaxed and got ready for the Season!
Then the White Rock Lake Fire began burning out of control. Smoke was the first reason for cancellations. Poor Air Quality drove some Guests to cancel. To the tune of almost $11, 000.00 dollars of lost income. I later enquired however the Insurance would not cover any of the smoke cancellations due to me not losing the use of my home. This was understood and I made no attempt to argue.
Aug 6th, 2021 the fire raged less than half a kilometre from my door and had now burnt over 80 000 hectares. I have filmed a video from my doorstep of an inferno coming over the hill which destroyed 85 homes in the surrounding area. Police and Fire trucks barreled through Valley of the Son and Emergency Evacuated everyone at 10 pm that night. The fire downed hydro poles, trees and cut out infrastructure on both roads leading to the only entrance to our community. Water and Hydro were disconnected to our community. Civil Authority deemed the damage and threat too severe to allow anyone to return to their homes for an entire month.
After one month of losing access and use, wondering if my home/business would survive, I was full of anxiety with the situation obviously and contacted my insurance to see what I can do to recoup. This led to me having my first interactions with John my adjuster who seemed thoughtful and empathetic.
Near the beginning of August, I informed him of being forbidden from returning with the Mass Evacuation Order and we discussed my coverage. He worked with me and had me submit all of my cancellations for August and my accommodations needed, agreeing that I was covered for Loss of Use and Fair Rental. All seemed well until John became very difficult to reach. For weeks I attempted to contact John numerous times via email. All concerning the situation I thought was finalized based on his initial dealings. Also, to have a $4500 dollar bill covered that I paid out of pocket to have accommodations while evacuated.
Not once was there an issue with this claim. He was not asking for any pictures of the damage of the fire. The damage was all over the news and in extremely close proximity to my residence, hence the reason for the Mass Evacuation of my area. However, after almost a month of unreturned emails, calls and voice messages. I had to contact the broker agency at Johnston Meyers to get Mr. Beaver to respond. My broker had to call Intact to have him respond. When he finally did respond he said that an email transfer for the bill of my stay of $4500 would finally be arranged. He then said that the cancellations totalling $17,800.00 for August were "in Accounting ", and I should have a cheque sent out later that week.
Add now a couple more weeks of shady treatment and vague reasons for the delay all ended on a phone call. I presume so no written evidence. John now saying after 3 months of an open claim with no signs of being denied. Is now being denied. With absolutely no grounds to deny based on their own Policy. His excuse my neighbors' house was not on fire! As if that matters with my Loss of Use under Mass Evacuation. After countless reviews, I and counsel have decided this was at best a reach to see if I would accept without any research their claim for denial. Well, I have done my research and expressed my concern to John and Intact.
I have been through enough this year and this was the final blow crushing my Air BnB expansion dream. I have now decided to sell my home and business and move on. I can retain a lawyer and sue for damages and possibly re coupe the retainer fee and the loss of income plus some extra damages. I do not enjoy confrontation and have been courteous and careful about all of my dealings to avoid them at all costs if preventable.
John Beaver and Intact will never have my business again. I do plan on purchasing new properties eventually and will do everything I can to make my dream come true. Intact will never receive one red cent or a referral from me for the remainder of my insurable life. By doing so I have also calculated they will miss out on approximately $150,000.00 in insurable property in my Lifetime not including whomever I deter from repeating the mistake I have by choosing their Services.
I hope that this forms as a caution for anyone attempting to receive coverage from Intact Insurance. Think elsewhere. Your claims will be denied so that the adjusters can earn a greater holiday bonus. I am not repeating this mistake ever again. I only work with like-minded individuals with morales, compassion and empathy.

Shaddi

I had Intact insurance on my cottage on Lake Huron for decades without ever having a claim. I had coverage that included wind, rain, hail, storm and an additional overland water policy. My cottage was damaged in a storm in November of 2020. I was denied any compensation because according to Intact the waves (that were caused by the wind) caused the water to wash up on shore during that storm (past the 100 year high water mark) and eroded the ground and erosion is not covered in my policy. The irony is they raised my rates for 2021 (the year insurance companies were raking in billions) which will now cost me almost $500 more a year!

It makes me very unhappy when I see Intact insurance in a TV commercial advertising their useless services. How they can do that if the service is so useless and heartless? Intact was my insurance for over 20 years and I find out after so many years the very hard way... As long you pay and no claims! So it happens that my house gets flooded because of bad weather my claim was rejected without any explanations! Intact is an abusive heartless industry they just want your money.
Never use this company!

This is the 3rd denied claim from this thieving, lying company. When I complained about the poor quality of information or misinformation I was sent a legal form to complain about the company. They deny every household claim and yet charge thousands of dollars a year in fees. The insurance industry needs to be overhauled. This company needs to be reported to consumer protection and tell your MP that you have received this shotty treatment.
The undertrained staff do not know what they are talking about and led me into a very embarrassing and emotionally upsetting miscommunication of facts and then denied any responsibility. Did not apologize. I need a shower after dealing with these charlatans.
Gross, icky experience.

Total 100% crooks. My next-door neighbour covered for hail & mine not! Why?????
Same insurance Intact. I’m 20 feet next door.

I used this company for one of my properties. Long story short, two different incidents happened and Intact refused both claims using a very generic clause: "Gradual degradation of the insured property" which can technically be applied to almost all issues.

Same issue happened on a different property and the other insurance company paid the damages without trying to finding excuses.

You make payments to them every month and they will do all they can to not pay you in case of an accident. Do yourself a favour and choose another company!

I have been multiple homeowner for more than 40 years. An incident or accident never worried me, until I got Intact insurance. I was insured with other companies, if something happened, dealing with insurance was a pleasure.
After paying Intact for 7 years, I had an incident, they went through many routes to try to not to pay, and of course, finally did not pay anything and put me through so much suffering and financial loss.

The worst insurance in Canada. Full of liars and deceivers sitting in this company. They have worst brokers which help you none. The estimators never let you have any services avail from Intact. Customers have to pay their premiums and also end up fixing their damaged home from their pockets after refusal game from Intact.

The worst Insurance Company so far in Canada. Their home inspectors estimator damaged my house while inspection and refused to fix it later on. They have the worst adjusters to deal with. They never let customers to win and always have excuses to reject your claims. Please do not buy it even though they offer good discounts. At the end of the day you will regret about it. Poor customer service. Poor communication. Bunch of lying. Full of Fraud. Please beware of such scams.