Aviva Home Insurance Reviews

We have a drain backup, but were proactive and managed to prevent it from destroying our basement. We called in the plumber immediately (Drain Rescue) who dug out the basement and replaced all the drain pipes and put a backwater valve. Aviva came in during the work process. As per our plan, we have taken the maximum coverage. We acted honestly and let them know that we prevented the water and emptied buckets after buckets of grey water outside the house and had switched off using water. During the entire repair process, we also switched off the furnace to prevent it from being ruined. We lost carpets, rugs and clothes. The Aviva rep informed us that they would only cover the backwater valve. There is a $1,000 deductible and so the clothes and rugs would not be covered. The carpets would be evaluated. We are still waiting not sure what they plan on giving us. Drain Rescue informed us that other insurances cover the cost of digging and the concrete. The pipe replacement cost is ours, but our Aviva Rep informed us we are not covered. Do I trust AVIVA? My previous insurance TD was much better, I had a drain problem in a Condo in 2005 and they evaluated our loss, replaced our flooring and cut us a cheque for losses which was very reasonable.

Here's a good one. Despite my multiple inquiries with the company as to how this happened, all I've received from Aviva is that "nobody has ever experienced this before."

The following is the quintessential example of problems with companies like Aviva cutting costs wherever they can and contracting everything out.

I've had an Aviva home insurance policy in place for two years now, and have never made a claim with them. My premiums have been faithfully paid and there hasn't been any issues. That is, of course, until last weekend when I received an e-mail from Aviva asking me to do a "satisfaction survey" based on a recent claim I had made with them.

I judged this e-mail as suspicious, so I called their 24-hour claims line to obtain some information. First off, their after-hours claims folks are notoriously useless and are really unable to do anything except take details and file a new claim. They were, however, able to look at my file, and subsequently notified me that it looked as though I had made a claim relating to a basement flood I had in September 2015.

Now here's where everything gets very interesting. You see, I never made such a claim. After conveying this to the after-hours rep., she made a note and promised someone would follow up with me via phone during the next business day.

Well, nobody called. As luck would have it, I had been outside doing some yard work, and noticed that my neighbour was busy moving his washer/dryer into his garage. I asked what was going on, and he told me that after dealing with his insurance company (a different company than mine which I will not name, but will say the name of it corresponds to a common last name or a nickname for a male body part) for a month, they were finally able TO START FIXING THE FLOOD THAT HAPPENED IN THEIR BASEMENT.

Putting two and two together, I spent the next several business days trying to get in touch with someone from Aviva that could actually help me - which was a less than easy task.

In short, what ended up happening was that somehow my neighbour's home insurance claim was processed, closed and paid out UNDER MY POLICY, despite the two policies being issued by two separate and unrelated companies, associated with two different addresses and with different names on the policy.

Once Aviva management and my broker found out about this, they sprung into full-on panic mode realizing the extent of the mistake that had been made. The cheque which had been issued was cancelled immediately, and after relentlessly trying to prove my story true with this giant behemoth of a company and the associated bureaucratic inefficiencies, I've been informed that the claim was removed from my account and no longer exists.

So, I suspect you still may have one big question, somewhere along the lines of "How could this happen if the two respective policies were held by two separate and unrelated companies which would not have access to each others records?" Well you see, it turns out that in my neck of the woods, these two large insurance companies subcontract a company called "Claims Pro" to do their adjusting. Of course Aviva can't be bothered to have its own representatives in a major Canadian city with over one million residents. That just wouldn't be cost efficient. The Claims Pro adjuster would have had access to the records of each company and for whatever reason, whether it be sheer laziness or plain stupidity, opened a claim for a different property under my home insurance.

Another point to consider is that I would never had become aware of this issue had I not randomly received that customer satisfaction e-mail. Renewal would have come along, with the increased rates associated with a claim, and who knows whether or not I would ever have realized what happened. Add all this to the unauthorized disclosure of personal information and you've got quite a problem, resulting in my well-deserved one star rating.