Aviva Home Insurance Reviews

We had a flood in our home because of a crushed sewer pipe. We contacted our insurer, RBC/Aviva who claimed that the repair was covered. Upon contacting the repair company our insurer denied our claim despite a representative from the same originally claiming that the repair was covered. In the end, it cost me just under $10,000.00. Horrible company and garbage representation. Go with anyone other than RBC/Aviva. Complete scam.

YES BE WARNED FOR MANY REASONS. THEY PUT YOU THROUGH HELL FOR 20 MINUTES OF INTIMIDATION, BEFORE EVEN YOU ARE STARTING THE LINE OF COMMUNICATION... CLEARLY ALL TO COVER THEMSELVES. THEN... A COMPREHENSIVE HOME INSURANCE. It says, you are covered for water damage, roof etc... one can imagine that the roof will be covered... but cleverly, the explanation is that... based on weather condition and wind/storm at a speed of 55m/h+ that you could be covered for any damages caused to your roof... // WHAT?????.. How could this be?? Surely if you get an insurance and after 6 months, you get unlucky that something goes wrong with your roof, don't even think about to go to them for any assistance. Even in my case when I am with them more than 5 years, one can think that within 5 years... there may have been very bad weather that my roof wouldn't have been affected so to speak, and then a heavy rain caused the same damage than a storm of 55 miles... that could even damage a brand new roof... it just doesn't add up what they say... unless they say, come and insure your house, only and if you have a brand new roof... they say you are covered for accidental damage... then when you have a burst pipe under a bath, they say, you need to repair the burst pipe and we only cover you for make good... I have a 3-storey terrace house. I can't go to the roof to figure out how the leak has been caused, and their response is that for the last 3 months we didn't have any kind of hurricane type of wind of 55m/h... therefore I am not covered... TO TOP IT ALL... they further intimidate that should you make a claim, even if your claim is unsuccessful, you will be put on the list of those who made the claim and therefore should you decide to change your insurance company, you must report that YOU HAVE MADE A CLAIM, EVEN IF YOUR CLAIM GOT DECLINED with the bogus reasons good enough for AVIVA themselves. Therefore, either way, your insurance premium will get affected with a higher insurance cost. Basically, intimidation all along... to ensure that you fully understand... if you make a claim... even unsuccessful, you will be reported... all that to dissuade you to change your mind if you make a claim... your premium will go up... even if you didn't get validation to your claim during all these intimidations... no one is actually telling you honestly and openly WHAT YOU ARE ACTUALLY BEING INSURED FOR... UNLESS YOU READ A 20-PAGE INSURANCE DOCUMENT. Let us face it... most of us take an insurance because we want to be covered for the main issues... fire... water damage to the property...

Aviva took RBC and ran it into the ground. Their staff is inept. Had a claim. The road adjuster did nothing. No money, no calculation of cost nothing. What Aviva does is send their "preferred contractor". Instead of paying road advisers they rely on this third party to do the quote for repair. Which is BS. Its AVIVAs job to pay their own people to come up with numbers. Not pay 3rd parties out of my insurance limit. This is what happens. Using my claim money to pay this third party to come up with a lowball estimate and do so at my cost for their fee. The truth is, they lowball. Then when the "unexpected" comes up during repair the contractor will amend. Why? So people get less of a cash out option for one. But more important you have the right to hire your own contractor. But the lowball estimate cannot be exceeded. Further pushing clients in favor of the "preferred vendor". Here is what the "preferred vendor" did for me. I had a sewage flood. They DID NOT clean. They DID NOT remove any contents. They DID NOT disinfect. They ripped out 600 sf of flooring and cut into some wallboard. End of them. I had to clean my own house of sewage. I had to disinfect myself and do all the content manipulation myself. Aviva was made aware with a detailed timesheet. They dont care. They waived my $1000 deductable. Gee thanks because you paid your "preferred vendor" $6000. What for? I beleive AVIVA to be 100% without ethics and I believe how they are operating is in contradiction to the laws in Ontario. This is not honest business nor regulation practice. AFter my lowball claim they sent me a letter saying they wont insure my house anymore. You see .... they are there to take money and invest it for their gain. They are not there to insure things.

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.