Mold not covered
by Mom of three on Mar 31, 2017
1 out of 5 stars
Wawanesa is hands down the worst insurance company I have ever had the displeasure to deal with. I have had them for my home and auto for over 15yrs. I have had to sue them twice now to get them to follow-through on their obligations. I should have learned the first time, i know. First experience was a damaged window from a hail storm. It took them a year (no exaggeration) to send their adjuster back to look at it - then denied the claim. We sued, they settled in mediation. This time around, there isn't enough room to tell the whole story. House fire in my neighbors townhouse spread to my unit, which was just the start to the fun. After 2 months of no communication from my adjuster at all, and being thousands of dollars in debt paying for a hotel, while I waited in limbo, they finally started talking to me, but would take a 1 month or more between contacts. I was in debt $15K before they cut me my first cheque. Then the terrible contractor they hired flooded the entire house after 4 months of waiting for them to do any repairs, by freezing a pipe. Contractor wouldn't do anything until the insurnace company stepped in, so it took them 3 days to finally do anything while the basement basted in water and freezing temperatures. They opened a NEW claim and charged me another deductible. Took them nearly a year to fix all the mess. I finally sign off on what I think is a fully repaired house, to find flooding and seepage in the basement within a month, where I had never had it before. INSANE. So I call, and they tell me its unrelated and it will be a new claim, and probably won't be covered. They send a contractor to look and says the same thing. I hear nothing from them for more than a month and I'm forced to now have my lawyer send them a threatening letter. They finally respond and tell me they are denying the claim. So I get my own contractor in to fix the mess and low and behold, we find the dirty secrets. The insurance companies contractor had taken no permits out. They left all of the original lumber in the wall. They must have known there was an additional water issue, but rather than disclosing it or fixing it, they used electrical tape and taped a piece of poly over a crack in the foundation, i suppose hoping it would solve the problem. Completely disgusting. They continue to deny the claim, and in fact refuse to release a cheque for my missing and damaged contents until I'm willing to sign their proof-of-loss form, that clearly states that I will have no further claim to damages. Suit #2 now filed. I wouldn't wish these clowns on my worst enemy.
One of our house cats turned on a kitchen tap in the middle of the night .originally the policy we got in the mail was about 12 pages . After 3 months of runaround they canceled our insurance and denied the claim .and saying they don't cover damage from domestic animals and to look at page 50 on our policy. This company needs to be investigated. Stay away
This April we installed new kitchen faucets, unfortunately they were too easy to operate and we woke to a flooded 1st floor and basement after our cat hit the handle and it had run all nighr. We called our broker and they confirmed we were covered so we made a claim. Adjusters came with a contractor who said the whole kitchen needed replaced along with the hardwood floor. Adjusters said it would most likely be paid out and we'd hear from them in a week. A month goes by with nothing from Wawanesa, we call and call and finally they arrange to meet and take a statement. Claim I'll get a copy to review, lies. A week later we get a letter saying they deny coverage based on an inclusion in my policy which excludes damages by pets and they cancelled the policy. I read the policy and this inclusion they denied us on wasn't in my policy so I contacted the broker for another copy to confirm, it was exactly the same. Now my lawyer is handling it. They have sent him a 50 page policy they claim is our policy but we never saw this version! We will be taking them to court, this is fraud. They old bait and switch. Avoid Wawanesa like the plague, they are crooks.
We pay around fourty five hundred dollars for farm insurance and many people we know dont pay half that. We are now looking for a new insurance provider
i called them last summer 2015 because i have water in the basement and they just jump to conclusion that its coming to the wall without checking, i said the water is on the middle , the wall is not wet put the lady never stop until i said okey, i called someone to fixed it put blue skin changed the walls and patches cracks, now winter time i have lots of water and i called wawanesa again but they only said if in sewage it might be from the three and they forward my concern to adjuster and now the adjuster said you dont have damaged i said my rolled carpet and the most of the part is carpeted, but he said its waste of time going to my house and checked because nothing is damaged. he said i need to call someone to check my sewer, i said your pretty much selling insurance. they are arrogant and un-polite , waste of time talking and paying them . no service you can get from them. they just want to collect moneys period
I was robbed out of my garage this past May and it was a terribly crippling experience. I dealt with Maria from Wawanesa and Bobby from Mentek.
They were great and very fair with the value of goods that were stolen. I can't say greater things about Bobby - he was so quick, thorough when communicating and really thoughtful about the entire process.
Very happy customer!
The adjuster is inexperienced. The people they send to the property seem to be elderly individuals that are a bit confused and they will try to deny any and every claim which comes to them. I had wind damage on my front gate. The elderly man they sent out to look at the gate says in an email to the adjuster that he checked wind speeds with Environment Canada on June 3, 2015 and there was not high winds but the problem is my gate broke on May 2, 2015 and the claim was made on May 3, 2015. The adjuster is so terrible that she didn't question this error in the report but agreed to it. Shows you how much they are looking out for their clients or how thoroughly they read and check their reports. The manager is further careless, calls us in to meet but goes out for coffee instead of meeting us. What a joke! Never use Wawanesa! They are terrible. If your broker says Wawanesa, stay away!!! Using Wawanesa would be equivalent to not having any insurance.
I've been a customer well over 15 yrs. I had a house fire this past April.
The lack of guidance, information and resolution has been eye opening.
It took me over 15 yrs to attain everything in my home and my Adjuster expects me to purchase first then submit receipts... In addition to that Ive lost income due to this fire as well. On top of that i need to prepare for the additional utilities cost for when they finally start the rebuild. Yes that's right the 8-12 week estimated time is now September but it'll be more like December. The Insurance is not on my side and all other parties involved are paid by my Insurance. I am at the point of seeking legal advise and seriously considering a public Adjuster.
We've been with Wawanesa for about 7 or 8 years. Never a claim.
Last spring, we noticed our (12-15 yr old) shingles were looking bad, grains on the ground after the snow melt. So, we called a company to come take a look. (We don't go up there.) The company told us we have hail damage. This was in June! We put in a claim but didn't hear from our adjuster, so I called. He said he'd be out by the end of the week. Didn't show. I called again and he said HE couldn't go up because we're in a bi-level, but he'd send a roofer to have a look by the end of the week. A month later, no show! I call twice and leave messages. No return call. I call my broker. The adjuster tells my broker the roofer was here and he's waiting for a report. NOT TRUE! The next day, the roofer comes, but he doesn't have a ladder tall enough to go on our roof! I provide one. He tells me it's 'Sun Bubbles', which I've never heard of. The adjuster said "No claim". I dispute and get another co. out to look at the roof. He says "Hail damage." The adjuster says it's one co. against the other, they can't agree, so they're sending a 'Roof-check' person as a mediator. The insurance pays the man (74 yr old) $700., as per my broker. We hear nothing from the adjuster, I've left 3 messages to call me, so I call my broker, again! She tells me she received the report a few days prior and they are not accepting the claim. So, I get another (5th person) to look at the roof and give me a price. It is now September! He tells me "You have hail damage!" Bottom line, poor service, waste of our money! We will never use Wawanesa again and WE WILL tell all our homeowner friends & family. By the way, a manager from the insurance tells us that if we have water damage over winter, if we can't get the roof done until spring, the insurance will not cover us.
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I am an single mom of three working 12 hour shifts to provide for my family. I have a older home with no concrete foundation..Just dirt under floor boards. The house was insured by wawanesa by the previous owners and now by myself and was insured with the house having h dirt foundation. I put 35000 into the house after purchasing. We repaired some floor joices that had sunk. I have never had the need to look under the the home again till a few weeks ago when I found the floor was bowing. I have found yellow mold fungi all over the floor boards and joices under the house. I took a sample with a kit and found it verified as "the house eating mold" There is no crawl space..Only about a foot between dirt and boards...I was told would be very expensive to fix. My 19 month old son has been to the er numerous times for lung infection symptoms or croup since he was born and him and I slept in the room directly above the mold fungi. I contacted McLean insurance who sent my claim to wawanesa after many arguments back and forth. I was told from the start that it likely wouldn't be covered as they don't cover water seepage and since water seepes through dirt that caused moisture hense making the wood damp and causing the mold fungi to grow. The adjuster came and took photos. Then a week went by. He returned with a contractor for his opinion. He stated it would be a lot of money to fix an take up to 6 months to complete. Another week went by and I heard nothing. I contacted he insurance reminding them that I have three small children in this house an we will need to make other living arrangements as I won't keep the kids in this house. Few more days went by then I get a call from the adjuster.... There are not covering my claim as they don't cover water seepage. I can not control how much water seepes through dirt. There has never been a flood up to the house. They insured the dirt the way it was under the floor an had no problem taking my payments for 6 years. Now that the same thing the insured has failed they will not cover it. I can't afford to fix the problem as it is extensive. It is looking as I will have to give our home back to the bank and look to rent...Which from what I have seen so far is around 1200 plus..That's a big difference from my small mortgage payment. I just can't believe there is nothing they are offering to help myself and my children with. I would not recommend his company especially if you have an older style home. They can give away free pizza an iPads but won't help there customers.