Wawanesa Home Insurance Reviews

A tree crashing through the roof of a B.C. couple's house set off a chain of events that left their dream home falling apart, infested with rodents, and the family and its pets living in a trailer parked on the driveway.

Sharon and Paul Gough, from Mission, B.C., are now locked in a battle with their insurance company after a routine claim ballooned into an all-out repair disaster.

They say contractors recommended by Wawanesa Mutual Insurance caused almost a million dollars worth of damage to their home, which they believe it is no longer safe to live in.

Paul Gough Paul Gough says he's had to take time off work to act as a contractor to make his home livable again. (CBC)

For the past eight months, the Goughs have been living in a 300-square-foot trailer with their teenage son, a 120-pound mastiff and two chihuahuas. It's a big adjustment from living in an 8,000-square-foot home with seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms they scrimped and saved for decades to own.

In order to enter part of their home, the Goughs say they have to don hazmat suits and masks.

"It went from a tree that fell on our home to mega-destruction," Sharon Gough told Go Public.

"How can anybody ever anticipate the nightmare that went on in our home?" Read more at cbc.ca

We have been insured with Wawanesa for 15 years and currently 2 houses, never a claim never bounced a payment. A few weeks ago they decided one of our homes should be inspected. Today we were told we have 3 weeks to put eavestroughs on the place. We have never seen eavestroughs on that house. Not sure where this insurance company is located but it's winter and we live in a booming area (shortage of workers). We don't like the threatening attitude throughout this entire situation. It's uncalled for. From the way, the inspector made the appointment, until now. It's not even about the eavestrough, it's about the way they interacted with us and the unrealistic time table to have them on. They want us to go, I guess in their statistics after 15 years it's better for customers to leave. It seems unethical and all-around wrong. We will be looking into another insurance company.

They will come up with every possible excuse to deny your claim if they get back to you at all. You will end up wasting your time suing them and if the claim is small, it may not even be worth pursuing. This is their way of getting away with not paying the claims as they are aware that the customers are unlikely to pursue small claims. Switching policy to another insurance company that has good ratings and record of providing great customer service. Word of advice: You are better off paying a little higher premiums and choosing a company that will provide you with prompt customer service and would actually honour your claim when the time comes. Would strongly suggest against choosing Wawanesa.

Never have we been treated in such a disgusting manner by any company and Wawanesa is by far one of the most dishonest insurance agencies to date. They tried to raise our Car & Home Insurance by almost 50% in 2 years. Being a long-time client, we never received a phone call to discuss our contract or even to find out if we are satisfied. They have added extra service fees that we never agreed to and are attempting to charge additional fees on top of that for cancelling 17 days into our renewal which is appalling. After I politely told them this is unacceptable and kindly asked them to remove the fees, we have not heard back in almost 2 weeks. Beware of Wawanesa, they are sneaky and dishonest so check your invoices and go with another agency if you can. They are all cheaper now than Wawanesa who you likely won't speak with since they merged with Fort, so you will be bounced back and forth between them.

Wawanesa has kept us waiting over 2 years to settle our claim. We were never told what would be covered and what would not. We are not getting the single limit replacement cost on the damage. Refusing to cover lots and reinstalling things damaged. Amazing contractor trying to work for us. Terrible customer service from adjuster and Wawanesa. We are not getting the coverage that we should be getting. Our home will never be worth what it was before the loss. I do not recommend Wawanesa or Coast Claims adjuster. Very sad. I recommend purchase home insurance with a different company.

We are still fighting over a sewer backup claim after 2 years. We were a customer for over 4o years with this company, and we are treated like we wanted this to happen. We were out of town when it happened, when we got home our basement was destroyed by the restoration company, many items unaccounted for with no explanation from the cleaning company where these items are, yet we have had to sue them and are still in the process of trying to settle this fiasco. They would rather pay their lawyers than do the right thing for a client. They are worth millions in assets and they want to keep it that way. Stay away from Wawanesa, read your policy carefully every year and be careful who your broker is. In our case, we had a broker who did not review our policy with us on renewal and did not advise that because of the flood in High River, all our coverage would change without them advising us of these changes. They want high premiums every year but when it comes to paying out any money for a claim that is a different story. We have had to spend thousands in trying to restore our basement out of our own pocket, as well as legal fees to fight these terrible companies.

I had been overcharged for home insurance coverage for two years. I had been paying insurance for a single-family home and I have a semi-detached home. I had supplied my current home information for a new policy and Wawanesa was not professional in correcting my policy with the new updated information.

The company allows monthly payments, but to pull out on a certain date... that is fine, but if you can't make those payments and do a stop payment (because you can't call and delay), they make you pay your premium in full. I want to say exactly how I feel about them-but the review would be deleted I am sure!

Dealt with these guys for years, better off having no insurance than paying these guys for nothing. Cheaper insurance but you get what you pay for - absolutely nothing. They have their own adjusters who get paid extra if they rule in their favour. Hired my own adjuster but still ignored his claim, said "we have our own", of course.

Long story short. My Neighbour had a flood and damaged my property (condo). Wawanesa adjustor (Christina M) gave my neighbour and me all kind of nonsense and refused to pay. I had to spend a year and hundreds $ to sue my neighbour. In the end, Wawanesa had to follow the order to pay me and honour their policy. So much had for me because the company and adjuster would not do the right thing at the beginning.