My experience with BCAA
by Previous BCAA customer on Jun 4, 2014
1 out of 5 stars
BCAA was awesome few years ago... when ClaimsPro was not the their 3rd party adjuster company. I don't recall being this frustrated when I had similar claim few years back (flooding that requires laminate flooring to be replaced throughout the house). Their contractor has found our main floor (which is our access to kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom) to be "unsafe" due to accident prone while the main floor and stairs are being replaced but they still find it "liveable". The policy states that they will cover living expense when "unfit for occupancy". Which becomes debatable... after numerous battles with both ClaimsPro and BCAA directly, they concluded that being unsafe is still fit for occupancy. I was advised to use my common sense that if construction site (house) is unsafe, to use my judgement to be cautious... even if I have small kids. They've stated that if I were to fix my damage on my own, I'd be careful not be in any sort of accident. Then I wondered isn't it the reason why we take insurance? So we have a peace of mind in not harming ourselves during claim renovation... hence the clause for 'additional living expense' for when 'unfit for occupancy'? This is really dumb. I'd like to formally complaint to BCAA and BBB for this part of the policy to be clarified. I don't understand the logic.
My wife and I had our apartment damaged by water and were put into a new home for 7 months. Had a 3rd party insurance company (ClaimsPro) involved. BCAA was awful from the very beginning. No one ever contacted us directly, everything went thru ClaimsPro. Took months to get reimbursed. We would have to put down hundreds, even thousands of our own money and wait months to get it back, no matter how often we reached out to them. The customer service was terrible. Deadlines were never met. No matter how many complaints were made with the adjuster or the manager, nothing improved throughout the process. The claim is coming to an end in a couple weeks and I can't be happier to not have to deal with BCAA again.
After being a BCAA home insurance customer for nearly 30 years, our home was destroyed in a fire. ( BCAA contracts out it’s adjusting to a 3rd party in our area.). We had full replacement insurance for our contents. Our experience has been poor, especially in the area of getting reimbursed for our contents. Without rhyme or reason, they will pay for some things, and not for others, even if such things are on our schedule. We have submitted detailed purchase details as requested for items (same “like, kind, and quality” as we were instructed), including receipts - only to have many not paid for with no explanation. We often don’t get replies to inquiries for several weeks, and tried contacting the assigned BCAA “examiner” for assistance when we were being stonewalled by the adjuster. No help what so ever. Home restoration - BCAA has not held the restoration company accountable to the timeline they promised (we were given a choice of 3 different restoration companies and told that we had the “choice“ to select one, but that BCAA would only go with the lowest bidder). The restoration company we chose proposed a timeline that would have us back in our house 6 months after the home was destroyed. We weren’t back in for almost 17 months. The insurance company has no problem holding it over your head (as a claimant) that you must keep your purchases to a “reasonable” minimum (we were even coached to look for replacement contents at a garage sale. Yet they are not willing to hold a restoration company accountable to a timeline, even though it is costing the insurer thousands of $$$ in additional living expenses to keep us in rental housing while out of our home. I wish that I had engaged a lawyer from the beginning, but being naive, I thought that BCAA would be truly there to help us and that the adjuster was on our side. In hindsight, I should have engaged a lawyer's assistance immediately. Would not recommend this company at all.
BCAA home insurance division recommended FirstOnSite for our restoration. Our job was small and in the end a claimed was not made on our insurance. But, BCAA home insurance division was in communication with me about our claim for updates as restoration was happening. Whatever you do DO NOT USE FirstOnSite. I would NOT recommend this company. I also contacted BCAA with feedback about my disappointment with FirstOnSite . Angel seemed very concerned about my complaint and asked me to let her know about the outcome as she had other complaints about the company but, again when I followed up with her she did not respond to my 2 emails. So, I have no faith in BCAA and their quality of service to their customers as well.
I have been a BCAA member for 45 years. With all the premiums, house, auto and membership, I think I have already paid for my own claim. During a winter ice storm about a year and a half ago, a large tree fell over our pool maintenance house and into the pool. Due to cold and snow, I had no idea what equipment etc, was damaged and the pool house was flat. They recommended a contractor. I'm 72 now, my husband was dying at the time, so I thought they knew the best. Turns out about 8 months later that it was more than obvious these guys had never dealt with pools before. What a waste of time and money. By the way, no adjuster ever showed up to review the damage. So, by the Spring of this year, I had a new, relatively local contractor who was fabulous! Done and done. The big problem is that neither he nor I could ever reach the adjuster. No calls back etc. This contractor knew exactly what he was doing and did it. There turned out to be an additional 2700. Due to unseen damage, the pool was still looking like a frog pond. After 2 months since completion, he has not been paid the balance and as usual, neither he nor I can reach the claims person. This is just a brief overview as you have no idea of the horror I went through with their recommended contractor while trying to be in the hospital every day for my husband, who eventually passed last September. As I say, I've more than paid my own claim. What do I do now?
I had a sewage backup flood in November - December while away from home for 9 weeks. Christmas weekend December 24 - 25, 2016 I reported the claim. CanStar Restoration arrived and did some damage control but their team missed a significant part of the damage in walls and floors and subfloors. This is being dealt with by BCAA afresh to address the extent of the damage. More on that when I know result but I have spent $1000's to fix the full extent of the damage myself. CLAIMSPRO adjuster Ms A.D. did not give me any information in writing or provide forms, processes, contact information. When I went up the line to her manager, Mr. J.L. I got no help. I was seriously ill so not dealing with the situation effectively. On July 18th, approx., I engaged the assistance of the Vice President of ClaimsPro (found name and number on Google) and by Friday that week, the insurance payout cheque was in my hands. That day I learned via email comment from MS A.D. on July 22, 2017 that there was a BCAA representative assigned to my Claim who would "cut the cheque". Today, July 24, I phoned BCAA for advice on the extensive (missed) damage and was informed that the BCAA rep should have been involved by ClaimsPro, engaging me in the information loop with my (unknown) BCAA claim examiner. Had I known she existed, I'd have met with her and got my questions and concerns dealt with. Instead, several months of serious distress, no communication, nothing in writing, no answers, and serious financial costs associated with waiting several months for a cheque that should have been released in April 2017 latest. With information about what to do about the "missed" sewage damage.
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I used BCAA home insurance for over 20 years with one claim. The one claim involved faulty toilet tanks that cracked. When this happened BCAAs contractor quickly had this cleaned up and eventually repaired. No complaints there. However my reduced premiums immediately went to full price as I had made a claim despite them being part of a class action suit against the tank manufacturer. I was asked to take time to meet with their law firm and sign papers etc. On the second round of papers signing i asked if my premium payment discounts would be rebated as the company will get funds from this suit as the tank company was taking responsibility for the defect and I was told "No" .
Many years later we purchase rental and rural property which was deemed to high of risk even though we were loyal customers for over 20 yrs. I will never deal with them again. Coast Capitol has been very good and gladly accepted our business.