Home Insurance Reviews

CNS - Canadian Northern Shield (RSA) Home Insurance Reviews

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(31 reviews)
CNS - Canadian Northern Shield (RSA)
1.6 out of 5 stars:
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Primary heating device

by Disappointed on May 30, 2022
3 out of 5 stars

CNS said we are using our woodstove too often and not our oil furnace which is our primary source of heat -I did not know exactly how many cords they asked me of wood we use so I said 4 cords... Well, we don’t use that much and only use the wood stove in cool months just to heat up the home in the mornings. Renewed oil tank and put in a cement pad, got new water tank system installed as they needed and yet they are still going to lapse the policy - some insurers won’t even insure with an oil furnace in use. What do you do!?

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Condo Insurance

by Bad Experience. on Dec 14, 2021
1 out of 5 stars

I had a flood in my small kitchen and the Canadian Northern Shield Insurance adjuster and company, in general, were not kind. They took months and months to do my claim. It was just replacing my floor. I literally had to make calls and calls to get the job finished. In the end, my refrigerator and dishwasher are still not working. I never got reimbursement for all the food lost. Today I have no dishwasher and wash my dishes by hand since April 30, 2021. And my refrigerator is still not working. I can’t buy too much food or it will melt. Very disappointed. Buyer beware. Make sure you read your policy before signing it. I am warning my family and friends. The company is not insuring me anymore. Because of the claim I made.

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Wouldn't go anywhere else

by jhoward on Aug 1, 2020
5 out of 5 stars

Had a roof leak that leaked into a top floor closet. They opened the file immediately and had a restoration company there within 2 hours of opening the file. Our claims adjuster re-read our policy to determine what we were covered for, and she made it happen. Within a week it was all put back together and fixed. She was awesome and explained things clearly. We were confident that we were working with people who care. A year later we moved places and had a plumbing concern that Strata was trying to blame on us. Again we had our previous adjuster and she took no information from our Strata and told them what was their responsibility and what we were responsible for. This is exactly why we bought house insurance, we wanted someone to stand up for us when something wasn't our fault and advise us of our options when it was our fault. This company has been awesome and I recommend it to all of my friends and family. I trust that our back is covered when we need it the most.

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Worst experience

by Edwin on Jun 12, 2019
2 out of 5 stars

We are currently having our floors redone as we had a water leak. Our floors were levelled before and now they apparently won't be and requires levelling. The flooring company wants $1500 or they will void the warranty. The insurance company won't cover the costs. Complete waste. We will definitely be looking at another Insurance company when this one expires.

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CNS says 'take it or leave it'

by Catherine Victoria on Jun 26, 2018
1 out of 5 stars

Worst experience with an insurer ever. I have paid policies for decades and then claimed on a $2500 bike which I had verbally confirmed: "do I need a rider" and was told 'no - you have $2000 coverage' as in all of my prior years. The bike was stolen and well-documented by the police report and property manager with full receipts, and photos of the sawed-off heavy steel locks. CNS paid out a half and could not have cared less about my documentation or any further dialogue. "Take it or leave it". Apparently, coverage was now $1000 but I wasn't notified and the agent didn't automatically mail the policy to the new address that they were covering. The CNS agent was very difficult to get hold of, wasn't interested at all. The message I got was 'just go away - try to get your money from the broker'. This was my son's main transportation and was deeply important to him. CNS made a devastating loss much worse and it's still dragging on 10 months later. I would avoid CNS at all costs - it wasn't worth the bit of savings - we're still upset about it. I truly feel that they are in the 'payout avoidance business' rather than helping valued customers recover from a loss in an economic win/win over time.

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Simply horrible

by Joan on Jun 20, 2017
1 out of 5 stars

We've been paying premiums for decades but had never made an insurance claim until last year when we had a fire that seriously damaged our home. At that point CNS sent their team of preferred suppliers in to assist us. We found ourselves facing off against brokers, adjusters, contractors and suppliers who directly represent CNS interests. We have no one to represent our interests other than ourselves - but we've got no expertise in dealing with insurance or construction issues. How would we know whether the two reconstruction quotes their adjuster had two of their reconstruction contractors come up with is adequate or appropriate? One of their contractors came in and removed our belongings when we weren't there and didn't provide a receipt for the things taken. Our claims for additional living costs were arbitrarily rejected and we have a lawyer who will be pursuing them on that. More than anything we've found them to be bullies who use delays as a means of pressuring and punishing policy holders who don't agree with them. They've consistently shied away from any kind of dialogue that would explain their position. It's not just CNS - their broker, Sea-first, has been no use to us whatsoever and their adjuster, Lindsey, is one of the most obnoxious and offensive people we've ever met. They've gone out of their way to cause us anguish and uncertainty - you have to wonder how they can stay in business.

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Only good experiences

by Anonymous on Mar 24, 2017
3.5 out of 5 stars

CNS has been my insurer for over 20 years. I have had 2 claims in that period and both were handled exceptionally well. The last claim involved a flood in my home leaving it inhabitable until restoration could be completed. CNS had me set up with temporary lodging within 2 hours of calling them and filing a claim. I have found their rates to be reasonable, however, since I have been with them for so long, that does help reduce my premium costs

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Horrible service, high cost

by carol55 on Aug 26, 2015
1 out of 5 stars

Six months into my policy, CNS has decided that my house is 'worth more' and want to change my premiums. They have super inflated the value of my house by over $200,000 and I could never sell it for what they 'say' is the replacement value, let alone afford the exorbitant premiums. They also make me pay for 'furs and jewellry' in their household contents section and have given me no choice to delete that since I have none of the above. So they are charging me insurance for contents I don't own and say that is the way the package is. Very poor service and unprofessional---that was my experience.

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frying pan to the fire

by joe blow on Aug 12, 2015
1 out of 5 stars

We had a fire in our home. Not a complete write off mind you but significant smoke and water damage. The company who came to take everything away and make it better, wrote everything off except the kitchen pots and pans, plates and cups. In their haste they left out pieces of furniture on their lists of write offs and failed to include specific details about what they were writing off. ie. " ziploc bag of maps", or X number of books, X number of DVDs. So there was no record of what we actually lost. Then the insurance company takes this incomeplete and vague list of write offs and sends the list to another company who uses a random write down / depreciation formula to further reduce the insurance companies liability in the replacement costs. The formulas were very random and did not allow for the fact that in Canada a swim suit or pair of shorts might only get worn once or twice a year and sometimes not even. But the formula says the life of that garment is 3 years. Anything over 3 years old has no value, according to this company who specializes in assessing values for the insuarnce company.
So first the write down company has incomplete lists and descriptions from the clean up company and secondly their criteria for a write down is completely random and irrelevant to the average home owner. Yes companies do write down assets and depreciate items for valuation purposes but families wear and use things until they wear out, at which time they become painting or work clothes. They still have use and value. Not so with this insuarnce companies process. They write down the home owners write offs to reduce their liability, leaving the home owner to bear the loss. It has been over 60 days since our fire and all we have seen is write off lists and now this multipage " assessment list" where they want us to tell them how old the items on our write off list is. Do you remember when you bought that striped wool neck scarf that you still wear once in a while when it really blows? Of course not.... we can't remember when we bought all our clothes. The insurance company saves money by using bad information calculated with bad formulas and decision criteria. They call this customer service? I don't think so.

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Premium hike

by Carroll on Jul 16, 2015
1 out of 5 stars

Premium went from 83$/month to 109$/month REASON we no longer insured our boat with them

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