CNS - Canadian Northern Shield (RSA) Home Insurance Reviews

It's the most backward insurance company in Canada. Avoid at all cost. They have hidden costs, avoid providing a binder for mortgage companies, request fees for every move they make. The trick is to insure at first with lower payments and then start charging.

CNS suddenly cancelled our insurance with 2 weeks notice, citing "Underwriting" as the reason. I have no idea what that means. Although they happily took our annual premium for 12 months (approximately $800), they felt that a premium refund of $103.00 for the remaining 4 months was sufficient. However, this appears to be a moot point anyway as they give no indication, when or how this refund will occur.

Somehow after a brief discussion with an insurance representative this company signed me up for their insurance services after I had already chosen to go with another one. I called them and told that I never signed for anything and did not consent. They said there was nothing they could do and were not helpful at all. The following year they charge me again after I have already talked to them expressing I did not want or consent to their services or charges. Now I have to call my credit card company to report their fraudulent charges.

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.

We like so many others here have dealt with this company for many years with no claims. Now that we had a flood in our home CNS has crapped all over us. They try to screw you over any chance they get. We have had to battle them at every step. Probably going to have to take them to court to finish out this claim. They do not care about how you are suffering with the loss of your home. Their employees are as heartless as can be. Everyone we have dealt with from this company is totally incompetent at their job. DO NOT BUY INSURANCE FROM THIS INCOMPETENT UNFEELING COMPANY.

Extremely difficult adjusters to deal with, to add they sent 3 other so-called experts to look at my property, some of them extremely unprofessional...I will never recommend them poor service from start to END, FROM OUTSET LITIGIOUS.Do not buy... waste of time and money to deal

The deductible on the policy is $1000, but a new addendum has been created that states that in the case of water damage, it is $2000. This was never communicated to us, just sneakily imposed. Stay away from this insurance company. There are several that are much better.

Still trying to settle a claim. Worst experience of my life, cannot even get an estimate of damage costs, complete run around. Have been a client for 25 years. Never had a claim. If you are thinking about getting house insurance, this is not the company to deal with. Run away from this group as fast as you can

The first thing to know is that the moment you have a large claim you cease having any friends in your insurance circle. The Agent, Adjuster, the company's preferred construction Contractor and preferred Restoration firm are aligned against you. The Adjuster knows you don't have a list of all of your belongings and before you can develop one they will have their preferred restoration company remove your belongings. The Adjuster wants not only to minimize your claim but to minimize the cost of dealing with your assets. To this end, they will pressure you to accept 85% of the value of the assets on their list of assets rather than repairing or replacing them. If you refuse you can expect no communications whatsoever from their preferred suppliers. Their communications are poor by design - they like to keep things verbal and if you try to use email for the sake of having a record of what they've said you'll find that the Adjuster doesn't receive your email or don't have the software needed to open .pdf attachments - even though they can send them to you. You might find that they also use multiple email addresses. In the beginning, the Adjuster will make up limitations and constraints relating to your claim that aren't mentioned anywhere in your policy and are not supported by existing insurance case-law. If you insist they provide a proper explanation they will accuse you of impropriety and threaten to reject your claim. If you continue to refuse to back down they will begin ignoring you. Ultimately all of these actions are intended to cause the claimant to throw their hands up and accept less than they're entitled to. These people are subject to a Code of Ethics - but they certainly don't adhere to it. You can deal with them for 20-30-40 years without ever making a claim - only to find that the honourable people you thought were dealing with have never felt the same about you.

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.