Portage Mutual Insurance Home Insurance Reviews

We have waited over a month to hear back on a claim, the first claim we have ever made, in 10 years of house ownership, on our two-story deck that collapsed. They just said a flat-out - no! We didn’t build this house, how were we supposed to know that 20 years ago, when they built the deck, that they didn’t build it properly. And now that expense is on us? After all the money we have poured into our insurance company and we have no right to any of it back. Shame on you greedy pigs. When the guy came out to look at the deck, he said: “well, it was all nailed in instead of screwed, but that’s just how they built stuff back then”. Point and case.

1) Policy almost doubled in price in two years. (indoor oil tank, Outdoor wood Boiler)
2) Charged $500+ for OUTDOOR Wood Boiler which was over 80ft from home and only brought HOT water to the house for heating. Clause states that if a solid fuel furnace is used to provide heat source then you get a surcharge. They are narrow minded on this when a system a great distance away from the house cannot start a fire using hot water, as far as I'm aware.
3) Had home inspection and when the inspector realized that the Outdoor Boiler was not in Operation for 13 Mos did not refund or remove Solid fuel surcharge. When I contacted their office directly in St Catharines, the person on the other end said He could not talk directly with the clients. I had to use my broker. They are very quick to add surcharges based on your verbal confirmation but will not remove them based on verbal confirmation.
4) House - 1000 sq per floor Cape Cod with attached DBl car garage was assessed at $675K+ replacement. I think that is high off the charts.
5)Policy has been cancelled for over 4 weeks and still no refund. Surcharges appear to have been removed at Cancellation. Will let you know.
Better insurance providers out there so shop around. I will say the Personal was not much better on a quote, find a provider which understands the equipment in your house and your property and you'll be happier with them.

They say they are competitive for pricing only because when you put in a claim they never want to spend a dime. I had a hail claim on my roof. In town everyone around me was covered by their insurance company. That obviously wasn't portage mutual - both my cars got written off and they look at my roof and say it doesn't look bad enough to cover and the shingles look old. What a joke of a company!

After a hail storm damaged my home in southern Alberta, I quickly learned that although Portage offers competitive rates, the coverage they provide in a loss is abysmal. If you are a customer who does not mind paying for insurance that will never deliver when you file a claim then this is the company for you. After paying my monthly insurance premiums faithfully for ten years, never a late payment or missed payment, when it came time for Portage to help me out they were hopeless. You will have to fight for coverage on every little piece of damaged material on your home, when you file a claim with Portage and then have it fixed in the absolute cheapest way. possible. This is how they treat there long term customers.

We don't believe credit score is anyone's business, unless you're applying for credit. Period. Nonetheless, Portage now wants your credit score to calculate its pricing, which means we would get a small discount, while someone else would have to pay more to subsidize it. It's morally reprehensible, and based on crappy "science". Insurance regulatory bodies agree, and are increasingly suspicious of this practice. It is even outlawed in several Canadian provinces, so far.

Anyway, we fired them, as we all should when companies seek to breach our privacy. Remember, just because someone asks for information, does not mean you should provide it. It's your information, and we all need to start drawing a line.

Had been with this company for 15 years, claim free. Out of the blue, we received a cancellation notice. Thtough some invasion of privacy, they found out that we had sold an item online (Etsy.com) to Japan (40$) value and another item to NY ( 30$). It seems that in their mind, these are business transactions and need "international exposure" coversge at 800$ even though we don't have a business. So rather than phone us to find out what was going on and explain what their issue was, they cancelled instead. personally, that ranked as the worst manoeuvre I have ever seen or experienced. So, these guys will investigate you routinely and if you sell anything on EBay or similar sites, sell Canada only, or be cancelled. Find another underwriter is my advice especially since these guys don't even make it in the top 25 insurers in Canada.

After the recent storms and winds in Winnipeg we had shingles come off the roof on two sides, the shingles were 15 years old, we called PM who we pay $4k plus a year to insure our home and was told we are not covered fully and they would only pay to get it patched. The shingles do not exist anymore and cannot be matched. When the roofing company, our Broker also told them it cannot be done all PM said was not our problem and only obliged to patch according to some sub rule, we was then told that if rain got in and did any damage we were not covered.
This is typical of insurance companies when it comes to having to fix or pay out, then we are told that their investments are down so are clamping down on claims, is that our fault? What do we pay insurance for if not covered for these accidents?
We are at present taking this further with the ombudsman to make Portage Mutual liable for the repair, that’s what we pay the cover for.
The inspector who came to check the damage will not answer calls, emails from us or our brokers. Scam comes to mind, BUYERS BEWARE, these are not very professional and I would not recommend.

Claim experience should be Zero. Currenlty suing Portage Mutual for 4 years: someone stole the copper pipe between oil tank and home. 4 others had same thing happen, same night and paid out immediately by their insurer on identical policy. Making documentary about the Bad Faith Insurance practices of predatory companies whjich operate without oversight in Canada. Need research for documentary.