Square One Insurance Home Insurance Reviews

I was in with my husband last month and we were assisted by Farran A. She was very unprofessional. She kept giggling every time my husband would say something. I thought at any moment she would jump over her desk and sit on his lap. I am very disappointed by the lack of professionalism at Square One Insurance. I do hope in the future they qualify their staff a little better.

I was with Square One for several years. One reason I went with them was their competitive rates. When I signed with them you were able to choose ( within a window) the insured value of your home. They said that was what made them different. Slowly this insured value began to increase until it was 25- 30 more than other Brokers. My renewal last year had an increase of over 100 %. Also, the staff do not have the knowledge to answer simple questions. It is like they are reading from a prgrammed set of answers. For example, I installed a sump pump. I got numerous email questions on what was powering the pump, etc. After they finally made the change to my policy my rate INCREASED! I could not get a reasonable answer as to why so I deleted the pump and my rate when back DOWN. I had too many problems to mention. I just cancelled my policies and went with another Broker.
Stay away from Squqre One!

I purchased house insurance when I started renovating my home. After one year, they decided to cancel my insurance because they said the renovation was taking too long. When I purchased the insurance they never told me or stipulated in the agreement that I could only insure for up to one year while renovating. I explained to them that we were waiting for 6 months just to get the permits and regardless they should have told me before selling me their insurance product. Now they want to dump me with no insurance. Jas S. was rude from the start. As soon as I spoke to her for the first time she was talking to me as though I was dirt under her shoe. To speak to someone in that tone is bad enough, but to speak to a customer like that is beyond unprofessional. I am now getting my lawyers involved and will refuse to sign the consent of cancellation. Avoid this company at all costs, especially Jas S.

I read some reviews, and it would seem that I have had the very same experience with reviews. I originally purchased insurance from Jas S. now a Manager. I was speaking to a gentleman named Igor, and I found out that I no longer have insurance.

I sent all my information only being a customer of 4 years & no claims to find out that after 1 day, I am no longer insured.

There are many insurance companies out there, and Square One Insurance is out for money, however, in return are under no circumstance willing to work with you.

Thank God, I never had a claim, since I cannot imagine what sort of crap would be involved with Square One Insurance.

I would rather spend double and have insurance elsewhere.......

It may be easy to get a policy with Square One, however, do not expect to get good customer service. They only believe in taking your money and not giving you anything in return. God help you if you actually have to make a claim. I know people who had to battle, for excessively long periods of time, with them to get covered what was rightfully outlined in their policy. As fast as they will take your money and give you a policy they will take it away even if it is due to their error. They will argue with you on the phone, talk over you and will not even try to listen to you. This includes managers as well as customer service reps. This was my experience - they cancelled my policy due to their systems inability to process payment from my visa. They cancelled my policy immediately without any grace period. I even offered to provide proof from my bank that it was their error and they would not even listen. When I asked to speak to the manager and the manager kept talking over me, would not even listen and kept blaming me. When I asked how it is my fault if their system couldn't process my payment (one of their own employees admitted that their system has difficulties processing certain credit cards) they said it was my responsibility to ensure payment was made. If I gave the correct payment info and the funds were available, how am I responsible for their systems error??? If I could give them a negative rating I would. Stay away from this company!

I was pleasantly surprised by the online experience when requesting a quote from Square One, the questions were comprehensive and clear. The resulting quote was reasonable, but I was directed to speak with a representative to finalize the purchase. After answering (again) most of the questions I had filled-out online the resulting quote came-in nearly 50% higher than the online quote, what a waste of time.

From that point forward my experience with sales/support team was infuriating. I received nothing but short unhelpful email replies. I honestly felt as if they did not want my business. I certainly went elsewhere, and I'm very very pleased to have saved $600 annually by insuring with someone else.

Thanks for wasting my time Square One.

Not sure if this is common experience.
I got a home insurance quote from Square One via Kanetix. Then I contacted Square One via Kanetix. My final quote became much more, as much as 50% more. Liability and deductible are the same. I did not choose any optional offer.

My tenants experienced water damage from a dishwater leak. The bottom of the kitchen wall needed to be replaced as it was wet despite emergency cleaning. Square One/All Perils Claims told me not to do anything until they decided what was covered. Almost a month later, they denied my claim because of "mould growth" inside the kitchen wall, which somehow they had seen when they visited the suite 4 days after the incident. After 3 weeks had passed, the project escalated as there needed to be mould remediation and the entire wall had to be replaced along with the kitchen cabinets. I also had to prorate rent for my tenants who moved out as the kitchen became unusable during the repairs.

My claim was wrongly denied because Square One/All Perils Claims conducted a flawed and inaccurate assessment. The insurance's contractor did not do any assessment (e.g., no thermal camera to assess water damage, did not open up the walls, did not look behind the kitchen cabinets) but decided somehow there was mould INSIDE the kitchen walls without having seen it. Moreover, the contractor stated that this mould was not from the dishwasher leak but "had been there from other previous leaks." He lied as there was no way to determine this. However, it was not surprising to find mould once the kitchen wall was opened up during the repairs 3 weeks after the incident as these were ideal conditions for mould growth (mould grows after 48 to 72 hours in damp dark spaces). It is my opinion that Square One/All Perils Claims knew the high likelihood of mould growth in this situation and delayed their decision making to make sure that mould would grow in the 3 weeks.

After 4 months of going back and forth, I settled with Square One for half of the project costs. They offered me a settlement "on good faith." My only option was to take them to small claims court, which was not feasible for me as I work full-time on Vancouver Island. I am also so completely worn down by this process, that I needed to settle the matter for my own emotional wellbeing. However, I am greatly dissatisfied with their service, the inefficiencies in handling my claim, and the lack of accurate evidence they provided. I hold Square One and All Perils Claims entirely responsible for the full extent of the damages. My claim was initially denied given a poorly conducted and grossly inaccurate assessment. Insurance must cover all damages, not just part of the damages, especially if damages were aggravated by the length of time taken to deal with the matter. If this had been dealt with in a timely and efficient manner, there would have been no mould growth and my tenants would not have had to move out for an extended period of time. This issue has caused me and my tenants significant stress. I have also spent a considerable amount of my personal time coordinating services to ensure that the repairs were expedited, especially as the 3 weeks following the water damage incident were wasted waiting for their decision.

If you carefully read these reviews, you will see that most of them refer to customers valuing the lower deductibles compared to what is offered by other providers. Reviews also refer to the "great" customer service offered by this company when convincing people to buy their insurance. There are NO reviews of big claims being positively resolved. Although going through insurance providers will likely always be a stressful experience, stay away from this small company who will do whatever it takes not to pay up when it counts.

I had insurance with them for a year with no problem. After the year they sent me a new policy, even though I had not requested it. I called Square One because it seemed strange to send me a complete policy and not just a notice of renewal, they told me to ignore the renewal if I didn't want to continue with the policy.

Of course 2 weeks later Square One illegally withdrew the funds from my bank account without notifying me. I found out when I bounced a cheque. They agreed they made a mistake, but have not issued me a refund. I called my bank and after 30 mins they said I would have to go to the branch to fill out some forms, which are not available online, then it could take weeks to investigate and get a refund.

Square One is using NEGATIVE OPTION BILLING PRACTICES that are illegal in BC. How do they get away with this?!