A warning to those who have homeowners insurance from Farmers, State Farm or Allstate
 

Read your policies carefully!

Here's my story:

Around the beginning of June a severe thunderstorm blew through central Texas..the type with unbelievable winds associated with it...branches and limbs were all over the whole neighborhood...

about 2 weeks after that I had just won a bid on Ebay for a rather unique piece of wood which I plan to use for the top on a Les Paul style electric guitar...I was showing my wife the online pictures and she mentioned that I hadn't ever really shown her the Koa wood I had gotten around the new year for an acoustic...so, I unpacked it and showed it off...upon repackaging I noticed mold growing on the box and was rather concerned....further investigation led to the knowledge that water had gotten in and had soaked one corner of this room I use for computer work and storage of stuff...mold was growing under a cherry cabinet I have on the floor (which is now ruined) for use as a filing cabinet, and boxes of personal papers were also soaked and contents damaged...the adjacent room is my garage where I have some rather tasty woods stored and some of those were also damaged...after moving stuff around the water quickly evaporated and that was that..

I made a claim with my insurance company, Farmers, and a rather jerkwad adjuster came out and told me my claim would be denied as this type of damage was excluded...why you ask?...because there was no physical hole in my roof...the fact that horizontal rain had blown under some shingles or flashing makes no difference..there has to be physical damage to the structure for wind blown rain to be covered...WTF????...that has got to be the most criminal exclusion I have ever heard...on top of the fact said adjuster actually tried to get me to say this was 'fair'...FAIR???...fair is the fact that I didn't bust a cap in his sorry head for his smug a§§ attitude...what a pr!ck...he really blew it when he said 'what concerns me is that there is no mold or anything growing on your ceiling or walls'...concerns you?...more like you know that that proves this water penetration was a one time thing caused by a severe storm, not a leaky roof you fracking pig!...he even had the audacity to imply that maybe the water had gotten in through the limestone walls of my house :cheesy:...:nono::nono:

I've called agents for the others of the big 3 in Texas (State Farm and Allstate) and they also have this criminal exclusion...I mean really, this makes me think of the movie Tommy Boy where Tommy goes off on his theory of the Warranty Fairy...well I'm thinking of the Insurance Fairy now...what a farce...totally worthless insurance coverage...of no use except to make you think you are safe (until you actually find out you are just throwing money away for coverage that isn't there when you need it for a justifiable reason)

Here's the real kicker...a while back a hurricane (the one that blasted the Texas coast) was projected to have effects up here in Austin...so I called my agent and asked him what was up...I walked away from that conversation thinking I was covered...either my agent is clueless or he's a lying monkey..either way my relationship with Farmers is over...for homeowners, auto, and life insurance...they will not get a single dime from me ever again...apparently Nationwide Insurance does cover a loss just like this, so guess where my $ are going???

to Farmers (and the other 2), my agent, and that worthless adjuster that was sent out:

I've got a barbed broomstick lubed with chunky peanut butter and the bristles soaked in gasoline ready to shove right up your hairless a§§es...got a light LOTR??? It would truly be a grand sight to see those pr!cks running around with a flaming broomstick stuck up their a§§es and them trying to decide whether to rip it out or burn alive...

Hell, they actually deserve the Vietnamese torture treatment...you know, being tied to a big wooden X, and a bucket tied to their scrotum...then a rock is added every day...after about 2 weeks after gangrene has fully set in, their whole intestinal tracks will fall out and they will die in excruciating agony...yeah...that's about what they deserve...

The only thing good about this whole scenario was having spent around $200 on a piece of gnarly Myrtle wood which lead to me finding this all out before the $500 of Koa was ruined...

And what's really lucky is that I didn't have my ~$20,000 of guitars in that area..if they had been damaged and not covered, I would already be on national news for what I would have done to those insurance pr!cks...may they all rot in hell, along with the Texas Insurance Commission for allowing this type of practice...they are just as bad as lawyers...worthless vampires sucking the life out of real people...

Allstate Insurance
 

I'm guessing most people have an insurance horror story to tell. I'll just say that my experience with Allstate in Connecticut was a nightmare. The agent told me one thing, the adjusters told me something else, they tried to cheat me out of paying a claim, and on one auto claim I discovered they were using replacement parts from a salvage yard. They made a deductions from everything to tread wear to paint. I also had my homeowners insurance through them and went through the same hell.
The insurance commissioner in our state is useless because he has no power to act on complaints. I suspect this is true in many states.
I've noticed over the past year Allstate is advertising their many new insurance innovations. But buyer beware! There's always a catch with them. Even when you read the fine print. they make up the rules as they go along and call them "industry standards".
Not all insurance companies are underhanded, sneaky, lying, thieves, but you have to do your homework, ask lots of questions, get everything in writing and know your policy inside out and backwards.
I have a new insurance agent now with an established insurance company and so far they've been great. It's Hanover Insurance and I mention this because I believe they are fair and, dare I say, honest. Live and learn!

Hello Gnutella Network!!! Good Lookin out!!

insurance exclusions
 

Tamarama12

That "Free Homeowners Insurance Guide" link is very informative, not only for US citizens but for everyone that is considering whether or not insurance is required.



UK Bob

Peerless

I just read about your guitar collection. Make sure those instruments are specified in your policy (often musical instruments and antiques are not covered, and there may be exclusions for what they consider business-related items).

oh trust me, those things are covered for REPLACEMENT value, which in the case of one instrument is quite a bit of $ as the woods used in it are for all intensive purposes near impossible to replace...too boot to truly replace it, it would have to be made by Bob Taylor personally and be made to specs from 25 years ago...

$700 million to name a stadium that hasn't been built, for a team that doesn't exist.

When I was a kid I used to visit one of the players on the S.F. 49'ers football team, at the liquor store he owned in my neighborhood. I could get a free team photo there, and he would autograph it. To watch the team play, I went to Kezar Stadium with my Cub Scouts troop. Tickets to the game were very cheap, and we could afford to buy hot dogs, etc. Back then most pro sports players had to have another source of income. (I'm glad that changed; players should earn enough to not need a second job.)

Sometime in the mid-80's I began to hear complaints from middle-class fathers who could no longer afford to take their kids to a ballgame. The price of a hotdog at the game became more than what a ticket used to cost. Nowadays, you don't find many kids attending pro sports events. [exception: When SF built its new stadium, "Pac Bell Park" - renamed "SBC Park" ('03) and "AT&T Park" ('06) - they included a section where anyone can watch three innings of a baseball game without buying a ticket. My friends tell me that the seats provide a good view, and unless others are waiting, they can stay for more than three innnings. bonus: The Park was built without any public funding, as all should be!]

In '96 Candlestick Park was re-named "3Com Park", and in '04, "Monster Park", (for Monster Cable, a manufacturer), though many sportscasters habitually used the original name. Locals always called it Candlestick (again it's official name since '08).

I am not a sports fan nor a customer of 3Com, AT&T, Monster, or Farmer's. And I don't see how adding their name to a building increases their sales, but I like the extra revenue generated by selling the name. I do think that some of that money should be used to lower ticket prices, so that an average guy can afford to take his kid to a ballgame.

Farmers Insurance Exchange to sponsor proposed L.A. NFL stadium - ESPN Los Angeles

AT&T Park - history, photos and more of the San Francisco Giants ballpark

Blackhorse 70V

You said:Well, it's a prestige thing for "Farmers" paid for by cheating its customers out of their rightful claims.

You know, it is not right for an insurance company to indulge itself in such extravagance when it is unwilling to do right by its' policy holding customers.

I guess then that "Farmers" is run for the benefit of its' directors and chairman, not the policy holders.



UK Bob

Haven't heard of an insurance company that isn't run for the benefit of its' directors and chairman.

I was hired by Combined Ins Co, attended their paid training program, (was top in my class), and then worked for six weeks before quitting. The sales training was useful; I learned how to look someone in the eye as I lied to them. The company owner, WC Stone, had donated $2M to Nixon's Committee to Re-Elect the President ("CREEP" - what a perfect acronym!).

In 1980 I paid $8 for insurance on a U-Haul trailer that I rented. A freak accident left the trailer looking like an opened sardine can. The only part of the trailer that was not damaged was at the back, where signage read, "U-Haul - Adventure In Moving".

When my Adventure ended I submitted a claim for damages totaling $4k (actual cost of replacement). Had I sold all my stuff before moving I would have made about $1,500, so I was happy to accept a settlement in that amount. The company sent me a check in about ten days after I filed my claim. Wow.

I wish I could remember the name of that insurance company.