Linda's complaint:
May 29, 2012

Insurance Company: AARP
Coverage Type: Homeowners Insurance

• PolicyHolder Service - Inadequate Service
• PolicyHolder Service - Delays/No Response
• PolicyHolder Service - Inadequate Reimbursement
• Claim Handling - Delays upon Delays
• Claim Handling - Unsatisfactory Settlement/Offer
• General - I feel abused by this company

We have all our insurance thru AARP: medicare supplement., auto and homeowners. On July 27, we had an incident where our water heater exploded. I called as soon as I could to report the incident. I was asked first if I had contacted Service Masters, a drying company. Having never making a home owner claim of any kind, I had no idea who or what this company was or what they did.

Alright, I was told the water heater was not covered but the water damage was. We called a plumber, had the water heater replaced out of our own pockets, only to find out the source of water throughout the house was not from the water heater but a hole in the foundation plumbing. I called the insurance company back with this information. They said I would be charged with two different deductibles. They sent an adjuster out to assess the damages and he determined that the water leak was responsible for all the flooring and wall damage. So since I had already paid for the new water heater to make a single claim on the leak, which I did. The insurance company sent Service Master to dry out water from walls, etc. They ran those blowers and dehumidifiers day and night, no way to hear nor sleep here with so much noise. No one told us what to do next. No one advised us of step two. We were just supposed to know I suppose, but if you have never been through this, I doubt anyone knows where to begin.

Finally, on my own, I went out to find replacement flooring. I still don't know what other things were needed to be ready for the flooring, such as painting etc. In the meantime, I began noticing huge cracks appearing on some of the walls that were not there prior to water leak. Oh, left out the part where we hired a plumber to jack hammer up the floor searching for water leak. After 4 holes he found it and repaired it to the cost to us of $4,200.00 of which Hartford paid back.

The flooring company came to measure the affected areas and bid the flooring. In the meantime, we decided to go ahead and replace kitchen and laundry room out of our own pockets. When they got here to remove existing flooring in kitchen and laundry room, they found them both very wet and was unable to begin process. I called back with this new information only to be a bit challenged to the validity of that report. At which point, I spoke to two different agents and explained all the damage to the wallpapers on the kitchen and laundry room. I was told only the affected area would be paid for, not the cracks that they were foundational issues. That did not exist prior to the water incident. They are using a meter to detect moisture still under slab and it is too much to risk laying the flooring.

I called a leak detection service out to make sure there were no other leaks and there were none. Meantime, in order to have flooring restored, we have had to hire a foundation company out of our own pocket to fix the damage. They say was brought about by water standing under the sub floor and water barrier. This has been going on for more than a month now. We are living on bare floors, broken Sheetrock and moisture under the floors, our furniture, outside on patios and porches. No one is calling us to further instruct us as to where to go from here. I have lost more than a month of work since my husband was recently very ill and cannot cope with all these problems.

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