Tarik Review of Homesite Insurance
After seeing all the 1 star reviews I felt obligat...
After seeing all the 1 star reviews I felt obligated to share my experience.
I have a renters insurance policy through progressive and experienced some severe smoke damage in my rented townhome from my attached neighbors fire.
After filing a claim with the after hours number, I was promptly called by my claims agent the following morning where she connected me with a loss of use agent to find me a place to live. They took care of all the booking and payments for an extended stay hotel and even fronted me money for food and loss of use items. My policy covered a total of $4k for hotel and food which comfortably lasted me a month.
The next process was meeting a restoration team at my townhome to go over what could be restored or non salvaged. This is where some info could have been handy. It is up to you to determine who does the restoration work and you are not obligated to use who your insurer sends. The restoration team made it sound like I HAD to let them attempt to restore an item before I could replace it. I didnt start the fire, therefore, I dont want to use any contaminated items that were in the fire if I dont have to. They charge a lot to do this and that money comes out of your policy when it could go towards new and fresher things. Make sure you are there when they pack your belongings to tell them exactly what you wish to restore. I got there when most of my things had already been boxed up and after going through it, I only kept about 5% of the items. They would have charged me to clean everything had I not. They even had a small garbage can boxed up with garbage in it; not something I wish to have restored, thanks.
After the restoration company packed the things I wished to restore and itemized the things I declared non salvageable, it took around three weeks to get an itemized list of my homes contents. From there I had to go through roughly 700 items on a spreadsheet and give them a condition, age, and replacement value. The list was sent to my insurer where after a month their pricing team evaluated the list, finding that my replacement total exceeded my policy. They promptly issued me a payment of the remainder of my policy.
The whole process of filling a claim to getting paid took around 2.5 months. My claim agent, Nicole Hatch was great and very professional. My only concern was that timeframes for the whole process weren't clear leaving me guessing if I'd be waiting days, weeks, or months for steps to be completed. This can be frustrating when your living in an empty apartment with a matress of the floor. My advice would be to describe each step to the customer as if they were five years old. Most people have never filed a claim before and the uncertainty of how the system works can add a lot of unnecessary stress.
Overall, Homesite exceed my expectations on my renters insurance claim and they should be given the appropriate credit. 5 stars.
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