Allstate Insurance Homeowners Insurance Consumer Reviews - Page 2

PORTSMOUTH, NEW HAMPSHIRE -- I've had my homeowners insurance with Allstate since 1999. In the winter of 2010 I had ice damage to my roof which caused it to leak. It took MONTHS to get someone here to look at the problem. This young man said most of the damage was "old"... well, yes, yes it was because it took them months to get someone here. Forget that, whatever. I wasn't home the day he came, I was working. My disabled Mother lives with me and was here. She thought he was a nice kid... seemed to be good at checking things out.

Shortly after that I received a letter dated 10-14-11 stating they were going to cancel my homeowner's policy due to "debris" on my porch and I should respond by 1-24-13. I wasn't too worried, this man (I refuse to say gentleman because what I'd like to call him isn't kind) didn't bother to ask what things were... didn't bother to ask why my bicycle is kept on the porch (I've no garage, just trying to keep it a bit out of the weather) or didn't bother to ask why recycle items were on the porch. (I work all week and we don't have pickup, I can only go to The Dump on Saturday). I figured within the next 14 months I'd respond and it would be fine.

Today I receive a letter dated 3-1-12 stating they are going to cancel my policy on 4-23-12... eight MONTHS before I was even required to respond. To say I'm upset about this is putting it mildly. I've my homeowner's ins. (paid until 2013), and 2 cars with Allstate. I've never had an accident. Now some kid comes to my home months after I requested someone and does something like this without asking me, the homeowner, any questions. Please make note I listed Portsmouth, NH because my agent is there (who I've always thought was wonderful) but I live in Kittery, ME.

WINONA, TEXAS -- I have paid my homeowner's insurance on time since I bought my first home almost two years ago. But it has now been 3 months since my home burned down with my beloved dog inside. We lost EVERYTHING! There was nothing that had not been damaged by either fire, smoke or water. The house in my opinion is a complete loss.

This was a small home about 1000 sq. ft. since it was mine and my husband's first home and was only 2 bedrooms and one bath but we have accumulated a lot of stuff over the few years we have been together. The insurance company will not total our house out so we can build a new one. We have 85K coverage and they say we can rebuild for only $65. We cannot even find a contractor that will even consider remodeling the house! Much less for that little amount of money. Allstate is saying that it can be remodeled. I wish I could post you pictures.

The living room and kitchen are torched. Our bedroom and spare bedroom are soaked from water and have MAJOR black soot on EVERYTHING! They think since some of the rafters in the ceiling on the un-flamed part of the home are still good (they smell horrible and have black soot on them) and supposedly the subflooring (this is a pier and beam home by the way) is still good, it's remodelable.

Never once did the adjuster crawl under the house and check any of the subflooring and anyone with common sense would know when you soak a floor with thousands of gallons of water and with windows busted out and about 8 good rains the floor is no good! Yeah the idiots sent Service Masters out to board the windows up and they just laughed and said there was no reason to. HELLO!!! It does not take a rocket scientist to figure this out. My husband and I are devastated over our losses. All of our memories are gone, but most importantly my "child."

I will NEVER be able to replace that dog that we had for 3+ years and she didn't have an easy death. But do you think Allstate gives a damn?!! Well no! As soon as I finish this review, I'm writing our state attorney general and filing a complaint with them as well. I've never lost my home so I can't compare Allstate with other companies, but so far, I can't understand how people can be so smug and shallow!

OHIO -- I have been an Allstate customer since 1992. Both for cars and my home. When I bought this home, I went over the policy with my agent at the time. One of the concerns was flood insurance. The area around me had actually gone through extensive flooding while the closing was in place. We live close to the river that leads into Lake Erie. My agent at the time told me I didn't need flood insurance due to the proximity of where my home was to the lake. With that advice, I didn't purchase flood insurance.

Most recently our area was devastated with heavy rains that lasted for hours upon hours. Many homes got flooded. Our area didn't get the backed up sewers and standing water. But what some of us got was water coming into our basements from the foundation. That's what happened to my home. The foundation couldn't handle all the water. My basement was flooded. Many things were lost and had to be thrown away.

So I called Allstate. I got a letter stating I didn't have flood insurance and wasn't covered. After days of thinking about it, I started to realize we didn't really get flooded here at all. It was a foundation issue that caused water backup. So I made another claim. I was called by Allstate that they were sending an adjuster to my home. With this, I assumed they realized my situation and was going to compensate me for the damages. So the agent came and took many pictures... all the while knowing I wasn't going to get any help. Why take all the pictures, go throughout my house looking around only to then tell me they can't help me? That's what infuriates me.

They wasted my time and their time to tell me exactly what they already did previously. So now my next concern here. I was told by someone in the waterproofing business that once your home gets water in it, that there is a trail that was made and the water will come in again. So now, if it was to come in again, before I had the funds to have all the paneling taken down and replaced, that once again I'm not covered? This is a terrible way to handle the situation the way it was.

Allstate has done me bad... just like they did with my car insurance in 2007. A letter at that time was sent out to me apologizing for the mix up and they realized what they did. I should have dropped my home insurance at that time but did not. I'm sure at this time I will.

When we moved to the Cleveland area from Indiana back in 1997, we transferred our auto and home policies from there to here. Our agent asked for and cashed our check for $400+ to cover the first couple months of the policies. After asking for a proof of insurance card for our vehicles, our agent offered us a handwritten card with our policy numbers on it (on his business card; I still have it in my possession). When we called Allstate a couple weeks later about our permanent card, we discovered that our agent had never filed for our policies and moreover had issued us fictitious policy numbers.

Multiple calls to various people at Allstate corporate resulted in no progress other than to frustrate my wife to tears (literally). We finally resorted to filing a report with the Ohio insurance regulators, which got Allstate's attention. They finally managed to rectify the problem, but by this time we were transferring our policies to other companies who were customer-friendly.

The icing on the cake was when Allstate sent us a collection bill for $200+ for insurance we never had. In a phone conversation with a high-level Allstate executive, I stated that they could write it off as a cheap learning experience or take me to court over it so I could have fun relating my story to the media. Nobody at Allstate or at the Ohio Insurance Commission ever asked me for the handwritten card.

I understand that no company can 100% prevent rogue employees from cheating customers. A well-run company will immediately fix any problems caused by its employees without any effort on the part of the consumer, though. And a termination for the agent was certainly in order.

As far as I'm concerned, Allstate will never see another dime of my money, and I never miss an opportunity to relate my story when in I'm in a conversation with someone about insurance. The postscript to this story is that we were told by a couple Allstate agents later that this guy was a trainer and was well-known in the local Allstate "community" as being dishonest. Just another reason not to trust the company.

ILLINOIS -- Stay Away from AllState Insurance. I strongly suggest anyone and everyone NOT to use Allstate. They will do everything possible to keep from paying out for a claim. Here'€™s my situation: On November 8th, when I was having breakfast my glass of milk slipped out of my hand and spilled all over my laptop. Yes, crap happens. It was one of those mornings I was checking my email before leaving for work.

I'€™m a full-time computer technician and living on a dairy farm just south of Harvard. I contacted my agent, and he said the renter'€™s insurance doesn'™t cover any accidental damage like that. So, I took and threw the laptop in the dumpster since everything was fried in it.

Then on November 10th, my wife's laptop got damaged by the thunderstorm that we had roll threw out area that night. I waited until Monday the 13th to call the insurance company. Went all the way through the procedures of filing the claim. Gave them a full insurance evaluation that we as computer technicians are trained to do.

Well, they called my back a week later and said that they rejected the claim. I called customer service and asked them, they said that because they believed that I was trying to get the same laptop fixed under two different claims. I asked them, "Am I the only one that owns more than one laptop???" The agent couldn'€™t respond. I told them it was a week of bad luck all the way around.

Even on the farm, we lost 2 cows, out of 30. That'€™s a big loss. The first laptop was made by a company called Spartan. The second was a Dell. The Spartan was only worth about $1200, but my wife's Dell was one with large hard drives, 17in LCD, a newer Core Duo chip. It cost around $2200 when I first purchased it. That'€™s a big loss if you ask me.

Now the insurance company wants to do absolutely nothing about it. They said I could file a lawsuit with an attorney. But, by the time I do that, I might as well purchase a new laptop. Attorneys aren'™t cheap. My suggestion, get your insurance from State Farm or Country Companies. I went to Allstate because they offered a lower renter'™s insurance policy for me. BIG MISTAKE. Thanks.

GREENVILLE, OHIO -- Living room ceiling fell in while family (two young children) in family room. Explosive, dust throughout the house. Rafters to room exposed, drywall and insulation 3'-5' deep in the room dust and debris flying throughout house. Evacuated family and called Allstate 800- 24 hour claim number. They said a contractor would be sent out in the morning and someone would call that night. No one called. No one showed up.

Called Allstate back at noon, contractor showed up at 2 pm. No claims adjuster? Contractor asked what the problem was, said Allstate said there had been a fire and he was a fire specialist? When he opened the front door to the living room he said, "Oh my God! What happened here? This is dangerous. Don't move back in." He said the weight of the ceiling would have killed anyone in the room. He said he'd call Allstate and let them know cleanup was necessary before we could get back into the house.

Allstate called and said the claim was denied. When asked why? The girl laughed... when told this was not funny as we could have been killed (the babies bassinet was buried in drywall). She said "oh, well I just wanted to tell you why it was denied". So, homeless for now, 2 days lost work, we're bagging up insulation, stacking up broken bits of drywall trying to get back into what's left of our house... No thanks to Allstate, no service, no concern, no empathy -- but don't be late on your premiums.

BERGENFIELD, NEW JERSEY -- I have had Allstate insurance for my private home in a suburban northeast NJ area for 10 years. This year, for the first time, I submitted a claim. The claim was handled promptly and completely. A year later when I was due to receive my renewal I instead received a cancellation of my policy. I submitted a complaint, thinking this was done in error.

I received a call the next day (Sept. 2. 2010). I was told that since I only have "mono-insurance" (i.e. only my home, not car, etc) I could not submit more than one claim in three years or the policy would be terminated, no matter what the cost or reason for the claim. It did not matter that I had the policy for ten years without submitting a claim. ANY claim I submitted, would mean immediate cancellation.

Allstate should get a new logo for their advertisement... hands opening and letting their customers fall through to the ground. They are an unethical company. Their representatives give misinformation, telling you what you want to hear (I was told that of course I would not be penalized because it was a legitimate claim and that I was in good standing with the company for 10 years). This is an unethical company with policies that go against the nature of their business. My advice, read the fine print... and go with another insurance company... NEVER use Allstate.

BOLIVER, OHIO -- We had been customers of Allstate for years paying thousands of dollars a year for insurance. It all started 2 years ago with rate increases from month to month. We contacted our agent and they continuously told us they took care of it. Each month a new amount to the point that it became a full time job contacting the agent. 2 years ago they rewrote the policies and forgot to cancel out the old ones so we were double covered, not only were we double covered they were charging us for 2 policies.

The agent said not to worry about the old policy they would take care of it. They took care of it alright, Allstate sent it to collections. After 2 years of playing this game we decided to go elsewhere for insurance. We called and canceled all 3 policies with Allstate and a few months later we received bills from a collection agency due to the agent not canceling the policies when we had asked them to. The really upsetting part is, this is on our credit report and it isn't our fault.

To date we now have 4 bills with the collection agency due to Allstate and we are still dealing with the agent we had trying to get this matter cleared up with no positive results at this time. The agent does not return our calls as promised which is something we have gotten used to. In all the years we were with Allstate we seen no cash back for accident forgiveness as advertised. This particular agent is in Bolivar, OH.

I'll keep this short. I had wind damage to my roof and a rainstorm the day I filed my claim. When the adjuster came, he said that the wind damage was due to lack of upkeep. I was not really upset about this until I received my denial letter. It stated what it does cover is wind/hail damage, and lightning/fire damage. However, they will not cover the damage to the roof itself, nor will they cover any interior damage caused. Um... what do they cover exactly? Also, they do not cover damage due to rioting, plane crash, war or violence, space craft, blah blah blah, you name it, its not covered.

In 2007, wind knocked off shingles front of house -- $400 claim. First claim ever on this policy. In 2008, more wind knocked shingles off the back -- $100. Been with Allstate 11 years... at $800-900/year. THEY REFUSED TO RENEW MY POLICY BECAUSE OF THE CLAIMS! Agent was powerless to override because the two claims were less than 3 years apart. Amount of claim is irrelevant. You're dropped. No appeal accepted. Good bye.

Then when you try to get insurance from... Nationwide, Geico, State Farm, Liberty Mutual. None will issue a policy because of the claims. I called them all. Same rules apply. Two claims in less than 3 years = NO. Had to get insurance through an out-of-state company I've never heard of.