It started like any other morning, the alarm went off , I took a lukewarm shower, shaved and got dressed. I headed downstairs to see what I wanted to pull out from the freezer to cook for dinner. That’s when I discovered at some point our hot water heater had sprung a leak. Water flooded much of my basement, at some points up to an inch deep.
I shut down the water, went to the store and grabbed some blowers and a wet dry vac. Once I had things somwhat under control I called my insurance agent of about 15 years. She informed I was covered for the claim and told me to call one of the national “Clean-up” companies. She had me call in my claim to the insurance company and off I went.
The clean up guys came and I showed them the area involved. The supervisor and I went upstairs where he had me sign paperwork that said they could not give me an estimate, if they did give me an estimate it was inaccurate, that I gave them permission to work on my house, that they were not responsible for any damage they might do and that if the insurance company did not pay, I was responsible. Talk about writing a blank check!
The kicker to this is when we went downstairs a few minutes later, all of my carpeting was torn out. Maybe he could have warned me or explained what they were going to be doing? They insisted on using their blowers because they were “better” and the insurance company was paying anyway (maybe). Truth is his machines are my older style machines and work far less efficiently than the machines I brought.
Fortunately the first chapter ends happily. I did have coverage and the insurance company put me back together. New doors where needed, new carpeting, walls painted. It looked nice….
But I got to thinking about my agent. She covered all my property insurance including my cars. I had been with her for over 15 years. But what had she done for me? We had met in her office a few times but she had never been to the house. Her only suggestions were included in form letters about my renewals. I should add flood coverage, I should add an umbrella policy. Never a discussion about, never a follow up to explain why I might want flood insurance or an umbrella policy. After the flood, she never called, never came to see how things were, never asked how her recommendation for a clean up company worked out.
I decided it was time to shop my insurance. I was not looking for the lowest price, that’s often going to get substandard coverage and poor service. I was looking for an agent that cared about me, my house, my property. Someone that would show me how to reduce my risks in a cost effective manner. The end result was that at some point this summer I changed my insurance agent and insurance company.
It started like any other morning, the alarm went off , I took a shower, shaved and got dressed. My wife headed downstairs to see what to pull out from the freezer to cook for dinner. That’s when she yelled upstairs for me to come down, and bring towels.
December’s ice storm was a good test of many peoples insurance coverage for many people. Framingham (where I live) was fortunate, we just got rain. Lots of rain. Unfortunately for me I live in the valley of the street. The lowest point. Water (or sewerage) takes the path of least resistance. Apparently the town sewer could not take care of the vast amount of rain. Unfortunately for me. the path of least resistance in this case was the sewer pipe into my basement. It was everywhere.
I was better prepared this time. I had already pre-shopped clean up services so I knew who I was calling. They said they would be over within two hours. I headed to the store to see how things were there. Everything was ice covered. The store ran a cash register and a set of lights on a generator. We helped customers shop by flashlight.
The clean up company called me and I went home to meet them. They explained what they needed to do. Most of my belongings (couch, table, chairs…) in the basement needed to be thrown out. They needed to remove all the new carpeting. They needed to cut 2′ off all the walls. The informed me and made me more comfortable.
I called my new agent. He was not in but his associate got my file. Uh Oh. I had two choices for coverage, the gold plan or the platinum plan. I had chosen the gold. It was $150 a year cheaper but the platinum plan would have given me $5,000 coverage for sewer backup. “You have no coverage for this”. sigh.
“Wait”, I said. “Did you say $5,000 coverage?”. She replied she had. “Keep looking” I said. “Oh….(pause)….you took out a $20,000 rider to cover sewer or sump pump failure, you are covered”.
So why did I have the gold plan instead of the diamond? How did I end up with this rider?
Through the care and concern of my new agent.
He had come to the house and visited me. He asked if I ever had trouble because of being the low spot in the neighborhood. I had never had a problem in 11 years in the house. When he explained the difference between the plans, the platinum was $150 more and gave $5,000 sewer or sump pump failure coverage and $25,000 of identity theft coverage. He said he was not so worried about the identity coverage but was concerned about the sewer and sump pumps. I then told him, based on my hot water heater incident, that $5,000 was not enough to cover that any way. He suggested the a $20,000 rider for sewer or sump pump failure, which was only $110 a year and would cover our concerns.
I cannot tell you how happy I am that I changed agents. I was paying good money and deserved better service. Had I not changed agents, I would have not been covered. As for my claim, it right now is at $21,000.
I encourage you to allow your agent to sit with you every two or three years and really look at your business. Where are your risks, where are your concerns. How can they be addressed and what can be done to reduce your other risks. Ask them “what if” questions, listen to their concerns and share your own. Ask them what would happen if .. your building had a sewer backup that flooded it, you had a fire that damaged your equipment and destroyed your computer systems. Who would pay for trailers or tents to be brought in for you to operate out of, for temporary phone connections.
I know we all dread meeting with insurance people but a good agent is doing their job and providing a service to you when they try to help you reduce your risks.
Steve Reitter
