We have travelers insurance company for all of our homeowner Insurance since 1992. This is the first Clam that we had made with them in all those years.
We just recently had a terrible fire in our home just a few months ago and thank god nobody was home. We had called travelers Insurance company to report the fire after our neighbor had called our cell phones to tell us what happened and to get direction on what we should do. Well they seemed o.K. At first they were out checking the house on that Sunday. Fire occured on Friday two days before we were out of town.
Well everything seemd to be going o.K. With the adjuster, and the contents handeler and so on, until payout started and the claims adjuster told me that I should remove my dolls so that it is that much less that they have to count. (What he ment is that much less to pay for) I explained to him that the dolls were over 150.00 apiece w/o tax and shipping and he questioned the value as well.
Then everything changed from bad to ugly. We agreed to go with their restoration people seem o.K.
It took over a week and a half to get just a little money from Travelers to help with food and shelter and some clothing (commercial shows a check handed to the person with the house blazing in the back ground)
Finally work was started to remove all damaged items for 1 week now mind you the fire was already investigated before work started and all of the sudden it stopped and nobody came to the house for a few weeks plus no phone call or letter at this time. We called the restoration people they stated that the claims adjuster from travelers told him to stop everything and not go back to the house due to the fact that he was re-opening the investigation! Yea' re-opening.
We called travelers and asked the adjuster why he did this and he out and out lied and stated that he never told the restoration people to stop working so we talked the the restoration people again that night and on speakerphone with other people in the room the restoration guy again stated that it was the adjuster that told him to stop the investigation! Then a letter comes in the mail after a few weeks after nobody showing up to do work from the Insurance adjuster from Travelers Insurance company stating that they are re-opening the investigation.
Travelers investigator looked at where fire started and started questioning the fire and then proceded to question my son and his teenage friend without his parents present and then took all the furniture that was thrown out of the house and placed it back in the house the way it was origionally before the fire. He said that he wanted to see how fire spread and kept asking where was the ashtrays trying to pin it on a cigarette.
This Investigator then proceded to go upstairs in our house and questioned some cigarrette burns on the carpet. Now this is 13 year old carpet the fire never reached the upstairs so why was he up there to begin with? My husband questioed this and the guy had no reply then my husband had to ask the Investigator don't you even want to look at the fuse box and the Investigators reply was "Oh Oh yea" where is it"? Well downstairs of course.
The fuse box was already checked by the fire department and the report stated that the breaker was tripped where the fire occured. Then this guy procedes to go into the garage and questions things in the garage (garage was not touched by fire) this guy brings out his special dog to smell for excellerents and of course finds nothing, he did not stop there the investigator again brought his dog out the second day to smell for the same again and still nothing and went as far as to spread every little thing out on the lawn and have his dog sniff it.
We called our investigator out to the house when this guy came again do to the fact that the guy wanted to take out the electric wires and such where the fire began this guy did not want me in the house with him and waited till I left before proceding. I got suspicious and called our investigator again to see where he was because I did not trust this guy then I ran back to the house and told this guy not to touch anything till our investigator got there, he agreed but questioned why and while I was on the phone with our guy travelers investigator started taking everything out of the house (all the electric parts involved) after I asked him not to.
Travelers investigator gave me a song and dance that his boss told him not to leave unless he grabbed all parts I told him to stop that this is still our house and we had not received dollar one from travelers as of yet untill my guy came out, and he finally stopped until our investigator came.
Travelers investigator new our guy because he worked for the same company until they started asking him to do unethical things that were dishonest just to get out of a claim. Now our Investigator is federally lisenced. He looked at the fire area and told travelers that it was a no brainer and what caused it. The travelers guy left with his tale between his leggs.
It took well over 1 month for this Investigation to end. Travelers even had an ex-cop come to our office and question us and even was asking about our financial situation, what we had what we owned, if we filed for bankrupcy and on an on personal questions that has nothing to do with the fire.
Travelers Investigator was doing the same, he was in every room in the house but where the fire originated as well!?
Then The Contents adjuster comes to our office just a few days ago 4 months after fire and was at the house at the same time we were amd took the same pictures and even wrote things down of costly items that were burnt melted and damaged and low and behold this never showed up on his list either. Now this is out and out dishonesty and as well took some of the stuff that was damaged and I told him what I paid for it and where I got this from and he totally downseized it for way less than half of what we paid for it. Most of this stuff was just purchased within the year so there should have been no question to give us full reimbursment for the total amount we paid for it but he stated that he found a simular thing on the internet for less (it was not the same thing or same manufaturer or same material that mine was) this is only part of what is going on and all I see is that this company is trying everything and anything to get out of paying us for our loss one way or another.
They first tried like heck to find fault with us and morbidley pin the fire on us which is obserd and now they are trying their best to get out of paying as much as they can this is only the contents & permanint fixtures such as cabinets toilets sink tops and the like and does not even include the clothing wich is another nightmare plus they did not even touch my sons room as of yet because he has a couple holes in the wall from when he was small it does have fire damage to it as well.
The roof of our home clearly has damage to it from the fire and they are refusing to fix this as well, even though everyone else clearly stated the damage, even the restoration company said it needed to be replaced and Travelers does not care! And said that their structural engineer said there was nothing wrong with it!!!
Travelers Insurance company is a joke and I would very much advise that If you have them for Insurance you need to get rid of them asap before something happens to you! We never thought that our house would have a fire but the Nightmare happened.
I even complained to the CEO of Travelers and he told me that he forwarded my complaint to the naperville office and the manager would contact me shortly! THIS NEVER HAPPENED. I complained again to travelers and guess what NO REPLY!
Please watch your back if you have this company for any insurance and do not let this nightmare happen to you and run to another company that cares and is trustworthy.
Cindy
Round lake Beach, Illinois
U.S.A.
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