Monday, September 16, 2013

Safeco Home Owners Insurance

Ah, the joys of home ownership.  

You buy your home with the intention of having a place to raise your family, customize, and call your own.  We are intensely proud of our home, as getting to the point of home ownership in the Bay Area is no small feat.  We have 2 small children (3 year old and 1.5 year old) and like many other parents, our home is their fortress and play area.

I was sitting on the couch with Sara on the evening of August 16th, the kids fast asleep, and I ask her as I often do "what the heck is that smell??"


She laughed and then did the deep inhale that you do when you're trying to discover a new smell, "I smell something weird too..." she said as I was getting up and walking around the living room.  I looked behind the couches, under the end table, "is there a dirty diaper somewhere?  It smells like poop in here!" I exclaimed as I searched around the room.

A somewhat funny situation quickly escalated to a big, expensive issue that I wish upon nobody.

Outside on the left side of our house is our crawl space access, where you have about 2.5 feet vertical space to crawl around under our house.  Our house is on a concrete perimeter with dirt underneath, graced by plumbing lines and some cat5 cable from the home wiring job that the previous owner completed.

Oh, and about 3 inches of raw sewage.  Wait, what?  Yes, a deep puddle of raw sewage.

See, our main sewer line that runs down the left side of our home that connects the two bathrooms to the sewer drain in the front yard had exploded under the house.  There was a 12" section of it that had blown out, and sewage had backed up and flooded under our house.  The smell was from an undeterminable amount of sewage that had rotted under our home for an undetermined length of time.  It was disgusting, rotten, and pretty much the grossest thing I have ever seen and smelled in my life.  Truly awful.

Saturday morning at 7am, we called our home owners insurance company, Safeco.  We have had Safeco since we bought the home in March of 2012, and this was our first interaction with them.  We also have a Home Warranty, through HISCO.  That was provided to us by our real estate agent, and this was our 2nd interaction with them, the first was a problem with our water heater that they promptly fixed for the $75 deductible.

We were told that we needed the sewage cleaned up, the crawlspace to be disinfected, and a "moisture barrier" to be laid down over the treated dirt so that the sewage didn't seep back up into the wood joists and floorboards that lie under our hardwood floors in our home.  Then, a plumber could come and do the plumbing work where they would cut out the section of pipe that broke and replace it.

The Safeco agent we spoke to said they would cover everything and reassured us in our time of sheer panic.

They said "Don't worry, we'll call a service company to come out and start the clean up.  Everything will be ok."  And they dispatched ServePro.  ServePro was on site quickly and looking under the home.  This job was right in their wheelhouse, a massive cleanup project that was paid for by home owners insurance --- easy work for them.  "It's going to take us a couple says to do this, just so you know, so you'll probably want to go stay somewhere," said the clean up crew.  We packed up the kids and moved them to our in-laws' house, about 20 minutes away.  I stayed back to watch and tend to the crew if they needed anything and they finished about half the job that first Saturday.  They came back Sunday and continued to vacuum up the sewage until they were nearly done.

However, nearly done meant "it's still a muddy disgusting mess under there."  Terrible.

They came back again on Monday and started to disinfect under the house, and began laying down the thick plastic tarp when the ServePro rep's phone rang.  It was our Safeco Insurance rep, and they were calling to inform us that they wouldn't be covering the job.

I looked at the ServePro rep, who was wearing a full hazmat suit, and said "Wait, what?  You can't be serious."

"Yes, I'm sorry.  They're telling us that they're not going to cover the work now, and so we need to stop while you figure out if you want us to continue the work or not."

Wow, what a terrible situation.  What am I supposed to do here?  ServePro is a company that Safeco sent out, on their behalf, said they were going to pay for completely, and then when the job was 2/3 complete, pull back and tell us that they're not covering anything.  Can this be really happening?  I immediately asked ServePro for a full estimate, which took them the rest of the day to get to me.

$5,000 --- $800 for the sewage cleanup, $500 for the air pumps that pump the air out from under the house, and $3700 for the moisture barrier and labor.

Again, what am I supposed to do here?  I needed the job completed, my family is pushed out of my home for 3 days at this point, and the plumbers still won't touch the job because the moisture barrier isn't complete and, well, they don't want to climb around in poop-mud.  I don't really blame them.

Meanwhile, Sara is on the phone with Safeco.  They say they're not covering the work.  Sara argues with them, and they say "ok, we'll escalate to our claims manager."

I told ServePro to finish the job.  I had no other choice.  If we let that sit, the mold and mildew will infest our home and we'll have an even bigger problem.  I truly had no other choice but to have them finish the work and prepare to fight with Safeco.

Another day goes by, and ServePro finished the work.  They did a great job.  But the issue remains, who is paying for it?  I really believed that Safeco would keep their word and pay for the the services because I was told this in the very beginning.  If I had known immediately that it wasn't covered, I would have called multiple companies and received bids on the job if I had known that my insurance would "change their mind." My father-in-law owns his own remodeling company, so I would even reached out to him to see what work they could have done. 

We were told by our Safeco insurance adjuster that this was in fact not covered and that I received incorrect information from their phone agent, and that Safeco would only pay for the work that ServePro did on that first Saturday, which is approximately $1100 out of the $4500.  We have a $1000 deductible with them, so they would only be on the hook for $100.

On the other side, HISCO home warranty said they would cover the plumbing issue, and they have been nothing short of perfect the entire time.  They have covered everything completely, from fixing the plumbing issue to sticking a camera in the plumbing line to make sure that everything else is ok.  (It wasn't, we had a small blockage that was completely covered by them to clear near the end of the line)

*sigh*

So, here we are today.  We escalated to the VP of Claims Operations at Safeco, and were denied again.  They claim that we were told on Monday 3 times that it wasn't going to be covered (which isn't true, they told the ServePro agent, once) and that we were liable for the clean up fee.  They will not cover anything.

I cannot believe Safeco operates this way.  Promise your customer one thing on the phone, in a time of crisis, then when the job is under way, change your mind and claim the work isn't covered.  What kind of horrible company does this kind of thing?




Our new Yelp review:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/safeco-insurance-co-of-america-northern-calif-br-pleasant-hill#hrid:bU7EL2C6GqBUQ6uTJOSztg


Google+ Post:
https://plus.google.com/114725982201022219503/posts/8HYA4rYYJku


22 comments:

  1. What's the point of having home owners insurance if they don't cover such things? What WOULD they cover if not this? It's impossible to have any faith in this company and I'm going to make sure none of my family or friends have any dealings with them.

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  2. Safeco did the same crap to my moms house. They suck! We have AAA and are 1000% happy with them. I'll drop you our agents info. When we got robbed, our agent called and said, I think you can adjust your claim to get more money!?!? He got us an extra $14,000 by changing the way we filed our losses! I love AAA, and I love our agent!

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  3. What a disgusting way to do business! (Pun intended)I find it hard to believe that some companies can get by for this long, essentially creating revenue by robbing its customers.

    I will be sure to spread the word on how Safeco operates and hopefully turn people away from their awful practices.

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  4. WOW... that is terrible!!! Every so often I hear stories of insurance companies pulling this kind of scam. Hard to believe they can be so unethical and screw a customer like that. Will definitely never consider Safeco as an insurance company I will work with. Will share this with my friends and family.

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  5. I can't imagine a more awful way to ensnare your customers. Safeco shouldn't be allowed to do business this way. To posses the stones required to exploit your paying customers in such a way should be considered criminal.

    I will certainly be sure to advise those around me not to do business with this company.

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  6. I don't know anything about Safeco however I do know that the reason we carry insurance is so that we are covered and somehow they should be liable for giving you the wrong information that they would cover you so hopefully the insurance agent got fired for stating that they would cover you and if you talk to a lawyer I would see if you have any legal recourse whatsoever then I'd change insurance companies... And call it a bad lesson learned

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  7. That's unbelievable! What a rotten operation for Safeco to run and a horrible position to put their client in during a time of need. We had a major issue in 2007 and our provider at the time(Fireman's Fund) bent over backwards for us by covering a six figure claim without question. I will make sure everyone knows to get away from Safeco asap.

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  8. That is so ridiculous! I don't own my own home yet but when I do, I'll be sure to stay away from Safeco!

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  9. That's pathetic that they won't own up to the full fallout of their mistake. I'd think you have a legal case if you can prove what was said by the agent. I'll be sticking with State Farm.

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  10. BS... never trust insurance. However, we are forced to have it. It is dumb.

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  11. Isn't "Insurance" the most important part of "Home Insurance"? Safeco clearly doesn't understand that and clearly does not provide any insurance... Shame on them it has to come to this point, and I hope this story spreads and Safeco does the right thing. DO THE RIGHT THING, SAFECO! PROVIDE INSURANCE WITH YOUR HOME INSURANCE.

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  12. So glad I have State Farm, Safeco's rates looked attractive, but, after reading this - no way, absolutely not. I will never do business with Safeco. Someone needs to call the Better Business Bureau!

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  13. Ugh. Yuck. So sorry for you and your family. KEEP FIGHTING. My mom fought an insurance claim for a long time (maybe over a year) and finally won. They default to "no." That's how they make profits for their shareholders (what's wrong with this picture? so much!).

    Personally I have never ever had a problem with USAA and I'll never use another insurance company for anything - car, renters, home, etc. Worth calling to see if you qualify (sometimes you or someone in your family had to be in the military once). Good luck. :(

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  14. This is really terrible... because this claim is for around $5000, I hope you take this to small claims against Safeco.

    They should be on the hook for the entire bill. This is outrageous behavior from Safeco and I will for sure never look to them for any type of insurance from now on. Keep fighting!

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  15. Sorry to hear about this guys! I'll make sure to let folks buying homes know not to get coverage from Safeco. Awful. Just awful.

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  16. You can report them to the Better Business Bureau. I'll ask my dad as well, since he works for AAA. Hope all gets better for you guys:)

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  18. Ugh, that's terrible. When I buy a home, I know who not to pick for insurance.

    Really shitty move, SAFECO.

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  19. Sounds like SafeCo has just about failed on every single one of the promises in their corporate philosophy... they are not making things easier, they are not there for you, and you are getting less than expected with them! I'm so sorry to hear this is happening and will stay away from Safeco!

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  20. This is so terrible such a horrible experience that was made worse by your insurance company. I would also recommend filing a report with BBB as I know companies look at these ratings. I can put in a good plug for USAA if you are interested I have had a great experience with them and they fully saved my parents house after the devastating fires in San Diego with no issues.

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  21. That's horrible. I can't believe they acted that way towards their clients. They will never get my business now.

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  22. That is totally terrible! I will share your experince with all my friends!

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