I live in North Florida and last Friday I received a call from my home insurance agent saying the inurance agency sent him a “third and FINAL” notice that the branches hanging over my roof needed to be trimmed back. I never received a heads up about the first two notices and now have to shell out around $500 to get the job done by tomorrow before the deadline, July 11th, when I have to leave town for one week.
The agent says he’ll do the job for $150 since he owns his own trimming equipment. I called the insurance agency to make sure it wasn’t a scam and its not. They really did send notices, the jerk just never told me.
What recourse do I have in this situation? Can I get my money back on the policy if it is his fault it gets canceled? Is there a consumer agency that can help me? What will most likely happen?
Thanks.
Best reply by Alex N:
yeah just ask for every thing back and cancel it…mam
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My insurance agent is an idiot?
you really cant do anything about it at this point, all you can do is find a new agent and transfer your policy. DON’T cancell it though, you’ll need to do something called a broker of record transfer. so find an agent that writes insurance with the same company your with.
What recourse do you have – not much, living in FL you’re lucky to have any insurance company that’s not Citizens. Shopping around is not much of an option.
Can you get your money back? Yes, you’ll be refunded any unearned premium, minus and fees your insurer can charge (and has been approved by state DOI) .
Is there a consumer agency that can help you? You can complain to the agents bosses or home office, the state DOI, and the BBB.
What will likely happen? Nothing, these people are not going to get your policy reinstated prior to July 11th cancel.
Your best bet in the short term is to comply with their underwriting request. Get the work done prior to the date and get pictures taken prior to the 11th and get the pictures to the agent. After the policy is reinstated, look at transferring your auto/home business to a different agent within the same company. In the future if other options come available in FL, transfer to a different company. In the meantime grin and bear it. Good luck.
Well, I would check the ethical implications of this problem. While your agent might be lawfully asking you to cut those branches, the minute he offered to do it himself he is acting against the ethics portion of the insurance code. If you think his behavior is incorrect, report him to the insurance commisioner in your state (you can get his license # from any of his cards or the actual insurance policy).
Your agent is an idiot if he didn’t send you the company’s recommendations the first and second time. However, your policy is a contract with the company providing your coverage and you have to comply. Find a new agent!
Tell him he is going to do the work for nothing today or you’ll report him to the insurance commission and file a civil suit to compensate you for the lapse in coverage and anything else your high paid lawyer can think of (lawyers fees are recoverable so splurge!).
Well, notice to your AGENT is not the same thing as notice to YOU. So the insurance company can’t cancel you based on notice to your AGENT.
Now, for recourse, if the insurance company cancels your policy, yes, you’re entitled to a pro-rata refund of the premium, assuming you’re PAID IN FULL for the year.
The consumer agency that helps you would be the Florida State Insurance Department.
What will most likely happen, is that the company will issue you a cancellation notice, giving you 30 days to fix the problem, or the policy is cancelled. Unless they’re TRYING to cancel homeowners policies in FL (like everyone else is), in which case they won’t reinstate afterwards.
And a few comments – there’s NO WAY I’d let the agent trim that tree, unless he has a tree trimming service, AND LIABILITY INSURANCE COVERING TREE TRIMMING. Actually, there’s no way I’d let him trim, anyway. Just seems a bit slimey to me.
Also, I’d find another agent that represents your homeowners company, and transfer your policy over to them upon renewal, with a “broker of record” letter. Get a new agent, for sure.