A word of advice to those filing a claim with their insurance company: Get a claim number!
If you report a claim to your local insurance agent, be sure to get an official claim number. Furthermore, verify that claim number with your insurance company’s national office.
I’ve had two occasions in my life dealing with an unscrupulous insurance agent.
When I lived in New Jersey, someone side-swiped my car. I promptly reported the incident to my local insurance agent and he came out to the parking lot to verify the damage. The other party’s insurance paid to repair it.
Some months later, my insurance company abruptly canceled my policy, citing my failure to report that incident. Although I did report it, my local agent did not report it to headquarters. He denied that I ever came in to report it. Naively, I did not get a claim number at the time.
Just recently I reported storm damage to my property. My local agent said an adjuster would be out shortly and to avoid removing debris until the adjuster could inspect it. After several days of waiting to hear from an adjuster, I inquired again and was told it may be a few more days. When the clerk tried to check the claim status, he abruptly told me to just e-mail pictures of the damage and they would handle it through the local office.
Hey wait a minute. Sounds familiar. I called the national office myself and found there is no claim pending. I had been waiting days for nothing. My local agent failed to file the claim. When confronted about this, the clerk hung up on me.
So here is a nationally recognized insurance company, to which I pay thousands of dollars in premiums, playing insurance agent games once again. Hopefully, it’s an issue with the local agent, and not company-wide duplicity.
The lesson: Get a claim number when you file a claim. If they cannot give you a claim number immediately, call back every day until they do.