"My father always said, "Your in good hands with Allstate, until you try to collect on your policy"."
Your father was accurate. I no longer insure anything with Allstate. When I was living in California, my house was struck by lightning. All the wiring in the house was destroyed, along with every appliance, my two computers, and all phones.
I called my Allstate agent, who said I wasn't going to get a cent, because lightning never struck houses in that part of California. I sent him the newspaper clippings and the fire department report, along with a letter.
He then said it would be at least 6 weeks before a claims agent could inspect the damage. In the meantime, I was in a house without electricity. I asked him what I was supposed to do about that. He said I should check into a hotel, and Allstate would pay up to $30/day. This in a vacation area on the California coast, where the cheapest motel was over $80/day.
I got temporary power, and lived off extension cords. I then called an electrical contractor and had the entire house rewired, which took a couple of weeks. I paid the contractor with a check.
Eventually, about 6 months and a million phone calls and letters later, Allstate paid about half the bill for the rewiring job. They claimed I hadn't used one of their approved contractors. They were wrong. My contractor was one of the two they always used, and we had done the job in the least expensive way possible.
No claims adjuster ever appeared at my home. Allstate refused to pay for the computers, because "I might have been using them for business purposes."
Anyhow, a friend of mine there is an attorney, so I talked to him about the situation. Three days after he contacted the insurance company, I had a check in hand that covered all the damages, the attorney's fees and a bit extra. It took over 6 months to get a cent from Allstate on a claim that was fully covered under my policy. I switched insurance companies the day the check finally arrived.
Consider carefully when choosing a homeowner's insurance company. Ask around. Some are horrible.
