Help- Insurance Claim, shattered tank, ruined home :(

[2wheelsonly]

Originally Posted by WitsNWrasse

anyway, heres what my tank used to look like. wasn't chock full of corals yet but i knew they would grow into the scape. ugh i really loved my aquascape

Well, on a lighter note...

I used to worry about my aquascape in the past, went through long planning process but after my third tank I now don't even sweat it. Once your corals grow in you won't even notice the aquascape.

[Hitch08]

LOL @ insurance companies. An unrelated story...

Several years ago, a driller was drilling a well in my front yard. Very large rig, nearly a full sized tractor trailer. The drill bit "ran" on compressed air. Long story short, the guys running the rig screwed up and caused my basement slab/floor to literally break into my basement. The slab literally lifted. Had drywall damage all the way up to the second floor.

Called my insurance company and they initially denied the claim, largely relying on an exclusion for earthquakes and earth movement. It was B/S, to be kind. A couple of weeks later, they backed off and sent a reservation of rights and began paying the damages.

tl;dr - stay after them

[Outdrsyguy1]

lovely tank, really sorry for what happened to it and you. Sounds like things are on the up and up though. Look forward to hearing what aqueon says and seeing your next build!

[WitsNWrasse]

Originally Posted by Outdrsyguy1

lovely tank, really sorry for what happened to it and you. Sounds like things are on the up and up though. Look forward to hearing what aqueon says and seeing your next build!

I'm an idiot guys- all my quarantine tanks that i bought a few months ago are aqueon but my 120 was Visio. I was told visio has a 5 year warranty, but i can't even find a site for them ? Google keeps wanting me to search the electronic company Vizio instead. HOW in the WORLD do i contact a company that i can't even find a phone number for ? lol

[Sullivmw]

Is this the link you need?

http://www.advanceaquatanks.com/vg.html

[Randyp79]

I just called my agent and he reviewed my policy with me. He explained that homeowner insurance policies are pretty standard nation wide, with the exception of hurricane prone areas. He said all your damage should be covered under a normal homeowners policy unless there is a specific exclusion for "water furniture or aquariums".

He also asked me to find out from you the specific language in your policy that Geico used to deny your claim. He basically said the insurance company should pay the claim unless they can show you specifically where aquariums or water furniture are excluded.

On another note, my agent said the contents of my aquarium are covered under an additional premium that I pay.

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[steallife904]

Originally Posted by WitsNWrasse

I'm an idiot guys- all my quarantine tanks that i bought a few months ago are aqueon but my 120 was Visio. I was told visio has a 5 year warranty, but i can't even find a site for them ? Google keeps wanting me to search the electronic company Vizio instead. HOW in the WORLD do i contact a company that i can't even find a phone number for ? lol

I think I read before you put the order in through your local fish store? might try seeing them and see if they can point you in the right direction. Hopefully that company is still around. My current tank is a DSA, I literally bought in and about 2 months later I hear DSA is going out of business. Im pretty sure if I ever needed warranty issue with them I would be out of luck? Crazy to since they are such nice tanks and seems lots of people have DSA tanks, no idea why they went out of business. Anyway if you cant locate its possible they had same issue?

[lagatbezan]

Originally Posted by Randyp79

I just called my agent and he reviewed my policy with me. He explained that homeowner insurance policies are pretty standard nation wide, with the exception of hurricane prone areas. He said all your damage should be covered under a normal homeowners policy unless there is a specific exclusion for "water furniture or aquariums".

He also asked me to find out from you the specific language in your policy that Geico used to deny your claim. He basically said the insurance company should pay the claim unless they can show you specifically where aquariums or water furniture are excluded.

On another note, my agent said the contents of my aquarium are covered under an additional premium that I pay.

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WOW, I'm so sorry for what happened!! I talked to my insurance broker as well and after a couple of hours of looking into it he called me back and told me that a damage would be covered by them but the cost of the tank itself and the fish will not and that there is nothing they usually have to write in the policy for it.

[Pittsburgh]

The problem is that insurance brokers are not claim adjusters, they don't make decisions about what is covered and what's not. They are in the business of "selling, soliciting and negotiating insurance for compensation." So what they say is largely irrelevant.

[soulpatch]

Yeah I try to talk to underwriters as they tend to have a better idea of what is actually in a policy.

[neiltus]

Yes, there are two or three people you have to deal with at your insurer.
1. Agent
2. Phone Jockey
3. Underwriter

I adore my insurer, why, because they answer my questions and put me in immediate contact with someone who has real answers, not phone script. The person she spoke with on the phone is the absolutely least qualified person in the entire entity to be telling someone if something is covered or if it is not covered. It's even worse with medical insurance.

Anyways, this gets at something. In all states, insurance is written at the state level. Before going to an attorney, you should contact the state board of insurance. They will want stuff in writing from your insurer...not phone conversations. They will ask for a copy of your policy, and the letter from the insurer denying the claim. I mentioned this earlier, but it is to your benefit to read the policy and understand what your buying. If you don't see exclusions for the stuff others mentioned, it would benefit you to file a complaint with the state board-ask for penalties as well. The state board can and will act 'similar' to a court in deciding the outcome, enforcing it and assigning punitive damages in accordance with state law.

I am not an attorney (but I have them) and this is the first course of action I take with insurance issues-wether it be paying a health claim, or replacing parts on a car that was rear ended at a shop of my choice with new parts.

If you hire an attorney, they will likely do what I am telling you...and bill you as well.

Anyway, the key, everything in writing. Nothing that was 'discussed' via phone is really 'real' or 'evidence'. File your claim for loss as you should in writing. Get a denial in writing. Then go forward.

I think insurers generally allow phone banks to do this...why, I assume there are countless people who don't know better and assume that what is told by the phone person as final.

[WitsNWrasse]

Okay guys, so I've been obviously juggling a lot since January but here's an update:

* Visio's "5 year warranty" is a limited warranty and only covers degradation on the silicone. ALSO, cracking is only covered if it occurs before 6 months. So, no luck there.

* Anything that causes the flood/damage is never usually covered by insurance, no matter the policy. Ex: Fridge line breaks and floods house, damage is covered, but new fridge line is not.

*This is some crazy information that i discovered: insurance companies purposely train their employees WRONG so they have no moral issues with denying people's claims. ALWAYS ALWAYS fight it when they deny your claim.

*Everyone needs to look at their "Loss of Use" in their policy. Mine is low. I didn't account for these things:
Loss of use is when your home is deemed "unlivable" and you must be put in other accommodations. Technically, you are supposed to be put in a place with similar conditions as the place of the claim. Ex. I have a 2br 1.5 ba condo, so a similar rental would be found.
HOWEVER, monthly mortgages are far lower than a comparable rental. I may pay 1400 a month for my condo, but a similar condo on the rental market may be 2200. I only had 10k for loss of use, which i now understand is low. If the water damage had been any worse, or if there had been a fire, I would barely be able to pay rent for 5 months, and that doesn't include any food costs. The other thing that I didn’t account for is that places really hike up the rent when you have a short term lease. I ended up in a 560 sqft 1 bd/1ba apt and the insurance company was paying 2100 a month. Phew.

*The insurance people that inspect the equipment usually hire an electrician and deem items as "salvageable" or "non-salvageable". I was going to be pretty ****ed if they said all my lights worked and were not a "loss" because they were splashed with saltwater, and we all know how corrosion works. Damage isn't done, and the wires will continue to deteriorate. I was ready to put up a fight for all my equipment to be covered. HOWEVER, the insurance people said they know nothing about aquariums and just stated all my equipment as a total loss, so I will be able to get all new equipment (Win) They might even forget about taking the old equipment….. (extra win)

*Opinion Vs Fact coverage: upholstery is much easier to get a claim on. EX: Curtains deemed "salvageable" and are professionally cleaned. Owner states there is still an odor. Electronics: usually they work or they dont.


If this happens to you, and you are sure you have insurance and that you will be covered, consider these things, as they will be covered under your "Personal Property":
*all linens thrown in puddle can be claimed: towels, bedsheets, blankets. Can claim all linens and get new ones.
*Run to the store and purchase any brute tubs or tanks that you need to hold your fish
*Laminate floors: New floors will be covered outside the original damage if the water travels (i.e. if you walk on the floor a lot or push heavy things over the laminate, the water underneath the plastic sheeting will travel to other areas) OR if they cannot match the floor you have currently. They ended up replacing all the laminate in my entire condo. (Win)
*IF YOUR HOME WAS NOT RECENTLY BUILT: be prepared for asbestos. Mine tested positive. They had to do two abatements. The first one was to take out the bottom third of the drywall wherever it was wet. The demo crew tried to save most of my kitchen (upper cabinets and granite countertops by propping it up on 2x4s). The contractor then came in and was like ***, I can’t match these cabinets, everything has to come out. He also couldnt “reuse” the granite that they had tried to save, because it has to be glued to a finishing board that is drilled into the lower cabinets. If your cabinets weren’t recently put in (mine turned out to be a super high end cherry stain- honestly when i bought it i hated the cabinets and thought they were some cheap laminate- shows how much i know about cabinets), then all of them will have to be replaced. See part about laminate flooring. So the abatement crew had to come back to remove the cabinets, granite countertops, granite backsplash, etc.
*If there is any other work that has to be done in your house while the abatement crew is there, your contractor can likely get the crew to just add it in for free. I wanted to run a gas line to my half bath to make it into a laundry room, and since the kitchen was already getting torn up, he just told them that if they wanted the job they would do that and not put it on the invoice. So now I’m going to be able to get my laundry room much easier. (Win)
*Pro Tip: The insurance company isn’t going to know what was actually there during the flood. The dry out crew take pics when they get there. IDK, maybe you have some iPhone cords laying around that dont work, or some power strips that unintentionally got mixed up in the water……

Things that are not covered:
*Anything Living (so your first priority should be save your dang fish and corals, because if anything dies you are getting zilch for it) This includes pets, plants, fish. However, my adjustor did say that plants were a gray area in some policies and if you lost corals you MIGHT be able to classify them as such. Case by case basis.
*Art (dont use a painting to help soak up the puddle, you’ll get 0 for it)
*The item that created the damage in the first place (which was the GLASS tank, but the stand should be covered)




Other things I’ve learned:
*Geico started as a CAR insurance company, and then decided to branch out into other areas like home insurance. Geico does not specifically handle their home insurance claims, they outsource to other companies, so my actual homeowners insurance was with “Homesite”. They suck. Also, I am going to name names here, Rick Sanchez of Geico in San Diego has the worst customer service manners I have ever experienced. Would not recommend. He yelled at me on the phone and refused to speak with my adjustor, and then proceeded to brag about how much experience he has and that we knew nothing about insurance. Kay. Moving on.
*My adjustor recommended “Safeco” for homeowners insurance.



Update on my personal situation if anyone cares:
My condo is due to be completed end of May. Brand new kitchen, new granite, new cabinets, new floor. Going with tile, obviously, and getting tile baseboards in my living room so my house is a bathtub. I got a new sliding glass door, and 3k check covering personal property. My fish are being housed by a friend that also works at my LFS, and i seriously CANT thank him enough for doing it. I had to move to arizona in with my parents (ick) because my Loss of Use insurance money ran out beginning of May. Working remotely kind of sucks. My plan now is to upgrade to a 180 peninsula, because why not.
I’m on instagram: @vanessa_rae_ and ill probably be posting up a storm once i get my new tank if anyone wants to see. (is that allowed ? idk the rules….)





Well, maybe this information will help someone. Hope it does !

[alton]

Thanks for updating us on such a mess.

[Rilelen]

Wow, thanks for the update. Please share your new 180 with us when the time comes!

[wrott]

Thanks very much for the real deal insurance scenario.
I hope you can get back to your condo asap, and i'd really like to see the new 180g project! gl

[tkeracer619]

I have homesite as well. It can be tough dealing with them but it probably depends on who you deal with. The people I talked to when I got the plan stated everything you said. Given the amount of water I am dealing with they strongly suggested I increase the Loss of Use amount. They were not oblivious to large saltwater aquariums and the damage they cause if they fail. Hope I never have to use it!

Glad you are almost back in your home and that they fixed it!

[elbowdeep29]

Ya my buddy had this happen to his 110 reef saved most of his things but the insurance covered everything only because his tank was built in wall so they considered it part of the house. (He used on of his closets​ that faced the living room). Sorry about your house and tank hope all goes well it better for you.

[elbowdeep29]

*or gets better for ya*^^^

[Rallos]

Sorry for your tank! Hope the new one is even better!

To echo the others here, thanks so much for coming back and updating the thread with good information! I am going to be buying another home soon and I will move my current 220 to there or going full custom and larger so this is a great resource and reminder for me about what I need to do to make sure that I am covered.

[WitsNWrasse]

Originally Posted by Rallos

Sorry for your tank! Hope the new one is even better!



To echo the others here, thanks so much for coming back and updating the thread with good information! I am going to be buying another home soon and I will move my current 220 to there or going full custom and larger so this is a great resource and reminder for me about what I need to do to make sure that I am covered.

To expand on that, if there is any warranty on your tank currently, moving it to a new location likely voids it. My LFS passed this information on to me from Visio- so I would say you're probably better off selling your set up and starting fresh in your new home. And sounds like from above if you get it built in it might be covered !


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[ERIC85854]

Do I need to do anything for around 5 gallons of water that leaked on the carpet other than try to soak it up? Some of it may have leaked by the baseboards but I can’t really do anything about it unless I move the tank. I really don’t want to do that unless necessary. Some water damage company is telling me it’s black water but I think that’s bs right?

[TxAggie08]

If it helps- in had 27" of flood water come through my house in August, and you are talking as much repair as we had to do.....you're not going to need all that

[Deep Reef]

You can look into hiring an insurance arbitrator I heard they will assist in getting claims properly adjusted


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[outy]

Originally Posted by ERIC85854

Do I need to do anything for around 5 gallons of water that leaked on the carpet other than try to soak it up?

Get a wet dry vac and vacuum it up asap.

It is not going to be an issue unless you do not dry it quickly

[outy]

Not to the two posters above, thread is a yea old. No need to respond unless its to eric