Home Owners Insurance Cancellation+

[pianoman]

Dear Warren ,
In the early 1980s we had a fire in our home and we were forced to live in
a motel for several months while the insurance company had our home fixed. 
I used to come to the house every day to check on work being done.  Many
days no one showed to work at all and other days workers would show up for
a short while and then leave.  I had called my agent numerous times about
this saying that this was all extending the time the insurance company
would be paying for our motel bill..  There was myself, wife and 3 smaller
kids.  On and on I would complain about the slow pace of work being done on
our house.  Finally it was done and we moved back in.  When our renewal
date came up we got a letter from the insurance company, Auto Club of Mo.
,stating that they  refused to  renew our policy.  All this and I tried to
help the insurance company save money by letting them know time was being
wasted working on our house by their contractors.  The catch was in MO.
when you apply for insurance the first question asked is "Have you ever
been refused insurance'?  Of course the answer is now , yes.  That placed
us in a special pool that insurance companies will insure for extra high
prices and guess what was the only coverage you could get, not homeowners. 
All you could get was fire insurance.  We had to stay in that pool for 2
years before we could get homeowners insurance from another company.

  My advice, don't tell the insurance company anything they don't ask
specifically.  Just like IRS or the governments.
James Grebe
R.P.T. from St. Louis
pianoman@inlink.com
"Only my best is good enough"

----------
> From: Warren Fisher <fish@communique.net>
> To: pianotech@ptg.org
> Subject: Home Owners Insurance Cancellation
> Date: Sunday, November 02, 1997 12:23 PM
> 
> One of the reasons I haven't been on the list much recently is that I
> got a letter from State Farm along with a premium refund of check
> stating that they were not renewing my insurance because of the business
> in my home!  I asked them why they were upset now when I had been doing
> this for 25 years and the majority of my work was done in peoples
> homes.  My agent said she didn't know the reason; the decision was made
> at the home office.
> 
> Well folks, I had an independent broker try to find me insurance for a
> couple of weeks and the consensus was:
> 
> 1. No insurer of homes wants anything to do with a business there,
> and...
> 
> 2. No commercial insurer wants anything to do with a home!
> 
> Catch-22 situation...right?  Twilight Zone time isn't it?
> 
> Anyway I called State Farm back and asked if they would re-instate if I
> moved the business elsewhere.  She called the Home Office and they said
> "SURELY"!
> 
> A Word to the Wise, guys.  Keep your home operations secret!
> 
> That little mistake is costing me $300 a month just for shop space!
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Warren
> 
> 
> -- 
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> Warren D. Fisher
> fish@communique.net
> Registered Piano Technician
> Piano Technicians Guild
> New Orleans Chapter 701