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modell1973
May 30, 2011
Short Term Disability
November 2010 I went to ER due to being real sick and found out I had pneumonia and myocarditis. I was off work for a month and had no issues with Liberty Mutual. February 1st I was having chest pains, shortness of breathe, couldn’t get my legs warm and slept more than usual. Since I am still paying on the last trip to ER I called and was able to see my cardio doctor in 2 days. I waited mostly to save money and after seeing him he wrote me a note to not return to work till I had tests ran. I had a stress test, echo, EKG and labs. It took 3 1/2 weeks to schedule/ complete and when the test came back it showed my heart was fine. Now my employer would not let me return till I had doctor’s letter stating I was able to return to work. So when I returned Liberty Mutual denied my claim stating that my restrictions did not warrant not being at work. Of course the letter stated that my doctor did not return all needed info as requested. I am appealing this and I wonder if anyone had any suggestions etc… ? I am married with 3 kids and I am missing 3 checks which we can’t be without. I am lost, sad, frustrated and I don’t know what to do.
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rbguy1
January 17, 2011
Home insurance-Overinflated replacement value
I’m trying to help my fellow home-owning friends avoid being scammed for $1000s of extra in insurance premiums by their home insurer, as I was. Simple step: Ask your home insurance company for a copy of the detailed report they used to calculate your home’s replacement value.
Please also email me if you have had this same problem.
For Liberty Mutual customers, it’s called a XactValue report, and is about 3-4 pages in length. If your agent won’t give you the report, tries to give you their one page report, or says one doesn’t exist, they’re lying, and most likely you are being overcharged premiums on a bigger or more luxurious home than you actually own. I was overcharged over $1, 200 over a 3 year period.
If you find that you were overcharged based on the fictitious values the insurance company used to describe your house to calculate the premiums, please contact me, as I’m pursing a personal lawsuit against Liberty Mutual Insurance, a complaint with the State Attorney’s office, Insurance commissioner, as well as class action lawsuit possibilities. I was subject to an insurance scam, and I’m sure the way Liberty Mutual runs this, there are others out there.
Background:
When I bought my home, I called my insurance company for 10 years, Liberty Mutual. I talked with an agent, Tom Holt, who asked me a series of questions about my house, such as the number of rooms, amenities, etc. He then told me my home replacement value was and the associated premium, and began insuring my home.
It wasn’t until this year when Liberty increased my premiums by 35% (I had not had any claims since Liberty insured me), I decided to shop around with other insurers on their rates. I found that the other insurers had my home replacement value calculated at less than ½ the value that Liberty had calculated, with an associated much lower premium. When I asked Liberty why they had my home replacement value so high, they initially tried to give reasons like material costs have gone down or my mortgage company probably required it. I checked around and found that these were not true. When I confronted my agent, he avoided my questions. Liberty’s only response was basically tough luck; you signed the application, so you agreed with the premium. Note that there is absolutely no information on my application about the characteristics of my home. They even stated that I must have asked for this higher level of coverage, which wasn’t true. Recently I found that it is illegal for an insurance company in Minnesota to knowingly insure your home for more than its replacement value.
It is only when I filed a lawsuit against Liberty that their attorney provided me with a detailed XactValue report, which showed that Tom Holt, the insurance agent, had put in the report that I had four extra rooms (that didn’t exist), had solid marble sinks and countertops, marble Jacuzzi tubs, and brass fixtures in EVERY bathroom (I have none of these in any of my bathrooms), skylights, crown moldings, French doors, built in speakers and bookcases, chair rails, etc., none of which are in my home. Most astonishingly, he said I had cathedral ceilings in EVERY bedroom, even a cathedral ceiling in the basement! Again, I wasn’t told or didn’t know that such a XactValue report existed when I insured my home. No wonder my replacement value was so high, which drove my high premiums.
And what’s Liberty’s response when I confronted them with this report? They stated I must have told them all these specifications on my home when I took the policy, so it was my fault!
Caveat Emptor, my friends.
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