Here are the details of my complaint: On 4/30/08 I was home working in my office around noon when I heard water running. When I went to investigate, I realized the sound was coming from my finished basement. When I opened the door to a storage room in my basement I saw water running down the wall from an above ground window. The water outside of the window was ¾ of the way up the window. I realized that my above ground pool had discharged its water (see enclosed pictures).
I called my agent was told by him that the damage would be covered and to get someone there to clean up the water in the basement in order to minimize any damage. He informed me that an adjuster would be calling in the next few hours and to fill them in on what happened. The adjuster that contacted me and I informed her of the event as stated in the above paragraph. She told me that my claim would not be covered because as soon as the water left the pool and touched the ground it was considered ground water, which is not covered under my policy. I told her I did not agree with her assessment and I would appeal her decision. This decision was made after a 3-minute conversation with her and no visit from anyone from Farmers Insurance. She sent me a letter (copy enclosed) recapping our conversation on the phone. Her letter did not in any way reflect our conversation as it really happened. She out and out lies about the conversation leaving out the water came through a window and it came from an accidental discharge from my pool. She stated in the leter that the water seeped from underground through the walls of my basement. I sent a letter in response to her letter asking why she had misrepresented the facts I also sent that letter to her boss and the CEO of the company.
I have since received letters from her boss and another person from their corporate cliams office. Each have stated different reasons for denial this time. One stated that surface water was the reason my claim was being denied and the other cliams manufacturer’s defects. I have picture documentation and documetation from an independent pool company saying that neither of these things are true. Again two more agents have lied to me. I explain further contentious points in a letter to thes new people and the CEO. The pool was professionally installed 4 years ago and I have not had any problem. The pool was closed last fall and has been sitting until this event. I have sent a response to Farmers on the most recent letters, which I have also enclosed.
My agent informed me on May 28th that that he is no longer going to be with the company. I aksed him on more than one occasion who me new agent would be, I have never been assigned a new agent, despite repeated attempts on my part to locate one. I feel that I am being denied a Farmers representative to work on this claim on my behalf, and this has gone on for over a month.
I have been a good customer of this company for many years. This is the first time I have ever turned in a claim and feel because of the nature of the event; it was unexpected, sudden, accidental, and unforeseeable. I feel this claim should be covered. I also feel Farmers Insurance and its representatives have dealt with this matter in bad faith and need to be held accountable for the continuous misrepresentation of the events as they happened.
Please note that while I believe this claim should be covered, my biggest complaint is with the misrepresentation of the facts in this case by Farmer’s employees in order to get out of paying me any money on my claim. I believe the correspondence enclosed show that this is the case.
While I hope I have been clear in this matter, please understand that I am very frustrated and feel that I have no advocate working my behalf. Please contact me if you have questions or need further clarification.
Thank you in advance for your attention to this matter and I hope to hear from you very soon.
Sincerely,
