My unfortunate experience with Allstate homeowners insurance

In the last week of December 2010, I noticed water damage in my home and contacted Allstate. The water appeared to be coming from an upstairs toilet and had caused damage to the hardwood floor in the lower level of the home, apparently running down an inside wall. Additional damage was also found to the downstairs walls as well as the flooring in the upstairs bathroom. The damage to the floor and walls was recent, as noted by observation of rapid delamination of the hardwood flooring occurring due to moisture. A plumber was called and he removed the upstairs toilet which revealed soaked flooring under and around the toilet. It was also observed at that time that a repair toilet flange had been previously installed over the original damaged flange and that the leak was coming from a failure of the wax ring in this new flange, not the original flange. There was also some pre-existing damage to the wood sub-flooring around the original flange, but it was confined to a small area near the base of the flange. After the toilet had been removed, the damp areas began to dry out over a period of several days. Allstate later sent an adjuster out who immediately determined that all the damage was old damage that had occurred sometime in the distant past. Aside from the sub-floor damage found immediately under the original damaged flange, this simply was not true. The amount of water coming from the leak was significant, proving that the leak had recently re-developed; if that were not true, significantly more water damage would have occurred due to the amount of water being leaked. He only saw the original damaged flange because the plumber had removed the newer repair flange, leaving only the original flange visible, which he naturally assumed was the cause of the leak. I later informed him that a repair flange was observed when the plumber pulled the toilet, and that the plumber removed it and took it with him. He spoke with the plumber and confirmed this. I received a letter from Allstate stating that the damage would not be covered because it was leakage that occurred "over a period of weeks, months, or years." Only a small area of older sub-floor damage was observed around the original flange, and no previous damage was ever observed downstairs. Everything outside this small area was recent damage that occurred over a period of days, not weeks, months, or years.

"You're in good hands will Allstate." Yeah, right. I WISH THAT WERE TRUE! Instead, their contractual loophole allows them to deny any water damage claim originating from a leak that is more than 14 days old. So you better be checking under your sinks, showers, dishwasher, clothes washer, and any other water source every TWO WEEKS to make sure there are no leaks! Or do like me and start looking for a better homeowners insurance policy through someone other than Allstate (edit: Amica doesn't appear to have this limitation in their policy).

On a related note, Allstate also screwed me once before (fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.) My home was burglarized and they did not cover any of my fiance's losses because I hadn't told them she was living with me. Another contractual loophole.


You might also want to read this.

PS: My state's insurance commissioner did nothing to help.