1 /5 Laura Day: I had previously posted a 5-star review, but had to remove it due to the headache that has been homeowners insurance over the last two months. Like many others, my homeowners insurance premiums had been steadily increasing for the past several years and I was interested in saving money. In early June, I had been searching online for more affordable insurance. One of the agents from the office reached out to me and gave me a quote. The price was excellent, so I called the agency back to pursue this quote. Everything seemed like a great price and very simple, so I paid in full for a year of homeowners insurance as well as beginning auto insurance as well. I cancelled my prior homeowners and auto insurance to proceed with State Farm.
About two weeks later, I was notified by the office that State Farm would not underwrite the policy because I "needed a new roof" and that "the whole roof" needed repair based on drone photos a representative had taken of my home. I was concerned about this, so I called several roofing contractors in the area (all who either had A+ ratings on the BBB or who were voted Best of the Best in Chattanooga for several years running.) The roof is 13 years old, but if my roof truly had this much damage unbeknownst to me then I was prepared to either repair or replace the roof. Each of these professionals, including one referred to my home by the State Farm office, stated that the roof looked great and the estimated minimum life expectancy of the roof was 5 years by one and as long as 10-12 years by the others. Despite this, the policy would not be underwritten because some shingles showed signs of degranulation.
At the time of the above phone call informing me that the policy would not be issued, I was not informed that I still had coverage through State Farm through early August. I had received a refund check for less than the full amount I paid. I was in a panic because I thought I had unknowingly been without homeowners insurance for several weeks. After discussing this with one of the agents, they clarified that the policy was effective until early August, giving me time to obtain other coverage and that I was not without coverage until that time. I did successfully obtain coverage through another company, but it was a big pain to find good insurance at a reasonable price, then have the rug pulled out from under me with a poor explanation regarding why, and to then contact and meet with roofers, find new insurance again, and deal with providing documentation proving to the mortgage company that I truly did have insurance effective for all dates, as well as making sure that all refunds received were correct.
