Before deciding to do business with a homeowner insurance company, many people like to look at the complaints that have been made against that company. They can do it on the Internet.
The Better Business Bureau might be the best place to find out about claims made against homeowner insurance companies. Just go to the site, click "Check out a business," and type in the name and location of the homeowner insurance company you want to learn more about.
Once you find the company you're looking for, you'll be given:
- Issues that customers have complained about: contract, billing/collection, sales practise, delivery, repair, service, customer service, and refund/exchange.
- Basic information about the company. This includes the start date, the names of the people in charge, how to reach them, the names of other companies, etc.
- Membership status: The BBB reports on insurance company complaints whether or not the company is a member, but if a company is a member, it shows they support the public services the BBB offers.
- Resolution information - The BBB tells you how many complaints have been made against the homeowner insurance company in the last 36 months. The BBB will say if the complaint was solved or if the company tried to solve the problem but the customer wouldn't let them. In the second case, the BBB will say whether or not they think the company's effort was good enough.
Keep in mind the size of the company as you read the report from each homeowner insurance company. It makes sense that big companies with lots of customers would have more complaints than small companies with fewer customers.
Also, pay more attention to how complaints were dealt with than to how many complaints there were. If a homeowner's insurance company has had a lot of complaints but has handled them all well, it may be doing better than a homeowner's insurance company that has only had a few complaints but hasn't handled them well.
