Family who lost home stunned by Allstate ad

[dmcowen674]

1-8-2013

http://news.yahoo.com/couple-says-a...-them-put-home-194957583--abc-news-money.html



Couple Says Allstate Short-Changed Them, Put Home in Ad





A Staten Island couple said their insurance company short-changed them after superstorm Sandy destroyed their home, and then used their house in a commercial.



In October, Sheila Traina, 64, and her husband, Dominic, 66, had evacuated their home in New Dorp Beach in response to warnings from local authorities about the storm.


Traina said a neighbor who had stayed behind called and told them the wind had knocked the roof off their two-story home but their insurer, Allstate, said the damage to their home was due to flooding.

The insurance company offered the Trainas, who did not have flood insurance, about $10,000 for the damages. They say the amount is well short of the $280,000 for which their home and its contents were insured.

"We have a witness," Traina said. "If you witnessed a murder, someobody would get convictred I would think."


The storm's winds also knocked down a 30-foot tall tree across the street, Traina said.


She said she has refused to accept the $10,000 and is planning to hire an attorney to fight for a settlement that matches the value of her home.

What the Trainas said upset them further was that an image of their damaged home was used in a commercial for Allstate.


After their Thanksgiving dinner, Traina said her husband and grandchildren were watching a football game when her grandchildren said they saw their home in a television advertisement.

Allstate said the advertisement "showed general images of the destruction caused by Sandy including a partial image of the Trainas' home."

We regret any concern this advertisement may have caused the Trainas and images of their home will not be included in Allstate's advertising," the company said.

 

[dmcowen674]

The balls and the shit Corporations get away with never ceases to amaze

 

[drebo]

Living on an island, close to an ocean beach without flood insurance.

Sounds like a good idea......NOT.

 

[sactoking]

1) Exterior shots are public.
2) It would be difficult (if not impossible) to find a panning exterior shot of a storm-hit neighborhood that didn't include at least a partial residence insured by the company.
3) $10,000 may not be a fair settlement offer, but a lost/damaged roof does not necessitate a full payout for a replacement house and all contents.

 

[OutHouse]

a lost/damaged roof does not necessitate a full payout for a replacement house and all contents.

why not?

 

[Texashiker]

A Staten Island couple said their insurance company short-changed them after superstorm Sandy destroyed their home, and then used their house in a commercial.

The insurance company offered the Trainas, who did not have flood insurance, about $10,000 for the damages. They say the amount is well short of the $280,000 for which their home and its contents were insured.

Live on an island, not fully insured, then wants to complain about it?

 

[Attic]

If she's telling the truth, she'll win.

Roof should be covered, of course, and if All States stance was indeed the damage was due to flood,.. well big surprise. Don't let their commercials fool you, i've worked on homes and seen the cars the higher ups and insurance companies enjoy. Their stocks aren't performing well, all that insurance premium is padding hugely lush lifestyles while this lady gets told her roof being ripped off was due to flood damage.

 

[Jimzz]

Not sure why anyone is surprised by this. I grew up on an east coast beach area and any chance an insurance company had to blame flooding it was.
“The floor was wet so your house was flooded so no insurance for you.”

Same thing happens on the west coast for earthquakes. “Sink hole… nope small localized earthquake so no insurance for you.”

 

[waggy]

a) its a public shit

b) WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T THEY HAVE INSURANCE?

C)the flood fucked up the house. NOT THE WIND.


really WTF!? IF you live on the ocean get flood insurance. god damn.

 

[nextJin]

Cat 1 ripping the roof off? Trees were rooted in water logged ground a roof should have been fine I would think?

 

[Londo_Jowo]

Based on the photos I saw in the video over half of the roof is intact. It appears the house collapsed at the foundation which would be due to flooding and not wind.

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

I hope the Traina's win their suit. With no roof, the water damage would have occurred anyway if the home had not flooded.

These dummies should have bought flood insurance though!

 

[Matt1970]

Insurance 101

Deny all claims.

 

[Jimzz]

Cat 1 ripping the roof off? Trees were rooted in water logged ground a roof should have been fine I would think?

Roofs can come off with less than cat1 wind speeds.

Its why when you buy home insurance they ask how old the roof is. 5 Years or less good; over 5 years bad.

 

[DrPizza]

Roofs can come off with less than cat1 wind speeds.

Its why when you buy home insurance they ask how old the roof is. 5 Years or less good; over 5 years bad.

Less than cat 1 winds aren't going to level a house the way their house was leveled. Was there flooding? I don't see any of them saying, "there wasn't flooding." They're questioning what caused that level of destruction to their home. The wind may have been the final straw, but the main destruction of that home - the collapsed foundation, was caused by flooding.

 

[Jimzz]

Less than cat 1 winds aren't going to level a house the way their house was leveled. Was there flooding? I don't see any of them saying, "there wasn't flooding." They're questioning what caused that level of destruction to their home. The wind may have been the final straw, but the main destruction of that home - the collapsed foundation, was caused by flooding.

It was a older home from what pictures I have seen so once the roof comes off there is not as much wall bracing as there is on newwer homes. So it takes very little to knock down after that.

I have seen home comes down with no flooding and low speeds at the beach area I gew up in due to being a older home that had little to no real bracing. Just was not required at the time. Of course it improved the value of the other homes as the older ones feel.

My add-on is on a slab and required piles of bracing (walls and roof) and we are no where near the coast or flooing area. Same with my parents old beach home. Piles and piles of supports and bracing that their old house had no were near as much. The front of my house would not even come close to code based on the foundation, roof supports, wall bracing, etc... We had to update a lot of it to meet code for the add-on.


I'm not saying they or the insurance company is right, just older homes come down a lot easier than many think as all they see are mostly updated or new homes.

 

[Matt1970]

Less than cat 1 winds aren't going to level a house the way their house was leveled. Was there flooding? I don't see any of them saying, "there wasn't flooding." They're questioning what caused that level of destruction to their home. The wind may have been the final straw, but the main destruction of that home - the collapsed foundation, was caused by flooding.

Maybe, but a lot of the wind gusts were measured at 90+ mph so that can surely level some structures that were not built to withstand hurricane force winds. We went through a Cat1 Hurricane near Houston that didn’t even knock the power out but we just had a Cat3 5 years earlier so any weaker structures were probably knocked out then.

 

[waggy]

It was a older home from what pictures I have seen so once the roof comes off there is not as much wall bracing as there is on newwer homes. So it takes very little to knock down after that.

I have seen home comes down with no flooding and low speeds at the beach area I gew up in due to being a older home that had little to no real bracing. Just was not required at the time. Of course it improved the value of the other homes as the older ones feel.

My add-on is on a slab and required piles of bracing (walls and roof) and we are no where near the coast or flooing area. Same with my parents old beach home. Piles and piles of supports and bracing that their old house had no were near as much. The front of my house would not even come close to code based on the foundation, roof supports, wall bracing, etc... We had to update a lot of it to meet code for the add-on.


I'm not saying they or the insurance company is right, just older homes come down a lot easier than many think as all they see are mostly updated or new homes.

and i have seen 100+ year old homes stand up to winds/tornados and newer homes take tons of damage.

my old place was 110 years old. the thing was solid and stood up to a bunch. if it didn't need a total wirejob, new windows and heat i would still be in it heh.

 

[yehness]

$10,000 just turned into $10,000,000

 

[marincounty]

I saw that crazy Kramer investment guy on TV a while back, and he was pushing Allstate insurance as an investment because they were moving out of areas like the gulf and Florida where they had a large exposure to risk. He loved that.
Insurance companies win when they don't pay off, that's the name of the game.

 

[werepossum]

There was a home locally that was extensively damaged by a tornado. Six or eight months after the fact the company hadn't even sent out an adjuster. Finally they put up a white sheet and wrote "WE HAVE ALLSTATE INSURANCE" (or whatever flavor they had) and it was settled in about two days.

Probably works better if you still have a wall though.

 

[OCGuy]

Yea Allstate is screwed on this one and will settle.

 

[spaceman]

maebe theyll give her some meatloaf and jenga<.<

 

[DrPizza]

There was a home locally that was extensively damaged by a tornado. Six or eight months after the fact the company hadn't even sent out an adjuster. Finally they put up a white sheet and wrote "WE HAVE ALLSTATE INSURANCE" (or whatever flavor they had) and it was settled in about two days.

Probably works better if you still have a wall though.

That's.... BRILLIANT!

 

[Jimzz]

Yea Allstate is screwed on this one and will settle.

Doubt it. There was an insurance company in the midwest that was sued and took years of court action to get them to pay out after large damage area.

The problem is paying this 1 claim opens the door to many others. If this was a small isolated case then yea. But because of the billions of damage 1 case will be treated as a bellweather to others.