Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  12/10/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I received correspondence, indicating that my car would be fixed and fully covered by the insurance company and 15 days later they indicated that they will not do any repairs on my vehicle. I would like the insurance agency to follow the correspondence dated September 19 and resolve this issue as soon as possible.

  Business response

  18/10/2023

  We were able to contact the client and are working to resolve their concerns; The client is disputing the scope of repairs for his vehicle. We have determined that a portion of the damages are unrelated to the accident. We’ve requested a mechanics diagnostic report to support the client’s assertions, however the client has refused to provide one.  We invite the client to follow-up with his adjuster with the supporting report so we can review it to determine if further damages will be covered. 

  Customer response

  19/10/2023

  
  Subject: Complaint Against Belair Direct and ****** Insurance
  
  Dear ******* **
  
  I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing to file a formal complaint against Belair Direct and ****** Insurance regarding a claim issue that has been ongoing since September 19, 202*.
  
  On the aforementioned date, I received written correspondence from Belair Direct and ****** Insurance, in which they indicated their commitment to honour a specific claim. However, to my dismay, just 15 days later, they inexplicably reversed their position and are now refusing to fulfill their initial commitment.
  
  In my efforts to address this matter, I spoke with a senior adjuster today, who informed me that they would escalate the issue further. Regrettably, the senior adjuster also made it clear that there is no intention on their part to honor the original claim as stated in their initial correspondence.
  
  This situation has left me both frustrated and disappointed. I believe that Belair Direct and ****** Insurance should be held accountable for the commitments they make to their policyholders. The abrupt change in their position has caused me financial and emotional distress, and I believe this is a breach of our contract and their obligation to provide the coverage they promised.
  
  I kindly request the Better Business Bureau's assistance in mediating this matter and urging Belair Direct and ****** Insurance to honour the original claim as per their communication from September 19, 2024.
  
  Enclosed with I’m my original you will find copies of all relevant correspondence and documents pertaining to the claim in question. I trust that your organization will handle this matter with the diligence and impartiality that it warrants.
  
  I eagerly await your response and hope for a swift resolution to this dispute. Please feel free to contact me at ******@****.ca or ********** should you require any further information or clarification.
  
  Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ****** ******** 

• Initial Complaint

  13/09/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I had an accident in 5th September, I called my insurance which is belairdirect, they refused to assist me because I missed one payment. They told me to pay them first after that they will see what they can do about that. I pay them after having the money they advise to subscribe to another policy insurance, and the car isn’t for me I take the car in financement.
  

   

   

   

   

   

  Customer response

  13/09/2023

  I had an accident in 5th September, I called my insurance which is belairdirect, they refused to assist me because I missed one payment. They told me to pay them first after that they will see what they can do about that. I pay them after having the money they advise to subscribe to another policy insurance, and the car isn’t for me I take the car in financement. So my complain is that I want belairdirect to give me my car back 

  Business response

  19/09/2023

  
  We were able to connect with the client and provided them an option to reinstate their policy.  We await the client's decision on how they wish to proceed.

• Initial Complaint

  11/05/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  In September 2022 I called bel air direct to add a van to my insurance. A price was provided and I was told that because the October bill was going to be printed within 15 days the new amount would not apply until November. My account was set up as a pay in advance, meaning that the November bill would be for December insurance plus October’s bill for the new vehicle. When the November bill came out the amount was much more than what was quoted. I proceeded to cancel the insurance prior to December making the November bill unnecessary as I pay in advance. I attempted to call bel air multiple times to settle the matter but their agents were unable to help or even attempt to understand my issue. Within a month the account was sold to a collection agency, who has no information about the account other than it being sold to them. The most I could owe them is 85 dollars and they are attempting to collect 275.

  Business response

  18/05/2023

  
  We were able to contact the customer and have addressed their concerns.

  Customer response

  18/05/2023

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because: they did not attempt to work with me in any way or admit any wrongdoing 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***** ******

  Business response

  18/05/2023

  Our representative provided the client a breakdown of the premium changes associated with adding a vehicle to their policy. No errors were found and we were able to determine that the client was correctly advised at the time of the change. Should the client remain dissatisfied, they have the option of escalating their concerns. If they choose to do so, we invite them to reply to the representative they corresponded with previously of their desire to do so. 

• Initial Complaint

  31/01/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I have been a Belairdirect customer since Nov/15. In Feb/22, we obtained home insurance for a newly purchased detached house. On Sept 26/22, we observed sudden cracking in our ceiling following a heavy storm. On the date of loss, I reported the damage to Belairdirect and sought advice on submitting a claim. The agent, after reviewing my policy and asking questions, thought this would be covered under our policy, opened a claim, and forwarded the information to an Intact adjuster. The adjuster contacted me the same day and set up a site visit. On or around Sept 28/22, the contractor visited our home and assessed damage. Following this, we were notified on or around Oct 3/22 that Intact approved the claim. Containment work followed for one week. On or around Oct 13/22, Intact reversed the claim approval and said the skylight was installed improperly with attempted repairs. On Oct 15/22, I received an automated notice that provided an explanation for claim denial different from the previous explanation. On or around Nov 10/22, I obtained a second assessment of the roof. This assessment disputes the original reason for claim denial. I escalated the matter to the Unit Claims Manager who indicated that the error made by the adjuster was that she approved the claim without the roofer assessment. She offered a third assessment. I accepted with four conditions (i.e., by end of Dec/22, specific dates, mutually determined subcontractor, full explanation for claim denial), which were all ultimately accepted after some follow-ups by me. At this point, the Manager indicated that the claim was originally approved because the adjuster failed to review my policy. This contradicted previous explanations. Condition #3 for a third assessment was not satisfied by Intact despite being agreed to, and this nullified our agreement on a third assessment. I have obtained an independent estimate for repairs, which totals $8,659.32. A detailed chronology is available.

  Business response

  09/02/2023

  
  We have been in contact with the customer regarding their concerns. We have explained why we are maintaining our position regarding the claim denial and have provided the client with next steps should they wish to pursue their concerns further.

  Customer response

  09/02/2023

  Complaint: ********

  Thank you to Belairdirect for responding to my January 31, 2023 complaint on February 3, 2023 via email. 

  In the Belairdirect (“Intact”) email response from February 3, 2023, it is stated that Intact understands I was “not happy with our process for setting this up the 3rd inspection.” This is false. We were, in fact, in agreement on a process for setting up a third inspection and with four conditions. Intact violated one of these conditions and it was at that time that I withdrew support for the third inspection. 

  To clarify my position, I believe that Intact has mismanaged this claim through multiple acts of negligence. Specifically, Intact has: 

  •Reversed a claim approval using an incomplete roofer’s inspection
  •Used a roofer’s inspection that did not definitively conclude a cause of loss
  •Added new reasons for reversing the claim approval after already explaining that the claim was denied due to the reasons provided in the roofer’s report (i.e. “improper installation of the skylight and/or the age of the skylight”)
  •Maintained the claim denial after a second and more thorough inspection disputed the findings of the first inspection
  •Maintained the claim denial on the grounds that the second inspection did not determine how water was entering the home, despite that the first inspection also did not determine how water was entering the home
  •Admitted that it did not review the terms of my policy before approving the claim, and this was only stated after being asked which inclusion for water damage was applied to the original claim approval
  •Agreed to four conditions for a third inspection, and then violated one of those conditions
  

  Intact has offered a third assessment to be obtained by me. This is not an acceptable offer, and now risks only further delaying repairs. Given the mismanagement of this claim and how it has prejudiced the ability to obtain timely repairs, I believe it is reasonable to request that the claim approval be reinstated. This is in addition to the fact that I have been a loyal customer since 2015.
  

  If a claim approval cannot be reinstated, I am prepared to assume responsibility for all repairs and any newly damage discovered (e.g., mold) associated with this claim in exchange for $8,659.32. Hopefully we can resolve this matter amicably through the Better Business Bureau and not be escalate further. 
  

  I ask that Belairdirect please respond to this offer through the Better Business Bureau and within five (5) business days.

  
  Sincerely,
  **** ********

  Business response

  13/02/2023

  
  Unfortunately due to privacy considerations we are not able to discuss the claim in a public forum. If the client has ongoing concerns, we invite him to contact the claims representative he was speaking with previously.

  Business response

  21/09/2023

  The client contacted us to open a claim regarding a leaking skylight. We were able to determine the cause to be related to faulty installation. A denial was issued in November 2022. The client provided their own independent report, however it did not address how the water was entering the home. A claims manager reiterated the claim denial in February 2023, however offered an opportunity for the client to hire a roofer to complete an inspection which would meet our requirements. To date, no further inspection has been received. The claim is now closed.  

• Initial Complaint

  24/01/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Our insurance has blatantly neglected it's responsibility to us as a paying customer. * December 23rd a tree fell on our 2 of our vehicles. * We were told by the representative for our claim that the tree removal as well as both vehicles would be covered. * They took around 3 weeks to appraise both our vehicles. The appraisal for one of our vehicles was so unbelievable inaccurate that it could not have been done by someone who is qualified. The auto shop that will be fixing the vehicles still has not received one of the appraisals (and nor have we). We called to ask for the appraisal to be sent and were delighted to hear that it had been done while on the phone with them. Neither us or the auto shop received any communication. * We have sent emails and tried to call the representative that was assigned to our claim many times. They have not responded to a single communication for over 2 weeks. When we call the general number we are met with people who cannot help us because they were not assigned to our claim. * The tree removal has yet to have been reimbursed and we have been sent to property claims and now back to auto claims as if were not told before we paid for it that it would be covered. Remarkably the representative has yet to respond on this matter as well. * So in terms of making progress on our claim were are at a complete stand still. We have filed a complaint over the phone and also one over email and not received any solutions as of yet. * This company should not be allowed to offer insurance to Canadians when they can't pick up the phone or write an email to move things forwards for weeks. * We expect these delays to be compensated * Also to make all matters worse, our home insurance address has magically changed to our old address. Meaning we don't have any coverage on our home! Will we be compensated for this? We have surely been paying for it! I seriously believe that this mistake should be investigated.

  Business response

  30/01/2023

  
  We were able to contact the customer and are working to resolve their concerns.

  Customer response

  30/01/2023

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  They said that they were sorry about the delays and they are not sure if they can do much to help us.

  The manager said that they would look into the phone call that we had with our claims representative to confirm that we were told our tree removal costs would be covered. The manager said on January 26th that they would email us about this on January 27th or if they couldn't get to it then on January 30th. It is now January 30th night and they haven't emailed.

  We were also told that the extra weeks of car rental costs we have to incur can't be covered because we did not have that in our coverage. Which is completely ridiculous as they have failed to communicate with us in a timely manner which has caused us to require and pay for a rental car for several weeks longer than we should have had to.

  We reached out about our home insurance coverage address change as well. They were able to fix the issue and were told that it was an error from a Belairdirect employee. We were told that we won't be compensated for the time we paid for someone else's home to be insured because they "back-dated" it. This is also ridiculous as if something was to have happened to our property would they "back-dated" it? We shouldn't have to pay for a service that was not being rendered at the time no matter the final resolution they come up with.

  My first message to the BBB was on January 24th as of January 30th still no progress has been made on our vehicles in the auto shop. Our claims representative has told us that they have reminded the appraisal team to send the proper documents to the auto shop. The lack of action despite a formal complaint, asking for help through the BBB, as well as multiple calls made to Belairdirect shows that they are not committed to righting their wrongs and have actually doubled down on them. Connecting us with a manager to handle our complaints that can't help with several of the issues we have and can't stick to their own timelines for their own communications to us which only serves to further delay our progress in fixing these issues.

  As clients of Belairdirect we should not have to deal with excuses about other teams repeatedly and no amount of excuses should outweigh the damages that we have had to bear.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ****** ******

  Business response

  18/09/2023

  We have spoken to the client and have come the the following resolutions: as a result of the claim delays, an additional transportation allowance was given to the client. We have also come to a settlement for the clients vehicles, to which they have accepted. Both claims pertaining to the client's complaint have been resolved. 

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩