Alfa Homeowners Insurance Reviews

When my older brother was setting up the insurance, it was over the telephone and he was never asked this question. My older brother couldn’t stay in Alabama to sign the application form, so my younger brother signed the form early the next week. When my younger brother signed, Alfa insurance placed the policy in his name. At this point, neither brother had read the application. About six weeks ago the house burned down. It caught fire somewhere in the ceiling and burned completely to the ground. My younger brother barely escaped the fire, wearing just a pair of blue jeans (no shirt nor shoes) and a cell phone. He got his car out of the garage, to the end of the driveway, then the house exploded. The house burned for hours then went full blaze again a couple of hours after the firetrucks left.

Upon filing a claim, ALFA used a fraud investigator that claimed my younger brother lied on the application because the conviction question was marked ‘No’ (it was printed “no" from Alfa), and my brother signed the form, but he had a serious arrest record from a decade ago before he moved in with my mother. The question was actually marked “no” from answers from my mother’s policy. When attempting to file, Alfa needed information from me and both brothers because we are all three on the deed. Alfa has rescinded the policy because they said they would have never issued the policy but never told us why. I asked for a copy of the signed policy application that my younger brother signed but Alfa refused to give one and none of their staff id online. This company refuses to give my brother a copy of the legal document he signed with them. I’d like anyone that is interested to join me in a Class Action lawsuit against Alfa.

Fortunately we had money in our saving to cover all damages. ALFA would not send another adjuster out. I asked for copy, I did receive... ALFA adjuster wanted us to just paint over all the buckled ceiling with Kilz paint, no mention of replacing soaked insulation, soaked carpet, no labor cost, no removal cost, nothing. Second claim 10 years later, 5 wheel parked adjacent to the home Open Range. The 5th wheel had an electrical malfunction that ignited a fire. The fire leaped the distance to my house 6-8 ft. Completely destroyed both 5th wheel and home. ALFA insured both units, what a nightmare. Alfa sent a large loss adjuster from Georgia. The adjuster was not experienced, had no knowledge of dwelling construction, only ALFA estimating program. Estimated total loss at 50k.

I have to admit, it was difficult to listen to such an inexperience person. My policy that I was paying for 15 years was for 175k. Alfa had now stretched me out for four months with nothing but investigators and tarps to cover damage. I still am paying a house note, trailer note, finding a place to stay, purchasing new everything, clothes, etc. Alfa meanwhile are still dragging their feet offering their version of "Cash Value". This is a number that only ALFA can determine. I didn't have a copy of my for policy,(Lost in Fire). The adjuster had a copy, he told me he could not give me a copy, but if I asked a question he would try to answer it. I wrote several e-mails and made several phone calls.

Eventually Alfa decided to start moving forward. I recommended getting a quote to rebuild. They agreed. I organized a contracts from Angie's list. His estimate was 205k. The inexperienced Alfa adjuster, said that the estimate was way off, extremely high. I asked them to use one of their contractors, they agreed. He came out and estimate 195k, minus the security system I had, minus the hardwood flooring we installed, minus the metal roof. The security system is what was on when the fire took place. I actually had video of the fire starting and pinpointed the location, which Alfa is currently using to pursue payment from Open Range.

Eventually ALFA paid the policy house value. However after depreciation on content, we could not replace a lot of the items. Te term replacement does not mean the item will be replaced, it will be adjusted and paid at a discounted rate. I believe we received roughly 40% of the value of our content. We are still going to depositions, and arbitration almost three years later. I would not wish a fire on anyone, but if it does happen, ALFA insurance company is definitely not going to be a shoulder to lean on. If anything, they will be the ones trying to knock the chair out from under you while you figure out how to house, cloth,and feed your family. I have learned a lot.

The local agents are nice, but when it comes to a claim, they send in outsiders to delay for a settlement. Do not count on ALFA insurance company for help. The outsiders they send have no sympathy for someone in this game. These people are out to reduce claims, however they can. Delay, not return calls, underestimate cost, non-cooperative, hold back information. I can't speak for all insurance companies, but I can sure speak about the one that tripped me up a couple of times. I will be changing insurance companies, but have to wait three years as I have a fire claim, even though no fault of my own. I am the one that sees higher premiums and inability to switch companies with this claim hanging over me.

Last thing, our neighbor who called 911 when she saw the fire, was badgered by the ALFA investigator. She said she wouldn't call 911 again if she saw another house on fire. Wow! Alfa not only treated us like a criminal, they were rude to the neighbors. My daughter was in the house at the time of the fire, my wife was notified and called my son to get my daughter out. I was working out of town and was called about 15 minutes after the fire being discovered. You just can't make this stuff up.

My first beef with Alfa came several years ago when our local agent talked my husband into changing the coverage on our home. She came out, made some suggestions, and told my husband we would be saving money, if we tweaked our policy a bit. Well that was a flat out lie! Instead of saving money, our premiums increased. My husband and I were both very upset, but we had been with the company so long, we just let it slide. Then a few years ago when our area was devastated by tornadoes, we heard rumors that Alfa was not wanting to honor their commitment to pay out, in many of the cases. We heard they cancelled a lot of people during that time. That did not sit very well with us.

Fast forward to January of this year when we were very surprised to receive a letter of cancellation from them. It gave no specific reason other than we no longer met their criteria. My husband heard they were no longer wanting to cover homes over 10yrs old, and since we were in one of the tornado-stricken areas (even though our home wasn't damaged), we just assumed that must be the reason.

They mailed a refund check minus the dues we had just recently paid! We ended up having to scramble to find insurance before the cancellation notice took effect. We did so and ended up going with another company, who offered the same coverage for half the price that Alfa was charging. We also changed our vehicles over to another company. After switching, we received a bill from Alfa for around $15. The statement was very generic and did not specifically state what the $15 was for. My husband went in person to the local office and was told it was a late fee for one of the vehicles. He told the representative he was not paying, as we had cancelled our vehicles and no longer had house or car insurance with them.

She agreed to write off the amount. While she was doing so, she looked in their system and told my husband the real reason we had received the cancellation notice was because of our dogs! We own, train and show American Bulldogs. The representative told my husband they no longer provide coverage to homeowners of bully breeds or Rottweilers. My husband told the representative it had never been a problem before. When we signed up with them years ago, the agent was fully aware of the dogs. He stated we have owned these dogs long before we started service with them, and have owned them the whole time. She said it was their policy since 2006.

The kicker is that we insured our 16 ft dog trailer, which we take with us to the shows. It has the name of our kennel and website plastered all over it. The trailer was inspected by an Alfa agent AFTER 2006 and nothing was ever said about it. If they don't want to provide coverage for potential dog bites, why not just state that in the policy and exclude it, instead of unfairly targeting specific breeds.

It appears that Alfa was just looking for any excuse to cancel us, even though we always paid our dues on time, and was a loyal customer for all those years. We also found out that several of our neighbors also received cancellation notices about the same time, which makes me suspicious. I really believe it has more to do with no longer wanting to provide for storm coverage in our area, even though they used the dogs as the reason for our personal cancellation. At any rate, we're now saving money with another company, so thank you and good riddance Alfa!

They have my personal property at almost $60K. There is NO way I have 60k worth of stuff, including clothing in this house! I never made a lot of money before I retired, so it's not like I shopped high dollar stores. I did go in to discuss all of this with my agent, and they offered to raise my deductible to $5K, to lower it about $100 a year. She told me if I didn't have to have the "wind coverage" on my policy due to mortgage, my total would be less than $400 a year (what it was 6 years ago). I could have gone the rest of my life without hearing that! I see why so many elderly drop their insurance now. I just want to know how in the world they get their values from on their computers. Are they going by rebuilding in CA or NY? How are all of these insurance companies getting away with this? I've called, many are not even writing policies in this area anymore. Can't someone put a freeze on homeowners insurance rates? I'm quite sure after writing this, I'll get canceled next year.

They sent an adjuster out and did their own tests. They determined that the levels were not high enough to make anyone sick, but they said the house needed repairs. It was unoccupied so it did not meet their standards, and that’s why they were terminating my policy. They sent the termination to my ex-wife, an address that I have never lived in, not to mention the fact that the local insurance representative never called me to discuss fixing the things that needed to be fixed so they could insure the house again. When I called him after my ex-wife called me with the letter, he just read to me what my ex-wife had already told me. I got the feeling they did not want my business.

Well, the house is fixed and mold free; and I am moving back into it. But I can assure you that I will never let Alfa Insurance insure anything of mine again. I called the corporate office, and they did not seem to care. The regional manager was supposed to call me but never did. That is the kind of customer service you can expect from Alfa. You have been warned.

Well, this got me. I would have thought something as important as your homeowner's insurance policy being cancelled would have warranted a personal telephone call. But boy, was I wrong! It's the beginning of December and apparently I have been without insurance since the beginning of October! Of course, I could have killed my husband for not reading his mail but I'm definitely madder at Alfa for their shoddy practices.

Then the other day, I got this nice little form letter from Alfa informing me that at the end of my policy term this year that they will not be renewing my policy. Evidently, some actuary has decided that they have gotten the maximum amount of money from me without having to pay anything and they are going to bail before they have to. I understand that Alabama and the Gulf states have had some severe storm damage over the last several years and most of the insurance companies have taken a beating in claims. If you go back and look at just about every storm and the damage it caused, there is a pattern. I live outside of the areas generally damaged by the local storms. Charge the people that live in the high risk areas higher rates, not the people who live in the stable areas, is very, very bad business. I would caution anyone who is looking for any kind of insurance to look somewhere else before choosing Alfa.

On March 14, 2012, he stated that ALFA wouldn’t remove the 2010 claim from my record. That he has requested this with his supervisor and it appears they are refusing to lower my deductible. Allyn suggested I go to another insurance agency with a lower rate. Due to my claim less than 3 years ago, I have been paying higher premiums. I wouldn’t have filed the claim in 2010 if they didn’t pay the previous claim in 2008 or 2009. They set the standard when they paid the previous claim and led me to believe they would pay the claim in 2010 for the same similar problem (different area of the house). If they made a mistake with the 2008/2009 claim, they shouldn’t increase my deductible and premiums due to their mistake.

I recently had an incident, which caused damage to a neighbor's property. Alfa sent their agent and fixed their property. Alfa then raised my premium on the first property (not part of claim) by 30%. Immediately after it renewed, they then sent me a non-renewal/termination notice on the property that did have a claim filed on it.

I have filed complaints with the MS Insurance Commissioner and will file everywhere else I can. I am a disabled combat veteran and feel that the actions of Alfa are both illegal and in violation of MS and Federal laws. Also, I have perfect credit, do not have a bankruptcy, and have never had any legal or financial actions against me. The home is in great condition, better than when they insured it. Even though we live on the Gulf Coast, there has not been a weather- / hurricane-related claim filed.

They also said that this decision was not a reflection on the quality of my home or claim history. I have had this policy since 2004 and have had no claims at all. I have never missed or been late paying. I have excellent credit. I feel that if this company can drop policies for no reason other than the weather. They shouldn't be able to sell any insurance in this universe, as the weather in our known galaxy is unpredictable and dangerous. They shouldn't be able to advertise saying that they are either trustworthy or dependable. They should be forced to close the doors of that company and be held responsible for the financial and emotional pain that they have caused over 60,000 people. I think a class action law suit would be in order, not only to pay for the damage they have already caused, but to alert the public not to do business with undependable bloodsuckers like them.

The results of this problem are:

5. Inability to find a compatible coverage for the fixed price I have paid all these years.

I don't see how they can do this to their most loyal customers. We also just switched our auto insurance to them because of rumors of being cancelled on if you didn't have both auto and homeowners insurance with them. I expressed to them why we were switching our auto to them and we were not informed that our homeowners would be cancelled anyway!

Very disappointed with Alfa! Not only will we be looking for homeowners insurance but auto insurance as well. I think that Alfa will be losing more policies than they want to lose!

In May 2010, my home was burglarized and over $5,000 was stolen from my home. When I called to report the claim, I was informed by the adjuster that my policy did not cover theft. When I called the district manager, Mr. Buddy ***, he called my agent to check on the situation. He called me back later and informed me that the reason I was given the construction policy was because I did not have rails on my back steps. I informed him that I was never told about rail on my back steps. Also, I explained to him that I never had rail on the back steps and I had insurance with ALFA for over 12 years.

Several weeks have gone by since the incident and yes, I have spoken with the agent who gave me a policy that only covered fire if started by the act of "God" and wind damage which we all know is an act of "God." While the agent apologized about the situation, this does not replace the items that I lost or repair the damage done to my home. I put my trust in a company and an agent and they both failed me. I have filed a complaint with the company. They claim they are investigating the incident. However, no agent or member of the company have asked me for a list of items damaged or stolen. This tells me that they are only playing a game with me. I need help on how to obtain legal help or whether I have a case against the insurance company.

I am in process of trying to get social security disability. In January 2008 when I knew our financial status would change I called one of our credit card companies (CitiBank) to see if a plan could be made, but they informed me we must be in default for 2 months first. I tried to make whatever payments I could but their CSRs advised me to stop doing this. In the meantime they raised APR to 30% and added fee after fee. This resulted in us not being able to make the eventually over $2000.00 payment to bring account current. It was finally settled at about 60+ cents on the dollar by my husband taking a loan on his 4O1K for 5 years.

Our next creditor (also credit card) Bank of America I made an electronic payment on the due date but unfortunately it was a few hours past time and it was posted 3 days later. This caused our payment to go from a doable $160.00 per month to $300.00 per month payment due to increase in APR. I called and advised them of our situation and asked for them to return APR to something lower. They refused, and I advised them there was absolutely no money with which to pay this bill. In order to pay our house note we opted to default on the credit card bill.

Our credit score is probably in the ******. But this tactic-pay house note no matter what-has bit us in the butt as Alfa dropped our coverage (we still have not received a notice from them.). And, of course, now to try to get coverage will probably be impossible due to fact credit score is bad, but what they would charge us we would not be able to pay. I tried to work once again but am unable to and will probably take 1-2 years (beleive this is Alabama norm). We use rabbit ears on old TVs, I skip some of my medicines or half the dose as we cannot afford these, when this $10.00 per month internet special ends we will be without internet. I cut my own hair and my family's. I have asthma so we cannot be without air conditioning in summer. My husband and I drive 6 year old vehicles. We have items on craigs list. I am lost as to what more we can do.

On or around June 2005, we filed a second claim for damage to our cedar shake shingle roof, the direct result of Hurican, roof damage was realized when we noticed water coming in our childs bedroom, thus damage to roof and bedroom. Alfa told us to clean it up, dry it up and call a contractor for quote, which we did. In fact we provided two. Alfa sent out thier adjuster who, after depreciating the roof by a certain percentage which I can't recall, issued parcial payment, with balance after roof and other repairs were completed. The amount however, did not cover that which was required as down payment to replace cedar shake with cedar shake so we had to replace with asphalt shingle.

Of course value of asphalt is much less than cedar shake, but no problem we happened to prefer the look of asphalt.
Sometime later we receive notice Alfa was canceling or declining to renew our coverage.

The cost of coverage ran around 800.00 dollars yearly. 120 % replacement, content, the works.

We later learn that Alfa has reported the property had 4 or more claims in three year period due to water damage.

The fact Alfa had written the claims seperately, ie, 1 for bathroom floor, 1 for connecting room. 1 for roof and 1 for childs bedroom.

Of course finding another provider willing to write the property is impossible. Thus, our mortgage provider WaMu takes out coverage on the property. The costs is more than 3000.00 per year and for much less coverage.
AQlfa has turned a deaf ear to our plea for assistance in correcting their error.

We also had life and automobile insurance with Alfa.

Where do I begin,

Economic hardship from increase cost for coverage, inability to obtain comparable coverage due to Alfa's wrongful reporting of water damage. Increased mortgage payments, causing us to seek relief through bankrupcy. Mental anguish. Inability to sale property, as any potential buyer could not obtain coverage at a reasonable rate. Thereby, devaluing our 265,000.00 dollar home to nothing.

On top of that, I husband passed away in 06 and now they tell me that I do not have life insurance on him. Funny all the other policies on the family was still good.

ALFA is recommending that I go with Alabama Insurance underwriters association. Otherwise known as the alabama Beach Pool. I'm not even on the beach or in the class that can afford a beach house. I notified the Govenor, congressman, and Al. Dept. of Insurance with no relief.

My homeowners insurance has gone fom $350.00 in 1999 to $3000.00 in 2007 if I elect to renew with Alfa. In 2005 my insurance was $790.00 last year it jumped to $1360.00 and now its going up? Unfortunatly my insurance comes out of my escrow account which in return makes my house payment go up.

I also have life insurance with Alfa and they told me to pay on the policy for 10 years and it would take care of us the rest of our lives. My husband passed away this year and when I called Alfa they told me that I did not have life insurance on my husband. However the other 3 policies that I had taken out at the same time was still good. When I called the agent after I had paid on the policies for 10years he assured me that the policies would take care of us the rest of our lives. Now Alfa is claiming that the policy ran out in 2004(same year as our homeowners claim).