In November of 2007, Vancouver was hit with a fierce windstorm whereby thousands of homes were without power for days. Debris from trees and buildings were littering the streets and Stanley Park, a landmark in the city, sustained considerable damage to many areas within the park, including old growth trees and the sea wall.

As I lay in bed that morning I heard the wind hitting the house, I thought it would pass as it had done before but it did not. I then heard the sound of something breaking and a thunderous crash, I knew one of our 100 foot trees is down. I looked out the side window of the bedroom and saw branches extending and a tree resting on our neighbours solarium, or should I say the solarium and his gazebo were in pieces under the tree. I quickly ran downstairs to find that the tree had come from another neighbours yard, crashed through our fence, storage garage, along our deck, and its branches covered my car.

Had it have fallen a little further to the left it would have been in the room I was sleeping. To this day I’m thankful for the resting place it found itself in. However, the damage was done and more was still going on. While the fire crews assessed our safety the top of another tree fell in the front yard, hit the front gutter and the utility lines running to the house. A lovely, huge birds nest laid on the front lawn, some bird would eventually come back to find his/her home gone. I’m sure they rebuilt in the Spring.

The call was made to the insurance company, they responded quite well and over time the mess was cleaned up, and the necessary damage to our home was repaired. Just after that was complete, a second mishap occurred in which our water cooler for bottled water broke and unbeknownst to us leaked a full bottle of water underneath the laminate floor. Now in clear communication with our insurance company we were informed that this too can be covered and we will most likely just see an increase in our premium next year. Fair enough, I asked if we would be penalized and the answer seemed appropriate, we would have to pay a little extra upon renewal.

2008 we paid our house insurance like the good customers we have always been, but in 2009 we are now deemed too much of a risk, due to the “severity and frequency of the claims.” We received a letter stating that we were being let go from our BCAA Insurance company.

Here is my problem with this:

* After owning four homes I have never once needed to use any insurance company, but sure paid a lot over the years for the peace of mind.

* The lower mainland was hit with the worst storm and by no fault of our own we were placed in a position to have to use what we pay for, our insurance, to cover damage.

* We were never told by their representatives that by using insurance in the way we did that we may lose the ability to be covered in the future. Therefore, due to the lack of information we could not make an informed decision as to what our course of action should be.

* It does not make mention that you could be summarily dismissed in the contract and no agent by phone or in person makes that known either. This is clearly misrepresentation and poor service.

* The letter is in no way representing good customer service either, especially as we are customers that use multiple services of BCAA and deserve better.

Why am I sharing all of this with you? Well, apparently this is what can happen no matter what insurance company you use. It isn’t talked about, you won’t see it in the contract, but it is there. A little message that goes like this:

“If you use our service but haven’t had enough time to put an extensive contribution into the kitty, or you found yourself in a situation(s) that is “severe” enough to use us. We are going to say, good-bye…but thanks for contributing, it went to a good cause, our corporation.”

So, Home Owners Beware! You may find yourself as we did, penalized for actually using what you pay for. Don’t expect insurance to cover you if you really need it without some sort of backlash!

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