.....Welcome to Commercial Union ( AVIVA CGNU Group ) Consumers' Forum. If you are insured by Commercial Union ( CGNU Group ) or any other company that may not honour it's policy and you are unfortunate enough to have a house fire or other disaster, your troubles may only be beginning. If you allow one of these companies and it's service companies to determine and carry out the repairs to your home you could be placing your family's safety and well being at jeopardy as well as placing yourself at risk of being the victim of fraud. The financial and psychological trauma of such treatment could equal the trauma of the disaster itself.
An example of Commercial Union's
CGNU Group's Guaranteed Replacement
21 months after being forced out of our home by a fire, we were forced to sell our home for $2.00 (Canadian).
Instead of restoring our home to it's prefire condition Commercial Union's ( CGNU Group ) contractors through cheap, shoddy workmanship wreaked even more damage than the damage cause by the fire. One
of the engineers' reports describes the work of The Alex Taylor General Contracting Co. Ltd., one of Commercial Union's ( CGNU Group ) stable of contractors as a
"potential hazard for life, health and fire."
Instead of honouring their contract CU ( CGNU Group ) left us to
deal with their contractors ourselves. They refused to renew the insurance on our home or to provide money for the additional living expenses that
resulted from the protracted delays caused by their contractors. Given the state in which our home was abandoned and the ongoing breakins and vandalism that resulted from our home being unoccupied for such along period of time no other insurance company was willing to give us insurance.
CU ( CGNU Group ) has been content to let our home continue to deteriorate to the point of collapse and to let the emotional and financial stress of this situation pressure us towards settlement on their terms. In order to mitigate this situation we have been forced to sell our home to a property developer for what we could get and relieve our selves of our uninsured liability and unreinbursted and unnecessary expenses.
Do you have or are you considering buying insurance from a company mentioned on this site?
.....Being badly treated by your insurance company following a disaster is like being hurt in an accident and instead of being stabalized and taken to the hospital you are assaulted and robbed by the paramedics.
Caveat Emptor (Let the buyer beware)
.....This site is intended to provide a forum for insurance policy holders to share their claims experiences with each other and the general public and particularly for anyone considering purchasing or recommending insurance from Commercial Union ( CGNU Group ) or other insurance companies. The site is also intended to be a resource for consumer information for the media, the insurance industry and insurance regulators world wide . A license to operate an insurance company in a particular juisdiction is not a warranty that you will be treated fairly or that your local insurance regulator will monitor and protect you from unfair treatment by rogue companies. Your insurance broker may be unaware of the business practices of a company whose policy they are recommending.
.....Some professionals within the insurance industry have asked that we not keep them informed of consumer experience with the insurance industry. (Willfull blindness? Would any one be interested in a list of these requests?) However the overwhelming response from the industry has been enthusiastically positive and supportive.
Do you have any information that can help others?
.....There are thousands of insurance companies operating around the world. Each consumer claim is a unique perspective on an individual company. If you are interested in fair and ethical treatment from the insurance industry take the time to help yourself and others by sharing your unique knowledge and posting your information directly to the internet in our Speakers' Corner.
Corporate Governance and Ethics
.....Everyone is entitled to fair and equal treatment by their insurance company, their adjusters and contractors. The purpose of buying insurance is to obtain the resources to make good the damage of a disaster not to suffer futher disasters as a resut of the business practices of your insurance company.
.....Sharing individual claims experience, whether good, bad or indifferent, will make it possible for each of us to make an informed judgment not just of Commercial Union's ( CGNU Group ) or other companies' promises but also corporate governance and ethics within the insurance industry in general. Many companies operate not just locally but world wide. The internet provides an ideal medium for consumers to exchange information about these international corporations.
A question for insurance agents and brokers
.....Is there a company mentioned on this site with which you have a professional relationship or whose insurance you recommend to clients? Are you aware and satisfied with their business practices?
A question for insurance companies
.....Is your company mentioned on this site? Is there a company mentioned on this site with which you have a professional relationship? Are you aware of and satisfied with business practices outlined here?
A question for insurance regulators
.....Is there a company mentioned on this site over which you have a jurisdiction? Are you aware of and satisfied with their business practices outlined here?
A question for the news media
.....Are you aware of the consumer claims experiences outlined here? Is this information which should be brought to the public's attention?
How will you and your family be treated?
.....Much of the claims experience of a family who find themselves on the street watching their home burn and facing the daunting task of rebuilding their lives, depends on how they are treated by their insurance company. The quality of insurance coverage that a family has depends not just on the wording of their insurance policy but also on the quality of the companies retained by the insurance company to carry out the numerous tasks of restoring a family's home.
The pursuit of profit at any cost
.....Our claims experience with Commercial Union ( CGNU Group ) has been that this company is prepared to go to the extreme of putting our family's safety and well being at risk by pursuing the cheapest possible repairs regardless of quality or standards.
.....The repairs to our home carried out by Commercial Union's ( CGNU Group ) service companies have left it in a state where there is a risk that it will collapse or catch fire. The structure is cracking and subsiding . The electrical repairs have been carried out without a permit or inspection and as mentioned above, have created what one engineer has described as a potential hazard for life, health and fire. Are you prepared to risk this happening to your family?
Support in time of need
.....In the midst of the anxiety and trauma created by these Service Companies our family was forced to deal with additional trauma. The protracted uncertainty and worry of our situation accelerated the decline in my wife's mother's health and in the midst of trying to establish a secure temporary home and care for a dying family member, we were deprived of our possessions that survived the fire.
..... We were forced to furnish an apartment without financial support from Commercial Union ( CGNU Group ) . We were unable to use our salvageable possessions because they had been seized by T G A and Son General Contracting, another of Commercial Union's ( CGNU Group ) stable of contractors, in order to be sold at public auction to pay for work which was not authorized by us, was shoddily done and in some cases not done .
Protect yourself and your family before disaster strikes
.....The likelihood of being struck by disaster is remote. However the time to find out if you have made the right choice for home insurance is not when you and your family are on the street and your home is in ruins. There is no good time to discover that you have purchased a bitter and costly illusion but a time of disaster is possibly the worst. You owe it to yourself and your family to become an informed consumer.
Judge for yourself
.....Who benefits if service companies are paid for shoddy and unsafe work or for work that is not performed? Why would an insurance company retain and pay companies like these in the face of consumer complaints? If you have or are considering purchasing insurance from Commercial Union ( CGNU Group ) or any other company it is in your interest to judge and answer these questions for yourself.
Site resources
.....The latest additions to this site can be found by following the "Recent Additions" link on the home page.
.....The consumer information page of this site contains information and perspectives about the insurance industry that are not widely known.
.....The claim experiences page of this site is intended to contain a listing of some claim experiences of insurance policy holders.
.....The companies page of this site contains a listing of some insurance companies and other companies which deal with insurance claims linked to claims experience or other information about the comapny. The listing includes agents, brokers, insurance company and public adjusters, insurance service companies as well as service companies who work for the general public, engineering firms, and everyone's favourite law firms .
.....The consumer surveys page of this site contains a survey of the insurance industry, insurance adjusters and brokers, insurance contractors and public adjusters. Please take a minute of your time to rate your insurance claims experience.
.....The links page of this site contains links to sites which may be of help to consumers, particularly insurance consumers.
Help others to make an informed decision and take advantage of the attention and interest of consumers, the media, the insurance industry and insurance regulators world wide. They are visiting this site to see what consumers have to say.
.....If you are interested in sharing your claims experience with others take the time to add your story concerning an insurance company, adjuster or contractor to our Speakers' Corner or Consumer Survey. In the past this individual experience has been unavailable with a few exceptions, other than as part of a statistic on consumer satisfaction. Become more than a statistic by sharing your experience with others.
.....If you have a large amount of information to pass on or you would like to discuss your situation first you can use the Contacting the Forum link of the Speakers' Corner to e-mail your questions or comments. Material can also be included on the claims experiences pages in this way.
.....The Speakers' Corner has space for the five most recent entries. Earlier entries can be accessed in the Speakers' Corner archive.
Do you have any suggestions?
.....The site is continuing to grow. Suggestions on additions to the site, as well as information which could be posted on this site are welcome. Please e-mail suggestions and information to Brefni Shuttleworth.
.....Thank you for taking the time to visit this site. Hopefully future visits will continue to be rewarding.