Aviva Home Insurance Reviews

Giving this company a 1 star rating (minimum required) is over rating Aviva Insurance. MINUS 5 would be more appropriate for the bad experience we had with this company.

The short story:

We had a roof issue this summer that caused a leak in the house and subsequent damage to our ceiling. After contacting Aviva, their own roofer (biased?) gave a repair cost to the six year old roof of $2,000.00 and blamed the failure of the roof to workmanship by the initial roofer, that said, Aviva denied our claim totally, even the ceiling repair. For the $2,000.00 Aviva’s roofer assured us it was an easy repair. After three attempts to repair this “easy repair”, the roof was still leaking (workmanship?). On the fourth attempt the roofer did an overkill repair which drove the bill to $6,200.00 of which Aviva denied all and of course the repair to the ceiling of $800.00 (we called in an independent contractor for this as Aviva’s contractor wanted over $2,000.00). Now we’re out approximately $7,000.00. After escalating this to Aviva’s CEO, his Assistant Vice President contacted us, but didn’t seem all that anxious to help either, trivializing it all by suggesting to us that it’s ONLY $7,000.00…EXCUSE ME???...if it’s ONLY $7,000.00 why does Aviva refuse to pay any part or all of it?

Needless to say we cancelled our policy and found another company that knows the meaning of customer care.

If you’re still going with this company, may you have better luck.

P.S. While waiting for the roofer to find a time to do the repair, we asked him to put up a temporary tarp. Another $350.00 and the tarp leaked as well (workmanship?).

Had a leak into condos below. [ AVIVA ]They would not even come and look, said the condos insurance should pay. Condos ins was aviva also, still fighting with them a year later . Had to get lawyer , lots of fun. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY . This is not just them our goverment is to blame also , they do nothing to protect us from these insurance companies.

6 Months ago I had a small flood (just under the hardwood in the basement, no water visible). I contacted the insurance company and they said they will send someone ASAP - and I chose their trusted contractor (My contractor said 2-3 weeks TOPS to repair/remove the hardwood/paint). 6 MONTHS LATER - I am still waiting for them to finish. The adjuster is horrible and did not reply for weeks at a time, I called them numerous times and went straight to voicemail. Kristen was most horrible adjuster I have ever spoken to. I even tried to contact another adjuster just to be met with voicemail and no response. I even escalated 3 TIMES over the phone to talk to a manager - NO ONE RESPONDED TO MY REQUESTS. Now I am sitting here just waiting, looking at my unfinished basement after 6 months of the claim going through... THANKS, AVIVA!

My townhouse got water damage due to a leak in the outer wall, aviva refused to pay just to fix the floor, our condo mgmt company took responsibility for the rest of the damage. I should note, our neighbour had the same issue, he had no problem with his insurance company. It was a struggle even to get someone out to look at the problem (several weeks and many phone calls and emails). Even the contractor and broker are baffled that they refuse to pay. It's been a frustrating experience overall, I feel like there is no recourse to challenge them at all. I wish I had never signed on with them.

Was involved in the flood in July in Chestermere with following hail damage to my roof and both cars. Have been paying premiums for 16 years and no claims, they have cancelled me for renewal for too many claims in one year and done so while the flood claim is still open so no other company will insure me based on not knowing the damage my house sustained...... I had just renewed my policy and made sure there was adequate insurance which im told is not always in your best interest to claim if needed because their best interest is to not renew you if you do....... SCAM ARTISTS AND LEGALLY!!!!!!!!

Here's a good one. Despite my multiple inquiries with the company as to how this happened, all I've received from Aviva is that "nobody has ever experienced this before."

The following is the quintessential example of problems with companies like Aviva cutting costs wherever they can and contracting everything out.

I've had an Aviva home insurance policy in place for two years now, and have never made a claim with them. My premiums have been faithfully paid and there hasn't been any issues. That is, of course, until last weekend when I received an e-mail from Aviva asking me to do a "satisfaction survey" based on a recent claim I had made with them.

I judged this e-mail as suspicious, so I called their 24-hour claims line to obtain some information. First off, their after-hours claims folks are notoriously useless and are really unable to do anything except take details and file a new claim. They were, however, able to look at my file, and subsequently notified me that it looked as though I had made a claim relating to a basement flood I had in September 2015.

Now here's where everything gets very interesting. You see, I never made such a claim. After conveying this to the after-hours rep., she made a note and promised someone would follow up with me via phone during the next business day.

Well, nobody called. As luck would have it, I had been outside doing some yard work, and noticed that my neighbour was busy moving his washer/dryer into his garage. I asked what was going on, and he told me that after dealing with his insurance company (a different company than mine which I will not name, but will say the name of it corresponds to a common last name or a nickname for a male body part) for a month, they were finally able TO START FIXING THE FLOOD THAT HAPPENED IN THEIR BASEMENT.

Putting two and two together, I spent the next several business days trying to get in touch with someone from Aviva that could actually help me - which was a less than easy task.

In short, what ended up happening was that somehow my neighbour's home insurance claim was processed, closed and paid out UNDER MY POLICY, despite the two policies being issued by two separate and unrelated companies, associated with two different addresses and with different names on the policy.

Once Aviva management and my broker found out about this, they sprung into full-on panic mode realizing the extent of the mistake that had been made. The cheque which had been issued was cancelled immediately, and after relentlessly trying to prove my story true with this giant behemoth of a company and the associated bureaucratic inefficiencies, I've been informed that the claim was removed from my account and no longer exists.

So, I suspect you still may have one big question, somewhere along the lines of "How could this happen if the two respective policies were held by two separate and unrelated companies which would not have access to each others records?" Well you see, it turns out that in my neck of the woods, these two large insurance companies subcontract a company called "Claims Pro" to do their adjusting. Of course Aviva can't be bothered to have its own representatives in a major Canadian city with over one million residents. That just wouldn't be cost efficient. The Claims Pro adjuster would have had access to the records of each company and for whatever reason, whether it be sheer laziness or plain stupidity, opened a claim for a different property under my home insurance.

Another point to consider is that I would never had become aware of this issue had I not randomly received that customer satisfaction e-mail. Renewal would have come along, with the increased rates associated with a claim, and who knows whether or not I would ever have realized what happened. Add all this to the unauthorized disclosure of personal information and you've got quite a problem, resulting in my well-deserved one star rating.

YES BE WARNED FOR MANY REASONS. THEY PUT YOU THROUGH HELL FOR 20 MINUTES OF INTIMIDATION, BEFORE EVEN YOU ARE STARTING THE LINE OF COMMUNICATION... CLEARLY ALL TO COVER THEMSELVES. THEN... A COMPREHENSIVE HOME INSURANCE. It says, you are covered for water damage, roof etc... one can imagine that the roof will be covered... but cleverly, the explanation is that... based on weather condition and wind/storm at a speed of 55m/h+ that you could be covered for any damages caused to your roof... // WHAT?????.. How could this be?? Surely if you get an insurance and after 6 months, you get unlucky that something goes wrong with your roof, don't even think about to go to them for any assistance. Even in my case when I am with them more than 5 years, one can think that within 5 years... there may have been very bad weather that my roof wouldn't have been affected so to speak, and then a heavy rain caused the same damage than a storm of 55 miles... that could even damage a brand new roof... it just doesn't add up what they say... unless they say, come and insure your house, only and if you have a brand new roof... they say you are covered for accidental damage... then when you have a burst pipe under a bath, they say, you need to repair the burst pipe and we only cover you for make good... I have a 3-storey terrace house. I can't go to the roof to figure out how the leak has been caused, and their response is that for the last 3 months we didn't have any kind of hurricane type of wind of 55m/h... therefore I am not covered... TO TOP IT ALL... they further intimidate that should you make a claim, even if your claim is unsuccessful, you will be put on the list of those who made the claim and therefore should you decide to change your insurance company, you must report that YOU HAVE MADE A CLAIM, EVEN IF YOUR CLAIM GOT DECLINED with the bogus reasons good enough for AVIVA themselves. Therefore, either way, your insurance premium will get affected with a higher insurance cost. Basically, intimidation all along... to ensure that you fully understand... if you make a claim... even unsuccessful, you will be reported... all that to dissuade you to change your mind if you make a claim... your premium will go up... even if you didn't get validation to your claim during all these intimidations... no one is actually telling you honestly and openly WHAT YOU ARE ACTUALLY BEING INSURED FOR... UNLESS YOU READ A 20-PAGE INSURANCE DOCUMENT. Let us face it... most of us take an insurance because we want to be covered for the main issues... fire... water damage to the property...

We had a flood in our house and were treated badly, which caused us physical and emotional harm. No consideration was given to our needs.

Worst experience of my life was and still is dealing with Aviva. They made so many mistakes, disposed of all my hard contents without my consent and the original adjuster was fired. It's been one and a half years and my claim is still not settled. They did not take pictures of the contents that were removed from the house or at the warehouse. The soft contents were evaluated by a man who is not qualified to assess the damage of textiles. He strictly writes in his reports whatever Aviva tells him to and is extremely biased. The way Aviva conducts itself as a company and the staff employed should be sued and their incompetence dealt with by an entity with the financial power that they do. The little people get screwed, insulted, made to wait. The way they conduct themselves should be considered criminal by the proper channels!!! Extremely disappointed with Aviva and the HELL they have put me through as a single mother of 3. I lost my Job due to the emotional stress and trauma caused by the original adjuster whose main goal was to patronize and instigate conflict with me!

One disaster after another. A flood that clearly happened outside my unit and my insurance company not only does not support me, they make my life a living hell. Take well over 8 weeks to repair flooring that was sitting in my unit 2 weeks after the flood. The approval process is ridiculous. And the claims adjuster I had did not know the meaning of customer service. Worse yet, I put in a complaint to their head office and to the supervisor of the claims adjuster I had. 2 and a half months later I have not heard from either of them. Aviva doesn't even handle their own claims. They contracted me out to someone in Ontario. I live in BC. the 3 hour time difference made it impossible to get any real customer service out of him. He didn't even visit my home to see the damage.

The worst part about this, the flood not only effected my unit, but my neighbour's unit. As I was going through hell to try to get my claim approved, her adjuster approved her claim and her place was repaired and back to normal in 3 weeks. It did not cost her a penny, not even initially. I am out almost $8,000 as my adjuster would only pay 60% up front, then he said he would reimburse me the rest once he received proof of payment. I sent that along many moons ago... still have not been paid anything - who's ever even heard of someone having to pay out of pocket for an insurance claim anyway?

I would never ever in a million years recommend Aviva to anyone. Save yourself the hassle and go elsewhere.