Having trouble collecting on a claim with DEPP?

[Chuck Tribolet 0]

My girlfriend has a claim with DEPP after a flood. They are

completely unresponsive to phone calls and e-mails over a period

of two and a half months.

 

Anybody else having trouble?

 

 

Chuck

[JimSwims 31]

Hi Chuck,

take a look at the Official Insurance Thread, plenty of similar stories there.

 

Cheers,

Jim.

[AllisonFinch 7]

Good luck getting satisfaction from them. I had insurance with them but, luckily, never needed to file a claim. My sister did, however. It was a total nightmare where they nickel and dimed her to death. On a couple of items, they accepted premium payments on items they said they never cover. I pulled my policy immediately. I just had a small claim with H2O from DAN and, except for the large deductable, they sent a check without a problem.

 

GOOD LUCK!

[Kilili 0]

Typical of them, though in the end, after many calls and emails, they paid submitted claims. I don't like their recent policy changes, and have switched to DAN, though filed no claims yet with them.

[Steve Douglas 16]

I had to file a large claim with Dan due to a theft only a few months ago. They were very courteous and handled things as expediently as possible. I was very pleased.

 

Many years ago I was in Tahiti where I had my first flood of an old Sony 2000 SD cam. I was with Depp then and they took forever to settle things. Plus I was ready to move on from the 2000 but they insisted they would send me the same cam or no go. Left them right after and have been with DAN ever since.

Steve

[errbrr 68]

I have just swapped to another insurer after hearing all of these stories. What's the point in having insurance if I would be without a camera for six months or more after a flood? An Australian pro photo insurer has decided to add accidental flood damage to their policy, and their rates are comparable to the DEPP ones.

[Gudge 35]

An Australian pro photo insurer has decided to add accidental flood damage to their policy, and their rates are comparable to the DEPP ones.

Who would that be? My DEPP policy is up for renewal soon and i'm looking for an alternative.

[Ryan 48]

Also interested in knowing the options available in Australia...

[Drew 0]

I use my annual International Travel Insurance as gear coverage. It's already something I buy and there's a deductible of $200 per item up to $30k. I'm pretty sure Travel Guard and other travel insurance coverage have plans for the frequent traveller. It covers medical and medievac as well. I keep DAN to get choice of medical facilities. DAN for instance will put you in the closest chamber. My plan puts me where I want to go... big difference do the chamber in say Khartoum vs Cairo if I get hit in Sudan.

[scubamarli 5]

Having had a claim with Travel Guard, I would be wary. Although mine was a one trip coverage, and the coverage was for $2000 worth of baggage, when I claimed they stated that this was "supplemental insurance" and that anything over the deductible on my Homeowners policy would have to be claimed through my homeowner's policy. Luckily, I managed to repair my BCD for $80, and so I was o.k. RBC coverage does the same thing. Who wants to mess up their home insurance with a claim of several hundred dollars? Who is your policy with, Drew?

 

Cheers,

Marli

[errbrr 68]

Who would that be? My DEPP policy is up for renewal soon and i'm looking for an alternative.

I spent a day getting in contact with a whole bunch of people, and sent a quote request to these guys: http://photoinsurance.com.au/ Jacqui rang me the next morning to discuss what I wanted, and said they'd had a lot of requests from underwater photographers. She then went back to the underwriter to discuss and got back to me within a week. Their standard cover is only for floods caused by a damaged housing (smashed against a rock etc), but they have added a special condition to my policy to include accidental flooding for unknown reasons. Premium remains the same, excess is $750 instead of $250 if I can't work out why the flood happened. Jacqui said they will be incorporating this in the policy as standard shortly, but you may still have to ask.

 

I was really impressed with the speed of response from these guys. They insure photo pros and therefore say that they repair damaged equipment rapidly and/or pay for hire equipment in the meantime. Of course, I haven't had to claim as yet...but I feel a lot more secure than I do with DEPP.

[Drew 0]

Marli

If you state that your equipment are revenue earning, they would not be covered under the homeowner's policy. All you need is your home owner's company to say so, and they'll gladly say that in writing. However, apparently Travel Guard aggregates everything under a lump sum, so you won't be claiming much past $500. So I'll pull back my recommendation for Travel Guard for equipment insurance.

 

As ErrBrr suggested, professional insurance such as PPA and NAPP is also an option, so long as you add a rider to cover underwater stuff.

[Gudge 35]

I received this email from DEPP last night. Looks like they are trying to do something about the speed of their response to enquiries, claims, etc.

We continually try to improve the customer service experience with D.E.P.P. As a part of these improvements, we are consolidating all operations and administration for the D.E.P.P. Program into our headquarters in Louisville, KY., effective immediately. Our office in Palm Desert, CA will be closed November 1, 2011.

 

This consolidation will eliminate the confusion over which office handles which aspect of D.E.P.P. administration and should help facilitate the claim administration and payment. The telephone number for the Louisville operation is (502) 565-4357. This is an automated system, however with consolidated operations, the response and reconciliation time should be drastically improved. Please direct all inquiries and communications to our Louisville, KY headquarters, 1450 Gardner Lane, Box 13, Louisville, KY 40213-1974. If you pay by check please use this address for premium payment. Our fax number will remain the same 775-640-6449

 

Sandy Hall or Bryan Goad will continue to responding to e-mails and returning your calls.

 

We thank you and we appreciate your business. We believe the centralizing of all D.E.P.P. operations is an important step in improving our customer service.

 

When send e-mail to use, please use one of the following keywords on the subject line.

 

CLAIM DEPP QUESTION EQUIPMENT UPDATE

 

Since we have many customers outside the US, we are unable to block many e-mails. We receive over 2500 spam e-mails a day and may possibly miss your correspondence without the keyword listed on the subject line.

 

Sincerely;

 

Your D.E.P.P. Staff

Edited November 7, 2011 by Gudge

[S1mon 2]

As a nice postscript to this thread I received the following email from a guy at the Fraud Division of the Kentucky Insurance Commsioners office, its dated 8th June 2013:

 

"As of today I filed criminal charges against Deane & Dixie Lehrmitt. I know they have attempted to settle your claims. I need to know from each of you what is still owed to you so that I can petition the court for restitution on your behalf. I have been in contact with their attorney and he has advised me he will act as a 3rd party administrator to help settle the claims. The Lehrmitts are no longer allowed to work on your claims. I would appreciate any future correspondence that you may have Lehrmitts, that you don’t mention the criminal prosecution."

 

This is as a direct result of compaints made by myself, Glamorpuss and one other. We are very happy with the result, and will be even happier when we receive final full payment of our claims.

 

If anyone is any dount:

 

DO NOT GIVE ANY MONEY TO DEPP, THEY WILL RIP YOU OFF!

 

With kind regards and big smiles

Simon

 

:dancing:

[Schott 1]

One of the problems they may have is if they cannot prove they actually had coverage for the premiums collected. As I read so many of these posts and stories of deceit, I would be surprised if there was an actual underwriter to stand behind the claims, perhaps what claims were being paid was from the renewals of the uninformed collectively. Good luck with insurance in the future as there just isn't a lot of choices out there that is cost effective.

[glamourpuss 3]

I have just been informed by the Kentucky Department of Insurance that the Lehrmitts both plead guilty to I count each of insurance fraud. They were placed on probation for 2 years and ordered to pay a fine to the Kentucky Department of Insurance and settle all claims through their attorney.

[scubamarli 5]

Well, it is long overdue. I am so fortunate as to not have had a claim in the many years that I used these losers. I hope that they are made to pay up.

 

Cheers,

Marli

[saudio 6]

I have just been informed by the Kentucky Department of Insurance that the Lehrmitts both plead guilty to I count each of insurance fraud. They were placed on probation for 2 years and ordered to pay a fine to the Kentucky Department of Insurance and settle all claims through their attorney.

 

I'll bet their wrists are stinging right about now.

Edited July 26, 2013 by saudio