LETTER: Insurance company won't pay and we're stuck

Editor:

We all suffered a catastrophic event on 9/28/2022. We are now suffering another catastrophic event, dealing with our homeowners' insurance company.

I tried to handle this on my own, shopping for contractors which, as we all know, was a challenge, forwarding estimates to the insurance company and assuming payment would be made. Silly me! Insurance companies blame the rising premiums on legal costs yet if they worked with you to get you back to pre-hurricane, it wouldn't be necessary.

They gave us $500 for a $2,500 repair. The adjuster advised us that's all you get. When I asked the basis of her decision and details of her investigation, no reply. We stayed home during Ian's visit, listening to objects hit our house as well as a tree, placing towels down when water came flowing in from the missing soffits.

My 76-year-old husband disassembling the pool enclosure that landed in our pool, all in an effort to avoid additional damage, was not nearly as bad as the aftermath of dealing with the homeowners' insurance company. We signed a contract for insurance and we did our part, we paid the premiums, which have greatly increased.

We can save money if we give up our right to sue. Definitely not after all this. Now we wait for the insurance company to step up and do their part, to help bring back our home to pre-hurricane status. We are not holding our breaths. Unfortunately, we are not in this boat alone.

Mary-Jo Dembecki

Punta Gorda