'Journey to hell'

In September, Rodney White's house in Kilbride burned down. After it happened, naturally, he called the insurance company.

That's when, White said, his "journey to hell" started.

He said he had to threaten the insurance company with legal action to get the living allowance guaranteed in his policy.

Later, when White tried to challenge the replacement cost quoted by the company's contractor, he said they threatened to cut off the living allowance.

"Basically they've come back and said that this is our offer, take it or leave it, and if you dispute it, we will cut off all living allowances," he said. "Apparently what they're doing, it's very borderline, but it is legal."

Anthony Insurance declined to comment on this story, saying that White has retained a lawyer, and it won't comment on matters that could go to court.

Last week, White took the insurance company's offer, saying he had no choice.

The sticky part of his case was the house was under renovation when the fire levelled it.

"The value on the policy doesn't come into effect here because they said the home was under renovation, and it's not like a complete home, as if you were living in your complete home," White said. "Where it was under renovation, they're only valuing it at the point at which the fire happened, the point at which the structure was at in the renovation."

When the insurance company sent a contractor to assess the situation, he gave a quote of $68,000 for replacement, which White said is laughable.

"They quoted on putting back a concrete foundation, you know, that's 140 running feet, for $5,500," he said. "You can't even buy the concrete for that, you can't even rent the forms for that. So I got another quote just from a concrete supplier who does concrete foundations, and they came in at $10,000."

When he got a second opinion for the full replacement cost, it was more than $100,000.

White said the whole episode left him frustrated and disappointed. Also, he said when his home does get rebuilt, he'll be going with a different insurance company.

jmcleod@thetelegram.com