You put a brand new roof on your house just five years ago but now you're being told you have to replace it or lose your homeowners insurance. An area woman says that's what's happening and she doesn't understand why. So, she turned to Local 12 Troubleshooter Howard Ain for help.
Diane Johnson has lived in her Colerain home for years. Back during that huge windstorm of September 2008, the house sustained major damage. "The winds came through, literally lifted portions of our garage up on the hill as well as our house. It broke windows. The worst was getting the roof replaced."
She contacted her homeowners insurance company, Allstate, an adjuster came out and helped get her a new roof. "They pretty much told me what I had to do. Gave me the name of some contractors. I chose one of the contractors because I heard he was very good."
Johnson got a new roof with a 25 year warranty. Allstate paid for it, $11,100. Everything was fine until earlier this year when Allstate came to inspect and said they found problems. "I was told that it was my roof that was the problem. Unless I was willing to totally replace the roof they would not insure me in July."
She argued it was Allstate that paid for the new roof about 5 years ago. "They said well we didn't know what shingles you were putting on which I have an adjustment summary which tells exactly what was being done and what they were approving."
Johnson says another thing that's troubling is she doesn't know what's wrong with the roof. All she knows is what it said in the letter that this is a potentially dangerous situation. "I don't want them canceling me. I've never had a problem with them. I don't understand why this happened."
So Howard Ain contacted Johnson's Allstate agent and learned they were concerned about her rolled asphalt roof. I explained, she doesn't have such a roof on her house, only shingles. They checked again and found they inspected the wrong house. They had the right house number, but her house has the letter "A" after the number. As a result, Allstate canceled the cancellation of her homeowners insurance and apologized for the mistake.
Clearly, in a situation like this, it's always a good idea to ask to verify the address.
