Chubb: Insurance Quandary

[Smith1942]

Hi, I've got an insurance problem that I'm inspired to write about because Denverappraiser just mentioned my exact problem in another post.

I have homeowners and jewellery coverage with Chubb; just renewed both policies for the second year. I lost an earring in Florida back in March, and it hasn't turned up. They are huggies, 18k 0.40 ctw pave diamonds, H colour. I bought them about 14 years ago in the Isle of Man.

I took the remaining earring to E.B. Horn for a replacement cost estimate, and I need to send that and the remaining earring to Chubb for salvage. That's the way it works with my blanket coverage policy. Chubb doesn't deal with the jeweller; they merely send me a cheque.

The problem is my local jeweller, E.B. Horn. I told them a hundred times over the course of an entire week that I wanted a replacement cost estimate and that I could buy the same thing for about $1300. But they effectively refused to give me the sensible estimate by pretending not to understand, and wrote me an estimate for them to duplicate both earrings and said it would cost $2300! So that's what their stupid, over-the-top estimate says. And I don't want them duplicated - I've gone off hoops and huggies and want something else. If I wanted them duplicated, why would I be sending the remaining one for salvage? But no matter what I said, no matter what language I spoke in, they refused to understand that I just wanted an estimate as to how much it would cost to buy a half-carat of diamond earrings in a pave style, which I know full well is abut 1300 for 18k, H colour etc.

Now the claim is dragging on because of E.B. Horn, and I don't want to submit that stupid estimate, which isn't what I asked for anyway. Surely Chubb is going to be royally annoyed since it's obvious the estimate is through the roof, they'll be really pissed off, might double my premium, etc. They'll be able to see from the remaining earring that they are not worth anything approaching the amount of that ridiculous estimate, and I feel a fool submitting it.

What to do? Can I just alter their estimate by crossing out that stupid figure and writing $1300 next to it? I'm so angry with E.B. Horn over this! The claim has dragged on and dragged on because of them, and next week I don't have the time to take it to another jeweller because I'm away with work, so even more time will pass.

 

[denverappraiser]

I must be missing something. One of the primary features of Chubb is that they generally cut you a check for the face value of the policy. In this case that's $1,300, no? It's mostly about the paperwork you submitted when you bound the policy and the premiums you've been paying. What does the replacement jewelers bid have to do with it?

With many earrings, there's a 'pair and set' sort of language in the policy. Reproducing one earring isn't going to match exactly unless they can get it from the same manufacturer so the solution is to reproduce both. That's what he's bidding on (under a typical policy he would get the salvage too by the way). I can't comment on whether his bid to custom make is reasonable or not because it depends on the details but it's almost always higher to do custom work with local labor than factory work when it was made in the first place.

Another advantage of Chubb is that they don't require you to do a replacement. They'll pay you and you can spend the money however you want. They also cast no vote about WHERE you get a replacement if you decide to do so. Most companies don't do it this way. They have specific lists of jewelers they work with and the payout on the policy has to do with that replacement bid. I can only guess that the jeweler is following a procedure that they do regularly for other insurance claims they've had with other clients. As with all insurance issues, whether or not this is appropriate depends on the language of your policy and that's a question for your agent, not your jeweler.

 

[Smith1942]

Thanks, Denver.

About the procedure, this is what Chubb told me: "Get a replacement cost estimate from your jeweller and send it to us along with the remaining earring. We will then cut you a cheque for the amount on the replacement estimate."

"I" think that the replacement cost is $1300 but they want an estimate from a jeweller, not from me.

My coverage is not itemized. It's a blanket coverage policy. So when I took out the policy I did not have to itemize anything or provide any receipts. (These earrings were bought so long ago and I've moved so may times, including to another continent, that I don't have any receipts or paperwork for the earrings anyway.)

The blanket coverage with no itemization is why they need a replacement cost estimate from a jeweller.

My point is this: The estimate is way, way too high. My concern is that this will annoy Chubb, to my detriment. Will they raise my premiums a lot? Cancel the policy? It's so clear that they are being taken advantage of with this estimate. When they see the salvage earring, they will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the earrings are worth half of the estimate.

Like I said, I feel a fool submitting an estimate which is so clearly a huge lie.

 

[Smith1942]

To make it more clear, this is the terms of the policy: My jewellery is insured for 56k. I pay one premium. There is no itemization at all. It's called blanket coverage. I did not have to submit any details of my jewellery whatsoever when I took out the policy - no photos, no receipts, no details of what I own, nothing. But if there is a claim for a single piece, as opposed to losing the entire lot in a fire for example, they want an estimate from a jeweller as to how much this particular item costs to replace. If the entire lot was melted down in a house fire, they'd cut me a cheque for 56k.

On another topic: An advantage of this kind of policy is that I don't have to insure my whole collection, which is worth about double the 56k. But I didn't want to pay to insure all of it, and that only becomes relevant in the event of a catastrophic loss, anyway, and I'm OK with just getting 56k in the event of a full loss. With the usual single-loss claims, I can pick and choose which pieces of my collection I want to fall under this 56k. So in effect, I decide which items of my jewellery fall under this blanket coverage, since there is no itemization. I think that's pretty good.

 

[motownmama]

On my Chubb policy, only individual items in excess of $5K need to be scheduled. I lost diamond earrings. We went back to the store and found out the current price to replace them , $1600, and Chubb cut me a check.

 

[Smith1942]

Hi Motown. On my homeowners' insurance with Chubb, there is coverage up to 5k. But this a second, separate Chubb policy called Valuable Articles coverage. It's a no-itemization, no-questions-asked blanket coverage policy for 56k.

What you describe sounds so simple - go to store, get estimate, tell Chubb, receive cheque - and it's EXACTLY what I'm trying to do. But what do you do when the jeweller insists on telling humungous lies and you are not comfortable feeding those lies back to the insurer?

Well, I feel like a stuck pig in that I can't move this claim forward and I can't seem to make anyone understand what I want. I want a simple, truthful replacement estimate, that's all - and I will not tell shabby lies to squeeze money from insurers that I'm not entitled to. I'm not some shady character who's all money-money-money, I'm a decent person who acts honourably. So in desperation I called the claim agent at Chubb that I'm dealing with and told them what's up. I said that the earrings are worth $1300 but the jeweller insisted on inflating the estimate and that the paperwork stating $2300 is a total lie, that I didn't have time to keep toting the earring around different jewellers and I don't know what to do or where to go from here. I guess the agent will get back to me tomorrow. It's Sunday so I had to leave a message.

 

[denverappraiser]

I'm not so sure it's a lie but, again, this depends on details that we don't have. What he/she quoted you was their estimate to reproduce both earrings using local labor and materials and sold at their store. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they answered this correctly although I agree that it may be the correct answer to the wrong question. Most of the things you see being sold in stores, probably including that one, are mass produced in a factory environment somewhere, quite possibly China or India, and that are distributed through their sales channels. It's not surprising that these produce different answers.

So what's the right question?

It sounds like the key is in this statement:

But if there is a claim for a single piece, as opposed to losing the entire lot in a fire for example, they want an estimate from a jeweller as to how much this particular item costs to replace.

'Replace' is the key word. You're saying that you can find it in a store as a completed item, possibly even from the same factory that made it, for $1300. A quote from THAT store seems like what you should be submitting. It's not that your jeweler is lying, or even that they're wrong, they're just answering a different question (Custom make a reproduction new and at retail).

You asked if your insurer will hold this against you. Maybe. Claims activity does have an affect on their future willingness to do business with you but I think it's highly unlikely that the claim you've described will get you flagged in any way as an undesirable customer unless you have a pattern of this sort of thing. As with much of this discussion, this is a question for your agent.

 

[motownmama]

It's blanket personal property, right? It doesn't just cover jewelry, right? That's what mine is. I only have specific riders for 2 engagement rings and my tennis bracelet.My earrings were just under blanker personal property. I'm assuming the $56k is your personal property, right? The cost to replace BOTH my earrings was $1600, per my jeweler. That was the check. What's the cost to replace BOTH your earrings, because in essence you've lost a pair of earrings - the one that's physically gone and the one you're turing onto Chubb. Let's say you DID want to replace the earrings - what does that cost? $2300? Than that's the claim. Can't y our agent help you? They must handle jewelry claims many times throughout the years.