Lost my home owners insurance due to my dog....

[lillyorchid]

I don't know if I should cry or drive down to my insurance agent and demand answers from the higher-up's.

This past February I switched from Geico Travlers homeowners insurance to State Farm's homeowners insurance. All has been well and no complaints about State Farm. This past April I bought an American bulldog puppy. He now is 5 months old and a total sweet heart. This past April I had an alarm system installed from Brinks. After that Brinks gave me papers to show to my insurance agent for my home owners insurance to come down. GREAT I was happy about that. I took the papers over to them, they then told me that I had to have a permit since I live in the city. Called Brinks, got a permit paper sent to me. Called the # on the permit to have a police/fire chief person come out to make sure that my new alarm system was under code and correct. They didn't come out till the middle of May. The same day that the police/fire person came out, so did my insurance agent and took a look at it for himself and had the police/fire guy sign off on it also. All was fine.

Fast forward to this past Saturday. I get a letter in the mail from StateFarm. Saying that my home owners insurance has been canceled. I tried calling the office, closed on weekends. Fast forward to today. Called them on my lunch break and was informed that it was canceled due to the fact that I never told them that I had a pet "pit bull" living in my house and they don't insure people who have pits, rotts, dobermans, or GSD's. I about hit the roof. I told them that he wasn't a pit but an American bull dog, has been in training classes, and loves people. Nope, no can do... if it looks like a pit it then must be a pit. If you have a "dangerous" breed of dog and have State Farm... don't let them know because they will toss you to the curb before you knew what had happened. What pisses me off the most is that the GD insurance agent played with Bosco that day he came over to look over my house. He asked what kind of dog he was and my b/f and I told him american bulldog. He even commented how nice he was. Why would he report us that we had a "pit bull". I'm soooo enraged right now. Well screw Start Farm! I'll take my money and business elsewhere.

[Qetu]

holy cow....wow....thats incredibly dumb....i guess they had to many pay outs on dog attacks? but an american bull dog is none of the above lol.... thats sad... goodluck on getting it resolved!

[akaangela]

That stinks! I am sorry that happened to you.

[CoolioTiffany]

An American Bulldog looks somewhat like a Pit Bull, but both breeds of dogs can be very sweet. The only reason why people make dogs mean is for dog fighting to see if there dog is the strongest and to make money off of them. It's sad, and they truley are not aggressive and dangerous animals. I know a few people who own Pit Bulls and they are really nice dogs with a playful attitude.

[GoFride]

Sorry about your bad luck with the insurance weasels - this is a very familiar story here in Florida. A friend of mine just got her homeowners cancelled after many years with the same company. She had never once, in all those years, filed a claim. The reason for cancellation - her 11 week old Rottie pup! Renters in my area have to be careful. too. The wrong dog can actually get you evicted - landlords can't risk losing their homeowners insurance.

[AaronP]

That sucks, I'd demand a refund for what you've paid into.

[llovelace]

I would fight it.

[wilomn]

If you've never actually read your policy, you may want to give it a go.

In most policies there are stipulations about animals and which ones will void your contract if you have them.

It makes no difference that you've had them for years, never missed a payment or filed a claim, they don't really care about you, just about numbers.

IF you have a proscribed creature and file a claim, they can and will deny it because YOU violated your contract.

Your nice friendly agent may or may not know about it, but don't count on him/her for anything other than towing the company line, they are NOT your friends.

Also, if it's in the contract, and you didn't read the contract, and you signed that contract, who's fault is it that you have basically whizzed your money away?

[panthercz]

Fight tooth and nail and get a lawyer involved if need be.
American Bulldogs are one of the most popular breeds in the country and hardly a threat.

[GoFride]

Yes, definitely read your policy carefully, or if you rent, check with your landlord BEFORE coming home with that cute puppy. It's like dog profiling! There are some breeds that can get your (or your landlord's) policy cancelled (Pits, Pit mixes, Rotties) and some that can cause the rates to really go up (Chows, Akitas).