Insurance claim delays continue for Montreal flood victims

Pincourt residents Svetlana Chernienko and William McMillan are among many Montrealers whose homes were flooded earlier this month.

It took nearly two weeks for an insurance provider to respond to their claim, which was made the same night as their basement was filling with water.

Chernienko said she has not been able to fully start her home’s cleanup because she’s waiting for an adjuster, only to find out there wont be one coming.

“We finally spoke to somebody we got a phone call this morning actually that somebody called us from TD and we asked if it was an adjuster, they said no,” Chernienko said.

“[The TD agent said] I’m not an adjuster, I’m just here to try and help you, nobody will have an adjuster because there are too many files and claims that are happening right now.”

Chernienko says the agent she spoke with would assess their situation and let them know of what an adjuster would normally do….Despite paying the premium for her Insurance… challenges persist. 

Chernienko Chernienko says the agent she spoke with would assess their situation and let them know of what an adjuster would normally do. She explained that her and her family pay for the premium for her TD Insurance, yet challenges continue to persist.

“What I’m not understanding, TD is a huge company why can’t they send an adjuster,” she said. “We had a foundation specialist that came only because I pushed the gentleman on the phone to say we need somebody to come in to assess things because we have to start demolition soon and even at that, we can’t do demolition until an adjuster gives first on site the green light.”

Chernienko’s husband William McMillan, said their entire basement, which houses their bedroom, home office, bathroom and childrens room was flooded.

Since then, mold has developed, causing health and safety concerns.

“When we’re downstairs, we know and feel, smell, all our senses are just everything is still damp,” McMillan said.

McMillan said they had to salvage their belongings as best as they could and had to move upstairs, where both their elderly parents live.

“The problem was that we understand there’s a lot of people that are going through the situation with the flooding and other catastrophes,” Chernienko said.

“My concern is that what are the insurance companies actually doing?”

In a statement to CityNews – TD Insurance said, “We understand the distress this event has caused communities across Quebec and have been working hard to support our customers through these challenging times as quickly as possible, as we care deeply about being there for them when they need us most. Unfortunately, when multiple large weather events happen, claims processing times to assist our customers sometimes take longer than normal.” 

Chernienko adds that she hopes Montrealer’s are more aware of how their policies work in events like this and that she will contacting the head of her insurance company to voice her frustrations

“At the end of the day, a lot of us are going through these types of situations,” she said. “Some are going through worse than others, but we need to come together as a community and be polite to the people when you do get them on the phone because it’s not their fault.”