Hurricane Ian victims still waiting for insurance checks in Florida

Three different homeowners are having the same problem with the same insurance company. They can’t get their homes back to normal after Hurricane Ian because their insurance company hasn’t sent over their checks. It’s a problem many Southwest Floridians are still dealing with almost eight months after the storm.

Joanie Glick moved from Massachusetts to her new Charlotte County home with a pool so she could swim every day to help her arthritis. She moved in on September 24, 2022. Southwest Floridians know what happened four days later.

“And to see the pool cage in the pool, and the roof destroyed, worried about leaking and all that. It was just devastating,” Glick said. “Absolutely devastating”

Glick road out the storm with her cousins in Venice, just north of Charlotte County.

“It was traumatic. It was stressful. It was scary. You didn’t know what was going to happen next,” recalled Glick.

And getting back to her home was a couple of days later didn’t provide any stress relief.

“I still didn’t have the hurricane shutters down so I couldn’t get in to the house. Eventually we did break in through the front door that is broken. And saw that thank goodness, my house didn’t flood,” Glick remembered. “But the outside of the house was damaged severely.”

Glick gave WINK News Consumer Reporter Andryanna Sheppard a tour of the damage she said still isn’t fixed because her insurance company, American Integrity Insurance of Florida, isn’t paying out her claim appropriately. She said after her claim was filed, she was assigned desk adjuster, after desk adjuster, after desk adjuster.

“They did send someone out, he was here about five minutes,” Glick said of her experience with the field adjuster. “[He said] ‘you’ll hear from us, you’ll hear from us.’ Well, in December, they did send me a check for $19,000, which was great. Unfortunately, the damage was $108,000 to the house.”

Glick said hiring a public adjuster didn’t help.

“It’s just unfair,” Glick said shaking her head.

“Why is it unfair?” Sheppard asked.

“Because I paid for my homeowner’s insurance in full upfront, no questions asked and insured this house for $373,000,” Glick replied. “And I am just looking to be made whole by submitting this claim.”

She’s worried if her home isn’t fixed before the summer storms start, she’ll have to file another claim and pay the company another deductible.

“This has put me in such a depression, that there are days that I can’t even get out of bed,” Glick said. “In fact, two weeks ago, I was in bed for one week straight. I’ve cut all my hair off. I’ve had a partial mental breakdown, I would say. The stress is, is overwhelming.”

Glick went to one of the insurance villages WINK News covered in April. She was able to speak to American Integrity representatives. Glick said they sent someone to look at her home again and the company promised to send her a check but she’s still waiting on it.

If homeowners are having issues with their insurance companies, they are encouraged to file a complaint with the Florida Department of Financial Services (DFS). According to data from DFS, 2,722 homeowners have filed complaints about their insurer or called the department for help between Ian hitting all the way up to April 18, 2023. That number does not include customers who went to mediation. The department said 2,361 of those complaints have since been resolved.

WINK News emailed American Integrity about Glick’s case. The Vice President of Marketing replied that the company disagreed with her public adjuster’s estimates because they were “above and beyond the coverage” in her policy. She added Glick’s check was in the mail. A different company email showed her check wasn’t even scheduled to get printed for another day.

“I just want to settle the claim, moved forward, get the repairs done and be whole,” Glick said.

Randy Landers had a similar experience after he filed his Hurricane Ian claim for his Cape Coral home.

“I’ve lived in Houston Texas which has gone through some significant hurricanes, never seen anything like [Hurricane Ian],” Landers said.

He also trusted American Integrity to get his home back to normal after the storm but he’s had to pay out of pocket to fix it.

“I didn’t get anything,” He said. “My deductible’s $8,500. Their offer was $6,500.”

Landers said he can see why the offer was so low because the insurance company’s final report left off a lot of the damage. He hired a public adjuster but he said not even the adjuster is getting anywhere with American Integrity.

“I pay an enormous amount of money for my insurance and you’re contracted to provide me with protection and very candidly all you’ve done is you’ve torn my family apart,” Landers said fighting back tears.

In the beginning of May, he and the company settled and he’s happy with the amount but the check isn’t in his hands yet.

Data from the DFS showed American Integrity had 301 complaints but it doesn’t have the most. It follows Citizens Property Insurance which has 324 and the now-insolvent UPC with 302.

Judy Rybicki, another American Integrity policyholder from Estero, isn’t surprised with the number of complaints.

“Just terrible,” She added. “I think everybody’s entitled to their share.”

American Integrity initially offered her $2,868.44. Since she believed her damage is much more than that, she hired a lawyer.

“I have notifications that their final bid is $45,000. $45,000 only gets a roof and maybe an air condition,” Rybicki said.

Rybicki took that offer to avoid a potentially long legal battle but emails she sent me from her lawyer show American Integrity hasn’t responded to them.

“It’s a shock,” Rybicki said. “A big shock.”

When WINK News reached out to American Integrity about Landers’ and Rybicki’s cases, the Vice President of Marketing also said Landers’ public adjuster and Rybicki’s attorney gave estimates that the company disagree with because they were “above and beyond the coverage” in their policies and that Landers’ check was in the mail. But, she said the company is waiting for the “proper execution of paperwork from Rybicki’s attorney and the desk adjuster stands ready.

Rybicki said that doesn’t make any sense. WINK News has called Rybicki’s lawyer but he hasn’t responded. Rybicki told WINK News the company has since reached out to him as well.

“I know I’m not the only one.”