Official Insurance Thread

My GF has been trying to collect from DEPP for several months. She received this today:

Subject: TO OUR VALUED D.E.P.P. CUSTOMERS

Date: Mon, 7 Nov 2011 11:44:49 -0500

From: <Info@AWRYInc.com>

To: <lreisinger@sbcglobal.net>

We continually try to improve the customer service experience with

D.E.P.P. As a part of these improvements, we are consolidating all

operations and administration for the D.E.P.P. Program into our

headquarters in Louisville, KY., effective immediately. Our office in

Palm Desert, CA will be closed November 1, 2011.

This consolidation will eliminate the confusion over which office handles

which aspect of D.E.P.P. administration and should help facilitate the

claim administration and payment. The telephone number for the

Louisville operation is (502) 565-4357. This is an automated system,

however with consolidated operations, the response and reconciliation time

should be drastically improved. Please direct all inquiries and

communications to our Louisville, KY headquarters, 1450 Gardner Lane, Box

13, Louisville, KY 40213-1974. If you pay by check please use this

address for premium payment. Our fax number will remain the same

775-640-6449

Sandy Hall or Bryan Goad will continue to responding to e-mails and

returning your calls.

We thank you and we appreciate your business. We believe the centralizing

of all D.E.P.P. operations is an important step in improving our customer

service.

When send e-mail to use, please use one of the following keywords on the

subject line.

CLAIM

DEPP

QUESTION

EQUIPMENT UPDATE

Since we have many customers outside the US, we are unable to block many

e-mails. We receive over 2500 spam e-mails a day and may possibly miss

your correspondence without the keyword listed on the subject line.

Sincerely;

Your D.E.P.P. Staff

Since we have many customers outside the US, we are unable to block many

e-mails. We receive over 2500 spam e-mails a day and may possibly miss

your correspondence without the keyword listed on the subject line. "

What does spam filtering have to do with what countries their customers send email from? Are they really this clueless? Sounds like just another excuse. Cutting my losses with DEPP and cancelling my plan was the best thing I did to give me peace of mind this year. I now set aside an amount equivalent to my annual premium. In case of a flood it might not cover a full new replacement, but it sure is a better solution than what DEPP offered. Good riddance, never again.

In late November my GF received an e-mail stating that she would be paid on Dec 2. No check ever arrived, and DEPP's 800 number is now disconnected.

I have been corresponding with them about the details of the policy. Yesterday, I received this document in part, which if I am reading this correctly, says that if an airline looses my camera case, the limit of DEPP's liability is $1000. I can't imagine that this is correct, but that's how it reads to me anyway. Considering that can stuff about $12,000 worth of gear into my Pelican case, this pretty much defeats the point of having the insurance. I suppose I would need to keep my "all-perils" rider on my home-owners policy.

THIS ENDORSEMENT CHANGES THE POLICY. PLEASE READ IT CAREFULLY.

ENDORSEMENT NUMBER 1

This endorsement modifies insurance provided under the following:

COMMERCIAL INLAND MARINE COVERAGE FORM

The following changes are made to the policy, effective September 1, 2010:

Section VIII – LIMITS OF INSURANCE, Item L. is added as follows:

L. In the event Covered Equipment is lost, stolen, or damaged in any way, in transit by way of a scheduled commercial mode of transportation, we will repair or replace the lost, stolen or damaged Covered Equipment to an aggregate maximum amount of USD $1,000 per trip. The limit of liability for this coverage shall not exceed the amount of insurance scheduled for each item of Covered Equipment, subject to the aggregate limitation above. No Coverage applies unless the claim has been properly filed with us and prior approval has been given by us, or our authorized representative. A trip is defined as all commercial modes of transportation beginning on the departure date of an event, including all commercial modes of transportation during the duration of an event, and on all commercial modes of transportation on the return date of an event.

This change occurred last year. Many of us either reduced our coverage or left then all together. When I questioned this change, I was informed it had always been the case....what bunk. They stated this change was due to all of the theft that happened in US airports. All I know is that it is interesting that they are communicating with potential new clientele, when it sounds like there have been no improvements to their performance. Has anyone actually had a claim paid by them lately?

Cheers,

Marli

In late November my GF received an e-mail stating that she would be paid on Dec 2. No check ever arrived, and DEPP's 800 number is now disconnected.

After involving the Attorneys General of California (where she lives) and Kentucky (where DEPP is located), my GF got a check from DEPP yesterday.

Hey Chuck,

Good for your girlfriend. Too many people write off bad experiences like this thinking that when dealing with a company they will get no where. DEPP, unfortunately, has earned their bad reputation. I don't predict they will be around for too much longer. I highly recommend the gear insurance offered by DAN. Their service and responsiveness is excellent.

Steve

Dear All,

I have just sent in my papers to the Kentucky Insurance Commissioners Office, I have a guy there who is investigating the fraudulanet behaviour of Dixie and Deanne Lehrmitt at DEPP.

I would be happy to have a SHORT(1 paragraph) summary of your experience with DEPP to send along as a follow up to mine. It will help me and it will help you.

Please PM me today, asap, now please... this is happening now and I could use your help in trying to get my $3500 out of these people.

In return I will send you details of the investigator I am using and the guy at the Insurance Commissioners office. I will keep you informed of how it all goes.

I intend to follow this up with the Attorney Generals office. I really hate DEPP, they rely on us all having claims that are just a little too small to warrant a legal case.

Regards

Simon

Good work you're doing there Simon, I hope the people who have had problems all respond to you.

I'm posting a description of my experience dealing with the DAN insurance carrier (Senn Dunn Marsh is the broker, and some Marine insurance company is the actual insurer).

I flooded my brand spanking new 5dIII on Labor Day weekend. Filed a claim online when I got back, and got a nice email the same day from a gal at the marine insurance carrier with a list of the various papers she would require to process my claim. She was assigned to my case and I corresponded directly to her the entire time. It took me a couple of weeks to gather the papers, including sending the camera off to Canon for a repair estimate (statement of unrepairability - no local repair shops are willing to do that anymore). (Incidently, Canon sent my camera back to me free of charge with the statement of nonrepairability within a week!!!). After I sent that back to the insurance company, I got my check within 2 weeks. No muss, no fuss, no hassle, no delay. They even gave me an extra $100 because I had stated the camera was worth $3,400, on the insurance application, but it really costs $3,499, and they gave me the full $3,499. Less than 5 weeks, start to finish. I am beyond impressed. They also offered to pay the shipping to Canon but I forgot to give them the invoice for that.

So anybody who still uses DEPP, switch to the DAN insurance if you can!

Has anyone any experience with Westfield? http://www.divinginsuranceuk.com/equipment.htm I just came off the 'phone to them and they sound very credible.

Is DEPP still in business? I try to go to their website but it never works

So are there any remaining specialty insurance options for non-USA residents?

Or is a house insurance rider the only option?

I use professional photographers insurance in Australia, which covers all kind of useful things like checked baggage on flights, stolen from vehicle, rentals while awaiting repair/replacement, etc. It also has a rider to cover water damage from leakage while in use in the housing. Taking the camera body out in the rain is not covered, on the other hand.

Might be worth investigating if similar providers exist for professional photographers in your part of the world?

Here's a posting on DEPP since I found their web site gone https://www.undercurrent.org/UCnow/dive_magazine/2013/InsuranceFraud201308.html

How do people from Europe insure their UW photoequipment against tefth and flooding in 2018?

Any tips (especially for Austria)?

I asked at my houshold insurance, but they say they do not have a program for this....

Wolfgang

Hey Wolfgang

This has come up a few times before so worth doing a Search if you've not done already.

I remember there were two (at least) solutions: yes, one was household insurance - which seemed pretty common. The other, for Europeans - well Brits for sure - was Divemaster Insurance (https://www.divemasterinsurance.com) who will insure gear against those risks.

I used Divemaster myself some years back when I was unable to get my gear covered by a household policy. I found them very easy and helpful to deal with but, thankfully, never had to make a claim so have no idea what they are like when they are paying you..... I think I was living in either Indonesia or France (not much difference!) but in any case not being British resident at the time didn't seem to be a problem. Maybe worth checking out.

Thank you Tim!

I will check out the divemaster insurance...

Wolfgang

To give you some idea about DIvemaster Insurance - was using them for about 2 (or 3 ..memory is not that good no more) years, back when I was living in UK. They were pretty much the only option for me, since I was living in a flat share for a while hence 99% of home insurance providers would refuse to cover anything (....pissed me right off as M&S home insurance cost next to nothing and covered (at least back then) all the UW camera use..)

Anyway, back to Divemaster - so premium is about 7.5% on the camera stuff, however the camera insurance is only possible as an add-on to the normal dive equipment

 

Underwater camera equipment is available as an ’add on’ to your scuba diving equipment insurance policy. The cover is on the same conditions as dive equipment insurance and because we understand the issues of underwater photography, it includes cover for unexplained flooding. Underwater camera equipment is rated at 7.5% of the replacement value, plus 9.5% Insurance Premium Tax (IPT).

Can get pricey depending on the stuff you insure but they do regularly post 10% off codes via newsletter/ sometimes FB (i.e. Easter, Christmas, bank holidays, dive shows etc). There is also always working 5% discount if you go via link on this website http://www.divetheazores.com/insurance.html

As for the claims:

Towards the end of a Carriacou trip 2 years ago, had that great pleasure of watching a these lovely bubbles coming out of my housing and the whole thing turning into a rather expensive spirit level... Reported as soon as I was back in UK as "unexplained flooding", no questions asked, all accepted fine (though had to send both housing and body for inspection). Since my housing at the time was tad old and they could not find it in the shops no more, they briefly suggested sending me a 2 generations newer one as replacement but then turned out I have insured it at a slightly lower value so wasn't not enough (1.5k vs 2k needed - my fault though). They didn't allow for me covering that 500 shortfall in cash sadly. Got offered an option of a cash settlement (though price of a used one, and not full insured value, i.e. not 1,5k) or getting it professionally serviced (fully rebuilt). Went with the 2nd option, housing came back in better condition that it was new, so was rather happy Camera body wise - again they could not find a new one, hence they let me choose one from fleabay, and then refunded without any problems.

Whole process took about 2 months though with me having to nudge once or twice via email.

One thing to note, since the whole episode of UK banning all electronic items from the hand luggage on flights from Egypt etc - they will NOT cover photo stuff in the checked in luggage (ie cover only till a rather small limit that is, way below any decent camera/laptop etc setup value)

All of this was in 2016 though...so dunno about now. Stopped using them at some point as decided better so save insurance money myself as it started getting expensive after a few gear upgrades.

Dunno if they cover non UK residents / citizens though....

Interesting experience there, Makar0n.

Yeah, like you I found it kinda pricey and that was partly the reason I stopped using them. I get an email from them from time to time offering a 10% discount.

Hi Wolfgang,
Manfred from Unterwasserkamera.at is offering an insurance on his page.
Have not been using it, but maybe worth a look.
Regards,
Wolfgang the other ;-))