Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Farm Bureau Insurance hates dogs

I am in shock!

The Farm Bureau Insurance Company has cancelled our homeowner's policy. They cancelled it because they claim we have a "prohibited" animal. They don't even tell us in the one page cancellation notice which animal they consider prohibited.

We have the exact same dogs and cats and chickens that we've had for the last four years. (Well, the chicken flock has been refreshed once.) For four years we have paid extra for the Laborador/Chow mixed dog that we adopted from the animal shelter as a puppy. We've had to pay extra because some statistic of theirs says Chows can sometimes be dangerous.

Frankly, I think any dog that is untrained, unloved, chained up or locked up can be dangerous and it doesn't matter if it is a toy poodle or a mastiff.

Our dogs are well trained. They walk at heel without a leash. They come when called. They sit, stay and do tricks. They are not tied. They are not fensed. They bark at other dogs but do not approach without permission from us. They bark at strangers but again, keep their distance until given permission to approach. There has never once been a complaint against our dogs.

The Chow/mix, in fact, has been under consideration for training as a therapy dog. I just haven't got the time to get her into the training program.

Our animals are well cared for, well loved and they know it. They are gentle, companion animals.

I am angry that these insurance people have no clue and are unwilling to even investigate whether or not a longtime customer may actually have a situation under control. Even worse, they gave us just 3 days notice to either part with one of our furry family members or find a new insurance company.

My husband is going to go down there tomorrow and find out what on earth they are thinking about and try to get a reasonable explanation for the cancellation of the policy. If he gets nowhere with them (which I suspect is what will happen), I will certainly be talking to everyone I know about what a crooked company it is and do my best to build a boycott against them by dog lovers.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

See http://www.scc.virginia.gov/division/boi/webpages/inspagedocs/homeinsguide06.pdf

There may be sections in there that can help you.

Vouray said...

Hi Cate! You can get a K2TG magnet for your car at my shop...540-961-4462. We can ship one out to you Asap! Hugs!

Anonymous said...

Hi!

Was just reading your note about your chow/lab mix.

The best thing to do (next time) is to say it's a lab/spitz mix.

I haven't had this happen to me... but it has happened to someone I knew...

Maybe you can get the dog reclassified at the shelter?

Nancy in Oregon