NRMA Home Insurance

I have held a policy for building and contents for over 10 years with no claims ever made. I recently had a fall and badly damaged my Panerai watch (which was specified in my policy documents for accidental damage cover ) After labouring through a telephone claim I then uploaded a quotation for repair from an official Panerai service centre on the NRMA "Self Service" page online. Then nothing,,, I called today and spoke to an extremely rude and abrasive call centre operative to be told I needed an accident report and they had called me twice on my mobile and left messages to advise me that . I said I had received no such messages and anyway why didn't they write to me? The report apparently needs to come from the Jeweller in question. Quite how a jeweller is qualified to ascertain if the damage was caused by a 59 year old man slipping in his front porch is beyond me! In any case the watch is currently in pieces being fixed.

In other words, no report- no payment for this technicality. To put the claim in context the damage totalled $1820 - less a $1000 excess - so $820. Not exactly great when one considers the tens of thousands I've given to NRMA over the years. Thank goodness the claim was not of a serious nature.

I appreciate there are procedures that all insurers have when making a claim but these need to be made clear at the onset. What really annoyed me is that despite the repair work being underway the required report could be done retrospectively according to the NRMA consultant - what a charade!

I for will be moving ALL my policies away from what I thought was a solid reputable company thank goodness I discovered this now.

As a result of a hail storm multiple items needed replacement. We went for a payout and sorted the repairs ourselves.

The payout for the small ticket items (windows etc) wasn't too bad. It took a while but happy enough in the end.

The big ticket item, the roof, took 4.5 months. This despite being on the phone every second day (am retired so am able to). I eventually dealt with NRMA's preferred provider, MAINCOM, directly.

What was obvious was a disconnect between NRMA and MAINCOM. The communication between the two is poor and leads to long delays as NRMA has no special phone number to MAINCOM. MAINCOM did not know we were paid for the roof, they repeatedly sent scope of works which never reached NRMA. I was continually sent old scopes by NRMA. We were offered $460,000 for a roof replacement (!) as our scope was merged with someone else's who had lost a house. And so it went on. Was not convinced MAINCOM hired help is top notch so we have got our own roofers.

Conclusion. Way too slow and a lack of communication between client - NRMA - building assessor and contractor.

First and foremost, an important message. PLEASE make sure you have working smoke alarms. My family and I are living proof that they save lives.

Regarding NRMA, I know there are many negative reviews on this site, but feel it is important to share the positive outcome in our circumstances. Late October last year, we were awakened in the early hours of the morning by the smoke alarm. I got up to discover in horror that our ceiling upstairs was alight (bedrooms also upstairs). I woke up the family and we got out immediately. Within minutes, the whole of upstairs became engulfed. Looking, back we were extremely fortunate to get out when we did. An electrical fault had created this horror for us. The smoke alarm did its job and woke us.

I rang NRMA later that morning. Within a few hours, they mobilised and sending out people to secure the home. They offered us temporary accommodation and then set about assessing the damage and next steps. They seem structured and were able to anticipate our questions and requirements. Within a few weeks, NRMA supported us moving into longer term rental accommodation. They also settled the contents side of the claim relatively quickly.

It has taken just over six months since the fire to work through options and reach a direction on the building side of the claim. If I could be critical, I wish this aspect could have been sorted more quickly. Waiting 6 months for certainty on the next steps was stressful. However, I do recognise that things were complicated a little by the Christmas break and the many Sydney storms late last year which probably stretched their capacity. I guess NRMA also has internal processes to follow which perhaps could be refined or more resources added to support.

Ultimately, NRMA have supported us and I don’t want to take anything away from a great bunch of people who have helped along the way. In the major claims team, Adrian our case manager (a professional and a gentleman) supported by Angela, Deborah and Sharon. They were helpful and patient with our many calls and questions. Also Paul (Technical Assessor) who provided good advice and insights. And finally Tina (Contents Assessor), not only for her help in resolving things quickly in her area, but also her kind words and moral support. These people do more for NRMA’s image and reputation than any advertising can. They present a human side to the organisation. Our sincerest thanks to them all.

With NRMA’s help, we are now moving forward to put this difficult period behind us.

We lodged a claim for a leak in our bathroom. We are 6 weeks into the claim processing process and still do not know if we will be covered. We have had to drive the claim to get to this point and are still waiting. We have not heard from our claim manager at all even after requests to call us back. We talk to a different person each time, no ownership or accountability from NRMA staff regarding our claim. The experience has left a very bad taste in our mouth and we are considering move our policies to another provider

We had a burglary happened while our children were in the house in the daylight last week. Thanks to the Police prompt response, the intruder was apprehended and the only items damaged were my son's newish Converses and my husband's HD motorcycle helmet. I tried to lodge a claim and was informed that an excess of $200 must be paid. I have asked for it to be waived as it is a small claim and also based on our almost 30 years relationship with NRMA, 9 policies and not a single claim on the Home & Contents policy, plus our eligibility for Home@50 benefits. The Call Center person would not have a bar of it and kept repeating "automated"responses with no consideration for a loyalty and a personal circumstances. Since than, I had a few conversations with the Call Center person with an exactly the same automated responses and a refusal to pass me on the their supervisor in Australia. I even went to a Branch and had the same responses. I will withdraw the claim as it is not worth it. I will also be cancelling all of our policies with NRMA and move to another provider. So, dear NRMA, you will save a one-off $200 and will loose almost $10K per year for the next many-many years. The last time I dealt with NRMA in regards to a car repair in 2017 was a completely opposite experience with a Customer Service person in Australia, prompt service, appreciation of the loyalty, updates and politeness. What a difference 2 years make!

we have been with NRMA for over 20 years, all our vehicles green slips, comprehensive insurance . Our home & content insurance been swap to NRMA because we think that this company will provide us better service & more protection. Unfortunately, this is completely wrong, they treat us like a fool, last November we try to claim for a roof leak, the assessor just saying that it is a roof maintenance issue, after a lot of ringing up, finally they sent us scope of work to our email . SOW didn't even mention about the roof repair, only mention about painting, luckily we double checked with them word by word, then we found out that the roof repair is not included in the claim. after that we talked to their consultant again to ask why is that happened, telling her that we nearly get trapped by those wording in that scope of work, she just saying that they will send an assessor for 2nd inspection, when the same assessor arrived, just asked if we had got more damages, we just told him that, we are not happy with the 1st decision & expecting 2nd inspection, not claiming for more damages, after he heard that, he just told us will be the same decision(roof repair not included in the claim, take him only 2 minutes for this 2nd inspection.(doing nothing). We called NRMA again, telling them what happened for the 2nd inspection, they said that they will escalate further, saying that level one will ring us shortly, after 2 weeks, nothing happened, we called them again, saying that level 2 will call us back, finally, we received a call , not from level 2. that is from level 1. still saying that is not including roof repair in the claim, and if we are not happy, they will ask customer relation to contact us, when speaking with customer relation, they said that we should go up to the roof to check on that, told him that no one will climb up to the roof often if we don't need to, and just saying that, the claim is rejected, we are just normal people, we trust insurance company, but when we needed them, they just found millions of reasons to reject our claim, also we have asked our neighbors if they climbed up to the roof or ask people to check on the roof if they got no problem with that, answers are all negative, so we really thinking we will move all our policies to other better service company.

We have been with NRMA for almost 20 years. Very good in the past, but now unorganised, slow, complicated. I complained several times and was promised a supervisor would call me back about the delay of several weeks, even this has not happened. We are still waiting for NRMA to get back to us about the repairs. We are now seriously looking for a better insurance company.

Our home was effected by fire 7 months ago and were still not home ! I have had to make daily phone calls and coordinate the repairs myself from start to finish and Unfortunately me and my family are still not home . The consultants are clueless and usually have no idea of what is happening , the building contractor lost the contract with Nrma and we are one of the last repair jobs to be done by them our home was assessed numerous times and the final scope of work was very poorly put together which resulted in constant repair delays and endless frustration the contents were not cleaned and restored properly by the contracting company which resulted in ash and fire debris still present on our processions when we tried to move back in luckily our kids didn’t come into contact with the items.
The constant delays and interruptions have caused confusion and disappointment.
The accommodation is only extended week by week and is often left to the day before we are due to move out before it’s extended and we are notified of any changes
If I don’t call Nrma and request updates I feel they simply wouldn’t contact me

If you like being constantly stressed , confused and disappointed by all means request a policy from Nrma

My house was damaged by the storm in Jan/Feb 2019. A branch from the neighbour's tree made a hole through the ceiling. After the CCP Remedial assessor made the assessment, we were sent the bill for the excess quickly and I paid for it on the same night. I thought I was lucky because these people seem efficient. How wrong was I! It has now been 4 weeks, only the gutter guard has been repaired. I have not heard from anyone from CCP Remedial or NRMA for the remaining repair. I rang NRMA yesterday, the gentleman called John said he would contact CCP to give me a call, and of course I have not heard from anyone. I called again today, a different person answered my call and suggested me to call CCP. Isn't this wrong? CCP is employed by NRMA, NRMA needs to get on to them. Finally, this gentleman said NRMA can give the job to another contractor, I asked "does this contractor have a better reputation?" and he said he doesn't know but he said restarting the process with a different company can take a long time! Wow! I suggested him to call CCP and I hope he did. As a little customer that nobody cares about, even though I have been with NRMA for more than 15 years, I tried contacting CCP but was forced to leave a voice mail!! I wish NRMA would just value their loyal customers, big or small, and hire some reputable builders. I will try to be optimistic for the repair to take place soon...

I adjusted my home and contents insurance to a lower amount. They told me via email that all was correct and a new monthly payment would follow. They then adjusted the policy back up to a higher rate without any consultation. They denied i had changed my policy even though i had it in writing. They said sorry and offered a refund if i stopped my complaint with the complaints body. I agreded provided i got the refund, i havent. They wont even answer emails and when you do contact them, the address comes back as postmaster unknown.. We have been with these people for many years, never again, they have gone downhill so fast in dealing with people, yet there ads say they are there for you, even if your surfing or crowd surfing in a wheelchair, or trapped under a train.

this was my experience, step father was insured for 30 years before passing, agreed i would pay premium ,
house damaged by storm , assessor avoided taking photos of damaged areas, gyprick water damaged , carpet damaged, dreadful service, avoided claim .
also car repaired by them , got back with damaged parts and internal trim damaged, again ignored , this time off to court,

I had to give 1 star otherwise it would be no stars for the service provided. In-service for staff so they all provide the same information about policy details should be mandatory. NRMA call centres are most unhelpful and continually change the information that they provide. On 25/3/19 was given two different pieces of information about the public liability component of my home and contents insurance and on the 266/3/19 was given a third totally different piece of information. When I asked to speak with a supervisor I was stalled and not put through.

Storm damage December 2018. The Assessors came out 28/29 December. Advised on 22 February by Rizon they had been nominated by NRMA as the designated builder. First problem - the NRMA PDS states "If you agree, we can arrange for our preferred repairers, suppliers or builders" etc. I didn't agree, I was never asked. Rizon want a signed contract and your excess - no information on when the repairs will be carried out. I've spoken to David at AIG Customer Relations and Fiona Claims Consultant at NRMA. Surprise, surprise no result. Finally on 21 March I was contacted by Omodele who said she was from NRMA offering a cash settlement, I said I wanted the offer in writing, an email turned up 23 March which said a cash settlement was agreed. I never agreed to anything! it also purported to attach an estimate! No estimate of the individual items, just a total amount Same day an email from Rizon advising me I could note my concerns on page 4 of the paperwork - there is no live link and I had advised them of my concerns already on 02 March. The cash settlement looks way outside what the costs would be and really the whole mad pantomime is just a delaying tactic until they wear you out and you abandon the claim. I won't give them that pleasure. I've lodged a complaint with the AFCA and unless they smarten up their footwork very, very soon I'll ensure they get the publicity they deserve. What a major mistake to insure with NRMA. It won't happen again.

After I made a claim they sent someone from Rizon to take photos and look at the hail damage . 2 months later I phoned them again they said they haven't received the photos or quote .NRMA then sent someone els from rizon to take photos again and check the hail damage ... another month later I ring them again .. same story . but this time they contacted Rizon and got them to send the details thru . now there are 2 items missing from quote "whirly birds" . rang them again and now they are looking into it .. no doubt there will be more headaches to come from NRMA = "IAG" . avoid this company....

my elderly brother in law house flooded due to burst water pipe under sink ,took 4 days for someone to come and remove carpets and install fans to try and dry it out, then 10 days after event assessor turns up did not listen to what happen from witness and i was told to clean the mould up prior to any work been done mould caused due to 4 days of water soaked flooring

We have been with NRMA for over 30 years and have 8+ policies with NRMA
As we are a large family with 5 beautiful kids to look after, we have always felt it was worth paying the extra $$$ to be with the best!
That was until we had to make an emergency claim. . .

It turns out that in a major disaster, it is actually better being with one of the cheaper insurance companies like Budget Direct, GIO, ING and even Real Insurance.

Our property was severely hit by what SES workers referred to as a mini tornado (microburst with winds of up to 200kmp/h), which ripped through ours and neighbouring properties on the 15th of December 2018. Our house and property were smashed by winds and surrounding gum trees and 3 months later we are still living the nightmare.

All of our neighbours (which are with other insurers such as GIO and Budget Direct) had the same damage to their homes and have all settled and are happily getting back on their feet.

NRMA are still paper shuffling.

We had called every day for the first 2 weeks begging for emergency "HELP" which never came.
We then had to patiently wait for all the reports to be done which took a very long time.
They were finally completed several weeks ago and we have been calling almost every single day since explaining that we needed as a minimum the emergency repairs to be done. Still nothing....

We have been promised that the claim has been escalated, then we were told our Technical Assessor was "away" whatever that means, and that it will be pushed through to someone else urgently.

That was 2 weeks ago...

My latest call on Friday revealed that the file still sits quietly on the Technical Assessor's desk while we continue to struggle.
We have holes in the roof which continues to leak, rotting ceilings, insulation and walls, electrical damage to lights in our ceilings, no carpets and spikes sticking out everywhere which our children keep stepping on since the carpets were removed. The majority of the outdoors areas including pool and yard are out of bounds as a result of the dangerous trees, all of this should have been covered under make safe but NRMA never same and made anything safe....
It's a very difficult and stressful situation for our entire family. We just want to get back on our feet and move on...

My family has been waiting patiently for almost 3 months. Unfortunately we now need to take this to the next level to get the help we have been paying for, for over 30 years.

For those of you who are remaining loyal to NRMA like we have been all these years, be warned, loyalty does not mean what is used to.

I am so unimpressed with lack of communication and follow-up from NRMA I will be taking my 6 policies elsewhere. The query related to some water damage some 3 years after roof was fully replaced by NRMA on rental property following storm. Minor damage but wanted to know if I should pursue under the previous claim (as water damage was in same place under same window) or a new claim was needed. Took over 9 months - previous repairer had to assess and leak detector report obtained, had to chase all the time, numerous calls unreturned - eventually declined. Requested a review as leak detection report (eventually received) also mentioned problems on 'lifetime guaranteed' roof. I cannot even get a response to multiple emails and online complaint query and not prepared to waste more hours on the phone to be told someone will be in touch and for nothing to happen yet again. They just hope these little annoying people go away and won't bother pursuing. I am appalled by the standard of service offered by NRMA, will be cancelling all my policies in my time and would highly recommend you give them a wide berth.

Most NRMA policyholders are not aware that NRMA has Insurance Laws, Insurance Code of Conduct and Consumer Laws they MUST abide by.
My advise to everyone is do the registration and Licence checks through Fair Trade on everyone NRMA sends to your home and have witnesses when inspections are carried out.
In my experience. I had a claim, NRMA sent out their representative and a report titled 'EXPERT' was submitted to NRMA.
NRMA sent out a plumber that confirmed my claim and a SOW was complied to the value of almost $30,000.
One month later NRMA sent out a so called 'Engineer' the engineer submitted a report 2 weeks later which included an ILLEGAL SOW (not legal definition of a Scope Of Works) which was then sent to the NRMA data analyst who now complied a SOW from another company which devalued the claim by $26,000 to $3,600 less excess $2,600. Based on non FACTUAL information (using terms such as if, but, maybe, possible, likely).
Witnesses have testified that information and recommendations given to us by this 'engineer' were not consistent with the report details.
Alarm bells began to ring for me so I did the Fair Trade Licence and Registration checks. This revealed the so called builders and engineers sent to my home were not the licensed/Registered builders and/or engineer as claimed by the entire NRMA claims department and first level complaints department.
Level 2 Complaints department sent out an 'engineer' this engineer presented a report and the data analyst then devalued the claim down even further... this time to ZERO.
Licence and Registration checks revealed the name of this engineer and the name on his report was not registered with the NER.
Level 2 Complaints department has tried to force a cash settlement in her Final Decision Letter based on the second report without a legal SOW (no itemized details and without a 'written' settlement amount).
This matter is going before AFCA. I advise anyone that has a similar experience and is getting nowhere with NRMA to go to AFCA. This insurance corruption has to stop.

So disappointed with NRMA still waiting for pergola roof to be fixed from hail storm in December. Seem to be trying to get out of paying so not happy and looking at moving all our insurance policies to another company. Ridiculous that we pay all the premium to have cover so they can try not to fix - shame on you!

The waterproofing membrane on my shower walls failed. I thought, that’s fine, I’m covered for water damage to my carpets. No. The NRMA first said that they don’t cover water from a shower recess. Apparently, they define the entire shower cubicle to be the “recess”. Even though it’s not recessed into the walls.
Then to top it off they said they wouldn’t co er faulty or bad workmanship.

It’s unbelievable. They’re completely dishonest. They won’t honour dictionary definitions. They will make any excuse under the sun not to pay out on claims.

I feel as though the NRMA have committed a fraud on me. I’ll be taking my business elsewhere. Just a pity I’m not wealthy enough to sue them for the return of all my premiums I’ve paid to them.

Also, don’t listen to their team. They actually don’t care. Their customer relations team won’t help you either. They’re horrible people in this company.