SGIO Home & Contents Insurance

Sgio Are you Serious how when your builder’s did the damages.. and he als under assessed our home!! – Hello Peeps We are loyal paid up customer’s who have minimal claims I beleive 3 in 28years and counting to date our problem’s started when Sgio’s Builders Tandem were supposed to attend in 2010 and were a no show till four days after storm claim made they told us we will have propane heaters delivered the same day to start the drying process of… Read more

our home, we had lived with water logged carpet curtains etc stinking remove by us and cleaned up by Us ! When they did finally send out the builder we were chastised for what we had done we had no right to touch the damages in our home Mmm. And repair work done was done well under par forward to 2020 Another storm claim submitted for damaged eves at 10k Sgio then send out the same builder rep G from Tandem building who attended in 2010 to assess the damages he starts by hammering open eaves asked why not slide tiles back he told us he’s the builder we’re not he then l left the eaves broken in two locations on house open for wind blow through 6months later,after multiple complaint calls Sgio send out a handyman out to enclose eaves, by then to late as it caused our ceilings to Sag and our a/c duct duct damaged insulation all blown to one side of ceiling dropping cracking etc we were forced to take cash settlement of 45k for all the damages as they Sgio had sacked the builder [Name Removed] and about 34 of his staff members all on 457 work visa imported into Australia by Sgio after the storms in 2010 .So after we spoke to the owner!! of the building co Tandem who said him and Sgio will work out a compensation package for us considering our the position we were put in was not any doing of ours and in saying that there are 130 plus residential homes that had shonky work repairs done and that $200 plus million plus on heritage buildings and the like so on that basis we would need to be compensated and that never happened sgio also told us to stay insured and keep in touch with any changes ie lack access too trades and material costs rising all raised by us with Sgio and builder in same conversation re compensation and damages in which we have. So today they told us to take it up with Afca!!.So Sgio we’re not very helpful at all to deal with the eave claim, let alone the $35k plus damage side of the claim that were caused by Sgio’s builder Tandem To our home so we then produced a Structual engineers report to get a call from the engineer stating that Sgio have just called me and asked me to change my report?!! are you serious I raised that with senior specialist claim mananger’s to all three now four of them they all deny that was stated! Mmmm strange way of doing business be careful who you Intrust to insure your Home and content.. we moved four cars and a boat from Sgio because of the way they were handling our claim and are wanting to dealing with it internally which raises even more concerns to us I would think Sgio SHAREHOLDERS might have a bit to say one would be thinking so off to Afca we went Good on ya Sgio nrma I tag or who you are trading under??? Regards from a very unhappy loyal customer of 28years

Rubbish service- the usual bull* "we are experiencing more calls than normal" – 45 minutes on hold to try to change a minor item with my current insurance, truly terrible and on a par with the worst of govt departements. One plus though- I got to read other reviews about how bad SGIO has become since it was taken over by NRMA. So those reviews plus the terrible customer services mean I am now looking at other insurers. Show details

Settled my claim immediately and correctly – I had some storm damage to my fence during the recent storm. SGIO asked me to get 2 quotes and promptly paid me half the amount of the cheaper quote minus my excess. The other half of the claim is to be paid by my neighbour as per the rules. They have also provided a temporary fence till repairs are completed. Show details ·  1

100 % happy with SGIO – For whatever reason ( change of job etc ) I had failed to make three payments on my house insurance . About 40 metres of fencing fell down because of bad weather. On ringing them I was told I hadn’t made a payment in 3 months . I told them to restart my insurance in case more damage was to happen . They rang me back and said they would pay for my… Read more ·  1

fence to be fixed as I was a long term customer . You cannot beat that for service . The bill was close to 8,000 dollars . I couldn’t believe they looked after me . I will stay with them for the rest of my life ...

Des Kane

Eaton

Western Australia

Assessor were great and on time and polite but still waitng to hear what happens next from SGIO so s – not happy assessors were great and very polite and quick and on time but I don't know what happens next SGIO have not followed up with a phone call or to let me know what happens next and its been over 3 and half weeks .Its The first time I have ever claimed and I have been with them for 30 or 40 years. All I want to have is a phone call telling me the assessors have got back to them and to tell me what happens next  Show details

Dishonest With Landlord Insurance Damage Claim – If find SGIO which is now acquired by NRMA very dishonest and horrible to deal with when it comes to them reimbursing me back for the amount I genuinely spent to repair the storm damage to our investment property roof tile that happen since mid-December last year. I provide them with pictures of the state of the roof when the damage occurred and… Read more

after the damage was repaired. I even send them proof of the tax invoice of the payment that I made out to the roof tile repairer. Despite I was open and honest with SGIO on this whole process they were still reluctant in reimbursing me for a sum of $1660 that I paid the repairer. I spoke to 5 or 6 different SGIO claim team and they all advised me that my claim is processed and the fund will be in my account within 3 to 5 working days. At the end they were all lying and their promises or word has no VALUE AT ALL because every time that I call them again to complain that I haven't received the promised fund their staffs in the claim team will tell me nothing is being processed yet. Have being going through this process with them for two months now and this issue has not been fully resolved as at the time am writing this review. For anyone who cares about their mental health and who is looking for an insurance company that does the right thing without not stressing themselves when damage happen to their insured property or item, THEY SHOULD COMPLETELY AVIOD DEALING WITH SGIO OR NRMA BECAUSE THEY ARE SO DISHONEST AND WILL PUT YOU THROUGH HELL FOR THEM TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT FOR YOU. DUE TO THIS HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE HAVE HAD WITH THIS COMPANY AM CANCELLING ALL OUR POLICY WITH THEM.

Likely to switch given the takeover by NMRA – I have been with SGIO in WA since buying my house 15 years ago. Previously, they were pretty responsive. Recently, a patio roof was dislodged due to a sudden upshot of wind. Their inspection report makes no mention of an obvious dislodgement of the guttering. I had to ask for a copy of the report to be sent - which stated that the covering, that… Read more

has withstood many years, was not built properly, but that the dislodgement was due to the weather. This was not mentioned during the conversation. The event occurred in November ‘22. Whilst a makesafe team came out and removed the loose sheeting, clearly this was not adequate… a lighter wind later started to lift another panel about 2 weeks later. I was told 26/12/22 - via online follow up - that someone would call me the following day…nope! I called on the 29th Dec…have been offered $1200 (less $500 excess). Had to ask for assessment report to be sent to me. Came here and have read these reviews… Thinking the takeover may be cause to switch to RAC.

Please, if you are an SGIO/NMRA agent responding to this, don’t bother if it is more generic wish-wash without action.

Sequel to "Right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing." – After 3 attempts at trying to get an answer of some sort regarding my home insurance claim for a fallen fence, I finally am told that my claim was disallowed. Thats right, disallowed. Don't you hate that word. I digress. So, from the date I lodged my claim, 14th of September, to today, the 31st of October, that's 43 days, that's right, 43 days to… Read more

finally advise me that my claim was knocked back, as they say in the classics. And here's me, waiting like the good, loyal customer of 31 years, that I am, thinking maybe, with COVID and all that, these kind of delays were inevitable. But, at the 38 day mark I thought, enough is enough and decided to contact SGIO, with no success, might I add. And then came the bad news, "DISALLOWED". Don't you hate that word. 31 years, I have waisted on this insurance company called SGIO, my local insurer. For most of those 31 years, they never failed me, only helped me, always going out of their way to make contact, after the repair works, to ensure that all went well and I was satisfied with the work(s). However, on this occasion, they have let me down badly. My insurance business may need to go elsewhere, as loyalty has it's boundaries. Ps. I worked for this company many years ago, when it was still owned by the Western Australian government. The State Government Insurance Office, as it was known. It was then, and has been, a very good insurance company, right up until NRMA became the main player in the partnership and then, customer service went down hill. So, to all Western Australian SGIO customers, think carefully about staying with them. Them, no longer have anyone in our state to talk to. I thought they still were in good old Balcatta, north of Perth. Instead, I went from India to the Philippines and back again, during my 3 telephone conversations. Maybe SGIO owe me some frequent flyer points. "LOCAL NO MORE", thanks to NRMA.

Find another insurer – SGIC obviously don't value their customers. Wanted to cancel a home & contents policy due to a property sale only to incur a cancellation fee. Will not renew all other policies. Show details

Disappointed long time customer – Our ceilings collapsed after 20 years without any signs of sagging etc. Now that we need help from SGIO to get our ceilings fixed, they found a way to get out it. Extremely disappointed after paying SGIO for 22 years and no claims.  Show details

Horrendous experience – Our experience with SGIO regarding an ongoing claim has been horrendous. Our claim for a fallen down fence was logged 21st December 2020, and at the time of writing (6th Jan 2021) we have only received a claim number - NOTHING ELSE!! I’ve sent a follow up email to them which received an automatic follow up but still no reply. Furthermore, the… Read more

claims department is only open till 5PM AEST which means if calling in the afternoon from my state, they are closed.

Absolutely appalling service.

Horrible experience – I have had my insurance with SGIO for 17 years and when I went to claim an itemised item they offered me 1/3 of the amount I have specified it to be covered for. They claim that that is the retail price. They have happily taken my premium off me for 17 years calculated on a specified amount however when it comes time to pay up they want to rip you… Read more

off. Appalling service from staff who shoot themselves in the foot with the info they give out. I have been referred to Page 62 of their Product Disclosure Statement, which I could not be happier about, as it states one of the options of paying your claim is to “pay you the sum insured”. Not too sure if they have actually read it. Cannot wait to leave this company.

Quick to take money claim still not resolved – Frustrated at dealing with SGIO. my claim has been in for over a month now and still no resolution. I have sent in complaints but no-one is bothering to get back. I have been with SGIO for 22 years, as they say you insurance company is only as good as your first claim Show details

Good if you don't need to make any claims – SGIO takes weeks to process claims that takes RAC less than a day to approve after receiving the quote. I submitted a storm damage claim for a damaged fence on May 7. It's now June 5. RAC approved my neighbour to cash settle within a day of receiving the repair quote. Meanwhile SGIO takes more than 11 days to reply to my email saying I agree to… Read more

their cash settlement offer. It looks like the customer service is done offshore and they're overwhelmed and the claims manager can't take 5 minutes to call their customers. Each time I want to talk to the claims manager, I'm told to wait 24-48 hours - and he might or might not call. And oh yes, the customer support person understands my frustration as they're a customer too. Empathy's good but I prefer action. FYI I gave SGIO a chance to mediate this review on productreview.com 3 days ago but have heard nothing.

Claims process worked ok but premiums are very expensive – After 20 years of no claims I had recently had to claim twice for storm damage in the last 12 months. The claims process wasn't too bad and I was paid out without too much hassle at all which was impressive. The only reason I didn't give it a 4+ star review was because I found the premiums extremely expensive, even though I had all the bonuses… Read more

and discounts applied. I was able to get home insurance quote with another company which was basically 60% of what SGIO was charging me.

SGIO I found overvalued the cost of rebuilding my home by a considerable amount (hence the premiums were expensive). They claimed the cost would be well over $600,000 (about $140,000 more than a rival insurance company) to rebuild my house, yet a real estate valuer had put a value of $550,000 on both my home and land!! (not just the house).

I did try to get the SGIO website to reduce it but when I did it kept warning me my house was undervalued and it became too painful.

TIME FOR ACHANGE – Claim accepted...Assessor came out. Nothing further till I phoned..on hold for almost an hour. Then told that my claim wasnt to be processed. Been with for 20 years...RAC has been recommended so many times to me. Always stuck up for SGIO. TIME FOR A CHANGE. Show details

Avoid at all costs – Window broken in kitchen. You'd think this would be an easy and simple claim but not with SGIO. I phoned early the morning after the window was broken and was told a builder will be in touch. I got a text later that day saying an assessor would come to view the window in 3 days time. At this point we had shards of glass hanging from the wind over… Read more

our kitchen sink no-one mentions what we should do about this highly dangerous situation not to mention security of our home. I phoned SGIO back and they agreed to send a 'Tradesman' to make the window safe. So 48 hours after the original breakage this "tradesman"comes to repair the window. My sons and I were sitting in the kitchen eating lunch. This man chipped at the window sending pieces of glass flying into the kitchen and into the sink and dishes. He wore no protective equipment not even eye protection. He placed a board which was too large leaving exposed shards of glass around the window frame and a gap where flies and weather could come in but at least we had a board over the window. At this Point I expected a repair in the next day or two. Three days later and assessor came to assess the damage - for a simple broken window. A further ten days later now two weeks after the original breakage I still had now heard anything regarding repairs. I ring SGIO 'Oh sorry it hasn't been approved yet needs to go to our claims team.' Informed later the same day claim is approved - Great repairs will happen now. No, I have to wait for a scope of works letter from their builder. Wait two days then ring builder. Builder says we've emailed scope of works. Wait 24 hours no email. Ring again. Builder emails scope of works - for a broken window. I am expected to print and sign the scope of works and send back to the builder along with my payment of $100.00 excess required before they will schedule the job. I enquire - 'once I pay the money when will the window be repaired?' 2 - 3 weeks! They seriously think it's acceptable to keep a family waiting 5 weeks for a simple window repair. The only Information I kept getting from SGIO was that I would have to pay the excess and they would be increasing our premium. Ended up paying for a local repairer to repair the window they came the same day. Thanks for nothing SGIO. Will definitely be changing insurer.

Very poor service – Have home and contents insurance with SGIO , had a roof leak which damaged the make anymore and now not interested in replacing ceiling . All they want to do is pay out a small amount and said you can fit it yourself . To repair it properly all the ceiling should be replace but after talking to the woman on the phone ,the answer is no we will only… Read more

pay you to replace that section. My policy is old for new but all they want to do is not repair properly. I also have several policies with them but !!!

unbelievable poor service – SGIO only wants to fix half my lino and match best they can there rest so will end up with two different types of lino unbelievable poor service sgio used to be such a good company will look at cancelling and changing companies after being with them for 20 plus years Show details

Still waiting – My home was broken into 4 weeks ago! The claims process has completely stalled! Called multiple times to have it escalated and was told each time id be contacted by the end of the day and it NEVER happens! We are a family of 5 and are still without hot water, our property is still unsecured, and my stolen goods look like they have to be replaced… Read more

out of my own pocket if this goes on for much longer. We never miss a payment, never object to the constant rises in premiums and this is how we are treated when we most need the service we PAY for!

Terrible service – I have 5 policies with SGIO and have been with them for 16 years. When I recieved my home and contents insurance for $1915 (with portable cover for wife’s engagement ring) i thought id double check it was competitive. Turns out i can get the exact same for $1620 with RAC (thats before i even switch the other 3 polices to RAC) Thinking id still… Read more

give SGIO the opportunity, i called them twice. The first the generic number which put me through to india where the lady wasted my time.....pretending to actually care but just read through ‘generic question prompt’. To the stage its clear the list of questions is more directed at if i was asking about my premium vs what i paid last year. Ended up reducing to $1771 ( a reduction but still no where near $1620).

The second call was to an Australian phone number but redirected to South Africa..... great. Ill give them credit for standardisation...... they obviously use the sane generic question prompts. This time telling me though “i have to pretend to go through your policy before offering you a discount so they can see my userid has accessed the policy”. Funnily enough my house still has the same number of bedrooms/bathrooms etc.......again finally coming to $1771.

Simple....... my 5 policies will all be cancelled!

Home Insurance - Many things not covered, poor service, high excess – Been with SGIO home and content insurance for 3 years insuring our brand new home. Last year in Perth there were lots of strong winds and rain, hence we have storm damage. Reported in september that we have damage at roof which cause damage to our timber floor. The building assessor did not bring a ladder and he said he wasn't allowed to go up the… Read more

roof for safety. 1 month later our claim was rejected due to construction problem. We contested this as the report was vague due to the guy not able to go up the roof. The lady we dealt with went on leave and we waited a month, there was no one else that will speak to us. The call centre is in South Africa somewhere and they are all difficult to understand due to accent. They do not understand building construction and just make random comments, no emphaty and just read everything of the script they have been coached. The case progress with SGIO lady accusing us not looking after our property so it's not covered by the policy. It is apparently our responsibility that every bits of our house is regularly checked and maintained every single second. So if your house is old and roof fly off, then it's not covered as you have not make effort to replace the beams, replace purlins, etc. If your window rubber seal worn off and water gets in, then it's not covered. I checked this statement with the SGIO lady and she confirmed true as shown black in white in the policy she said. In our case, silicone that worn off, so it's my fault not climbing my 2 storey home to maintain them. Hence, not covered. I told her if i need to check every single bits and bobs of the house, what;s the point of having insurance.

We have other home with other insurance before and they cover the internal damage should it be deemed construction faulty. But SGIO policy will not cover construction fault, not even the interior damage.

At the end took us till January (4 months) and our claim was again rejected. When I confront the SGIO lady why it took so long to respond, she said by guidelines she was entitled to 2 weeks to respond. In average she took 3-4 weeks to respond to us each correspondence.

So I cancelled the policy and moved on. I advised all family, friends and colleague and many of them have since changed to other insurance. The damage to our property is minor, been estimated about $1000 to $1500, plus we have to pay high excess of $750. Such small claim, took 4 months and rejected! Such a scam.

WARNING: if you don't look after every bits of your house and water comes in, then it's not covered. Old windows, water gets in, not covered! If it's construction fault, every other insurance will cover the internal damage as long as the builder fix the outside. SGIO will not cover anything at all! Look for insurance company with Local call centres, not somewhere in Africa with people hard to understand and do not even have local house construction knowledge. Took me a while to explain gutter, flashing, etc.

Everyone Stay away be aware – Made a landlord claim. It was accepted but I was told that I had to pay everything up front then they would reimburse me. It was all recorded on the phone twice. They reneged on the deal for a huge amount of money. They ripped off a hard working young family. They didn't care at all. I took it all the way to the ombudsman and didn't have enough… Read more

evidence. They couldn't even send an assessor out to have a look. I was told to send photos into them. Almost lost my investment property over these mongrels. Stay clear of them. Hope they rott

SGIO Premium increase without information – I have had various policies with SGIO for over 20 years. I currently have two home policies. Recently I received an email which showed that the amount that I was paying monthly had increased by 16%. NO EXPLANATION! When you ring the Service Centre (located in South Africa) the rude lady will inform you that they have increased the value of your… Read more

home (without notifying you) and you should read your policy document which explains that they can do that.

SGIO are about to lose two policies and I will switch to RAC who are cheaper and have a call centre in Australia and who have workers who pay tax in Australia unlike SGIO who give jobs overseas to increase their profit margin!

9th September still no tv with accidental cover now 19th October – 10 years still no tv for 8 weeks claim dept so slow and staff no empathy told 2 weeks ago claim finalist just told today manager only signed off on the 15th October  Show details

Storm damage- terrible – One of my rentals was recently damaged by a storm. I tried to organise repairs but sgio is evidence you get what you pay for. They botched it, didnt tell me a thing and hired so home handyman who was incompetent and actually started ringing my real estate agents, tenants and people without authority. Tenants were away and i clearly said to the… Read more

useless people at sgio i was away for work and please email me. Instead they dont contract me at all but i have everyone from the tenants to my real estate and neighbours ringing me because joe handyman is at the property ringing people and asking the neighbours when my tenants are. I am now waiting for the call the house had been broken into from this muppet telling everyone my tenants are away.

I truely don’t believe sgio screen in any way the people that do their repairs or as way this cause assess the damage!

Avoid SGIO unless you want headaches, drama and to end up doing it yourself.

Expensive & poor customer service – I have been with SGIO over a few years new. Reviewed my policy and noticed that it's quite costly so I called the call centre. Found out they most likely have shifted their call centre overseas because the lady who took my call wasn't very helpful and wasted almost 20mins of my time. My enquiry was purely on whether if they can provide… Read more

further discount on my policy and she made me reviewed my entire policy with her and kept saying it was important and only to tell me in the end that all the discounts have already been applied.

Was extremely frustrated after hearing that. Also she didn't really seem to know much about their product but I won't go into details regarding that online.

I'm now looking elsewhere because I know I can get the same policy for at least $200 cheaper.

The worst company to deal with ever STAY AWAY!!!! – I have been with SGIO as a landlord for 15 years I put in a claim for a rental property worth $2500 as quoted by their builder my excess was $500. They knocked back the claim saying it was maintenance issue even though July had a number of storms. I could have saved my premiums for the last 15 years, and had money in the bank. Do not deal with this crowd, they'll take your premium but wont pay you a cent if they can get out of it.  Show details

worst experianse of my life – been 7 months at least still not paid been to interviews given all they could ask for and being treated like im doing insurance fraud stay away from SGIO THEY DONT LIKE TO PAY  Show details

EXPENSIVE - massive increases in payments – Just received my home and contents renewal and the monthly payments have gone up from $150.26 to $176.86. When I checked on the policy it says my replacement value of our house was $668,000.00.....I know this includes total replacement of fences etc but that is ridiculous. The policy amount was $2120.00. I asked them to lower the replacement… Read more

value to around $400,000 as that is more acceptable and their charge was around $1700. I contacted the RAC and their price was $845. I have now moved to the RAC and will do so for my car too as SGIO are charging me $779.57 and RAC $339.31. Between these 2 policies I am saving by moving to the RAC - $1714.16. I cannot believe that I have not checked this previously. The call centre is in South Africa and they didn't even know my suburb saying it did not exist in a previous live chat. I have been with SGIO for years and I am very disappointed that they have been charging such high amounts to their customers. On reading reviews today I have noticed a very similar response from many others who are moving away due to extremely high prices.

Taking advantage. Completely criminal – I was busy when I first bought my home and got the first insurance I googled. Big mistake. Completely my fault for being busy and not double checking to see that I was being ripped off. Finally I look into it and they are charging me a stupid amount for insurance for my house. $180,000 more than what the house and land is worth!!!! $1000 a year… Read more

more than any other insurance I could find. I am so angry. Their calculator told me that was what I needed to be insured at... And I was stupid to not double check that over the years the 'value' they put on a rebuild had gone up $150,000. My rebuild amount according to their calculator was $665,000!!!! I called up furious when I finally looked at the policy I stupidly just kept paying for to be insured. The premiums kept going up and as long as I didn't notice. They kept ripping me off. Please do not use this insurance company. They bled me for not checking and couldn't account for how they again calculate a rebuild at $180,000 more than what my entire house and land is worth. I'm an idiot for being too busy. But they are crooks. I now pay %50 cheaper through rac.

What can I say They are Brilliant, SGIO are the best insurers. I will always insure with them – SGIO will always have my support I cannot praise them more highly. Thank You For all that has been done, with the best contractors on board. Swift professional service and always with a smile  Show details

Massive increase to premiums – We were customers of SGIO for 7 years with Home and contents insurance. In that time we have never made a claim. Recently our annual policy renewal arrived - Imagine my disbelief when I noticed the cost had increased 500%, from $1200 a year to $6500 a year!! When we rang to ask for an explanation, there basically wasn’t one, just pay an… Read more

exorbitant premium or don’t. We chose don’t and I suggest that others don’t as well. This company shows no loyalty to long term customers and can’t explain why such an increase occurred.

Bad customer service – After 10 years my policy lapsed due to banking changes. When I sort to renew the policy was more expensive and I had a 72 hour Storm exclusion policy added. Terrible expensive company with bad customer service.  Show details