Following Idalia: How to report Delayed, Denied, and Unfair Treatment by Your Insurance Company in Georgia

In the wake of Hurricane Idalia homeowners who have never filed a claim with their insurance carriers will be treading new ground. We have experience working with insurance carriers, and unfortunately, the carriers sometimes do not perform as they are required by the company’s own contract and Georgia Law. We are experts in this area of law and have attorneys ready to help you with any questions, concerns, and guidance through the process.

One way to involve the State is to file a Complaint with the Georgia Office of Insurance and Fire Safety Commission. The Georgia Office of Insurance and Fire Safety Commissioner has a simple online process for filing your complaint. How the office responds to this Complaint may not be satisfying, but it is important the insured makes a record of the insurance claims that are not properly handled.

If you are certain of your rights, follow the online complaint instructions below if you are upset with your insurance company’s treatment of your claim and have first given your insurer a fair chance to correct its previous misdeeds. As Chip Merlin has explained:

I usually call for giving the insurance company and its claims personnel a fair and quick chance to fix things because anybody can make a mistake. We should first think about Golden Rule before calling the authorities. Sometimes, those bad insurance company adjusters simply have it to coming to them, and those adjusters need to have the regulators looking more closely at them to prevent the bad apple adjusters from ruining the reputation of good and honest insurance adjusters.

Below is the process and resources to file a Georgia Insurance Department Complaint:

Click here to create a Login and set your Password.

You can upload content (this is very helpful) about the claim, and you will be given a complaint ID number. Be ready to type-in/upload the following for a property damage claim:

Your name, address, daytime telephone number, and email address
The exact name of the insurance company
The full name of any agent or adjuster who may be involved
Your policy number
Your claim number
Date of your loss
A concise description of your problems
Copies of all supporting documentation, including invoices, canceled checks, advertising materials, and any letters between you and the company or agent
Emails about the claim
Copies (not the originals) of all supporting documentation, including invoices, canceled checks, advertising materials, and any letters between you and the company or agent, etc.

Keep a copy of the complaint you file and your complaint number.

More general questions about insurance can also be sent using this form.

Georgia still accepts the forms sent in via mail. Submit your completed form by mail at: Georgia Department of Insurance, 2 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Suite 716 West Tower, Atlanta, Georgia 30334, or by fax to: (404)-657-8542.

The Department advises that once the complaint is received, it will do the following:

You will receive an acknowledgment letter, advising who the investigator is and their contact information. Your Case Number shown on the letter is for the issue submitted to the Department. The case number should be used to send additional information to the Department on your case.
If you have future complaints, you will get a new case number, acknowledgment letter, and the new investigator’s name and contact information.
We will notify the company of your complaint and ask for a detailed response. We will send you a copy of the company’s response, with our formal letter regarding the completion of our investigation. Our review will result in one of the following actions:If the complaint has been resolved, we will send you a letter explaining the resolution.If an insurance law has been violated, we will request corrective action by the company.If the company is not abiding by the policy, we will request corrective action.

If the insurer or producer has not responded to all questions or has not investigated the complaint thoroughly, we will require them to do so.

In practice, thus far, our clients have reported that the insurance department does contact the insurance carrier about the issues, but progress, results, and/or claim satisfaction seem to fall short.

If you are not certain of your insurance claim rights or have questions about your policy benefits, please do not hesitate to call Merlin Law Group attorneys. We have attorneys licensed in and practicing in Georgia who will review your case and policy to ensure you are being treated fairly. 

Insurance Policy provisions spell out post-loss obligations that must be satisfied to have a successful claim. Insurance contracts typically have “post-loss” obligations that, if not followed, may cause loss of coverage and benefits. Here at Merlin, we review the policy to make sure your claim is not sidelined by a technical error or violation of these obligations.