DEPP Camera Flood Insurance

[Jim Ernst]

DEPP as made an unauthorized charge of over $300.00 to my charge card. They were not authorized to. It has been two weeks, called and written four times with no response. Going to the Insurance commissioner. Next Buyer Beware unless they can come up with a reason for their failure to business in a timely fashion.

I have had DEPP for years, I WILL NOT RE-UP with them in May when my policy needs to be renewed.

I had my first ever Claim in October, I called DEPP NO response to my call, Took me a month of trying to get hold of them, It has Now been 5 MONTHS and I just got a check for the camera.

People please understand I have defended DEPP on other threads on this board just to turn around and have the very same problem the other posters were having that I defended DEPP against.

In five Months of trying DAILY I had about three responded to E-mails from them and only ONE returned Phone call and that was after getting the owner of my LDS involved.

I also had to call the shop that decides if the camera is junk or fixed Myself after months of no communication from DEPP.:shocked2:

I also had to go and find a replacement camera Myself, no help from DEPP!


I have NEVER had such terrible,Poor, Lousy Customer service anywhere else in my life and I apologize to the people that I told to never go anywhere else but DEPP.

All of my gear is now insured through D.A.N.

DEPP will NEVER get my business again!

Guess what... Dan's H2o Insurance actually answers the phone on the first call, They don't take five Month's.

Don't go with DEPP!

 

[DEPP96]

DEPP is an auto renew program as stated on the original forms and the email or mailed renewal notices. All customers have up until renewal to cancel (all notices are emailed or mailed a month before renewal). We realize these sometimes get spammed or lost in the mail, so we also give 30 days after renewal in which we will give a full credit when we are notified the customer did not wish to renew. The customer in question here has been credited in full.

 

[DEPP96]

Just a small request for me here at DEPP. This customers check was sent to him as payment for his claim several weeks before this post was made. In reference to him having to find the camera on his own it was one of several options given as always. When a camera is discontinued the customer is offered the ability to find the unit they had on their own through E-Bay local store etc. so that they can stay in the same housing, lights or other parts of the system. They are also offered the option of going to a newer model within the price range listed and we will order for them. We do not purchase through Ebay or other unkown sites due to the fact we can not verify the unit is new or even in good condition. The customer chooses this option if they wish. As always we hate to loose any customer, but understand that not having an office full of people to answer the phone each time it rings can be frustrating. As many of you know I run the DEPP program almost alone as I have for the past 10 years. It keeps our cost down and I do at all times try to return all calls. Happy Diving to All! Sandy

 

[Christopher_B]

I bought an Olmypus EPL1 and a wide angle lens in July. It came with a leaflet for DEPP underwater insurance, that i took out. I have had to file claims with them for loss of a fisheye for my compact (stolen by a shark on a shark feed in the Bahamas) and now flood damage. It took two weeks of emailing and unaswered phone calls to be told what the clain procedure for the intial claim was. 9 days have since passed and i have no news regarding this claim, not even a claim number. My e-mails are unanswered again and they have not confirmed receipt of my new claims. I am now without any cameras, and have two assignments in the next five weeks, one in two weeks time. As they do not sent out money to replace goods i can't go out and replace them. I don't want to end up with two cameras arriving in a couple of month's time if i have already replaced them. At present I am rather shocked by their lack of service.
Does anyone know who regulates insurance companies in the US?

 

[stxdiver]

Christopher, You can contact the Kentucky Department of Agency Licensing. The name of the broker is "Innovative Insurance Group", not DEPP. You can also contact the Better Business Bureau in Kentucky.

I have an outstanding claim of over 5 months and I know of others who have even claims that are outstanding even longer.

 

[5615mike]

Just a small request for me here at DEPP. This customers check was sent to him as payment for his claim several weeks before this post was made. In reference to him having to find the camera on his own it was one of several options given as always. When a camera is discontinued the customer is offered the ability to find the unit they had on their own through E-Bay local store etc. so that they can stay in the same housing, lights or other parts of the system. They are also offered the option of going to a newer model within the price range listed and we will order for them. We do not purchase through Ebay or other unkown sites due to the fact we can not verify the unit is new or even in good condition. The customer chooses this option if they wish. As always we hate to loose any customer, but understand that not having an office full of people to answer the phone each time it rings can be frustrating. As many of you know I run the DEPP program almost alone as I have for the past 10 years. It keeps our cost down and I do at all times try to return all calls. Happy Diving to All! Sandy

Well obviously things have changed because in my case none of these things happened. I was sent a check over 90 days after the claim was approved for payment by Deane Lehment, the President of DEPP. I emailed him and Sandy direct more than 20 times after the claim was approved trying to get an explanation of how the claim was valuation was calculated. Mr. Lehment said he would personally look into it and get back to me. I never heard from him again. I continued to request documentation of the calcuations of claim settlement. Still to this day I have nothing. I was given no choice regarding my camera since it was an Oly 5060 and out of production. This weekend I will post the reply that I got from the President regarding DEPPS options on how they settle your claim. IT IS NOT A REPLACEMENT COST Policy so if you think it is..........THINK AGAIN. My housing had repairs that were to cost $115. I wont go into the entire mess but Mr. Lehrment was to get a those costs paid to me rather than repair my housing which would now be obsolete for me with no camera so the $115 would at least go towards a new housing for a new rig. Well, I got a check for the camera but I have yet to receive the check for the housing repairs of $115. Im not surprised and I know it will never show up. I continue to send Mr. Lehrment emails and for the last two weeks I get error messages that the email address is in error and does not exist. Every email I send I cc: Sandy as well. I dont get any errors on her email address but do I receive any return correspondance from her.........no. This kind of customer service I have found by reading on SB is not unusual as many have been ignored as well. That is no way to operate a business. I have been an insurance broker for over 25 years and if I treated my clients that way I would not have ANY clients. Look for my next post when I have time to post Pres's response on the claim settlement choices the INSURANCE COMPANY has..

 

[Nemrod]

Look, the way the insurance game works and makes a profit is that the insurance company gets your money and then keeps it and only by the hardest do they give it back to you, no matter if it is a camera or a motorcycle or a boat or a broken leg. When you finally do get your money back from them they rate you a higher risk and raise the rates they charge you for keeping YOUR money.

On small items, less than life altering amounts of money, oh, say, a P&S camera in a housing with a few lenses, I self insure it, in other words if I flood it or loose it, I cry, pout, sulk and then go buy me another one and try to do better next time around.

What goes up generally must come down and what goes down, underwater, generally, eventually will get wet. Count on it flooding and then be joyfully surprised when the rig does not flood, like this, "Wow, I am so fortunate, I get to make another dive with my camera, lucky me."

N

 

[stxdiver]

I continue to send Mr. Lehrment emails and for the last two weeks I get error messages that the email address is in error and does not exist. Every email I send I cc: Sandy as well. I don't get any errors on her email address but do I receive any return correspondence from her.........no.

I have the same experience, messages to Deane Lehrmitt bounces and emails to Sandy Hall nor Dixie Lehrmitt are not being responded to.

Some of the earlier replies I have been sent months ago included some interesting choices of words. I have refrained from posting them so far, in the hope that there is some natural explanation to all this. However, it is hard to hold out hope that all is well with the company after 5 months of inaction, bouncing emails etc

 

[charlesml3]

Wow. Glad I read this thread before buying DEPP insurance. Does anyone else offer flood insurance for cameras?

-Charles

 

[stxdiver]

Yes, DAN does.