my camera insurance paid off!!!

[d56nut]

Hi All,

Good News and Bad News...

We went to Cozumel from May 23 - 30th. AWESOME!!! On our very last dive I lost my Canon Powershot 400 Elph with Canon WP-DC800 Housing!!! YIKES!!! I was devestated. It was bad enough to lose the camera but it had over 300 pics on the compact flash card!!!

I filed a claim with the insurance company (their site is www.h2oinsurance.com ) on Monday (the 31st). I claimed the camera, the case, and the compact flash card. I got a response on Tuesday (filed on line and corresponded via email and phone and fax) asking for copies of my receipts and copies of quotes/estimates for replacement. I faxed all the requested info on Thursday Morning. I received an email Thursday afternoon letting me know that my claim had been processed and the check is in the mail!!!! Can't believe it is taken care of this fast! When we filed the claim we weren't sure what the deductible would be...there are two different deductibles...one says Deductible 100.00 and the other says Water Deductible 250.00. We were charged for the 100.00. I believe the water deductible is only for flooding of cameras.

So, a few lessons learned:

1. My new camera (which is on the way...and I'm upgrading to a 5.0) will definitely be attached to me more securley!!! I only had a wrist strap on the first one.

2. I will buy several smaller flash cards instead of the 512mb that I had. If I would have had 4 of the 128mb's at least some of my pics would have been back in the hotel room and all would not have been lost.

3. I will ALWAYS keep all my gear insured!!! Total value of loss was 735.01...check on the way for 635.01 one week after incident!!!

Now, more good news! Hubby had his sealife reefmaster with strobe along for most of the dives. He got some good shots and I'll post some as soon as I get everything loaded on to my computer!!!

 

[Kim]

Congratulations! I just wish that I could get that type of insurance in Japan!

 

[Dee]

It always pays to have insurance, no matter who the carrier is! Glad it worked out so well. Now you've got new toys to play with!!

 

[RockyHeap]

What does the insurance policy cost annually? I assume the charge is on a scale per replacement value?

I'm sure you remember I recently had a Nikon 4300 slip away from me, so the next $600 dive camera purchase WILL be insured.

 

[marpacifica]

Sorry you lost your camera and pics, but I'm glad to hear that h20ins came through.

I use the same insurance company and I just noticed that my policy says there's an exclusion for items that "wash overboard" or that are lost while in your care, such as if a wave hits the boat and the camera goes overboard or if the loss is from your own negligence. Seems like these are the things that I thought I was buying the insurance for so I wonder if the ins. co. is making a killing by enforcing this clause or if it's just paying the majority of claims and investigating only the fishy ones. Just a thought.

 

[Dee]

Mar...that's one of the clauses that turned me off H2O insurance. My DEPP policy covers any type of loss. If my gear gets 'washed overboard', or anything that could happen to my camera, all I need to do is provide a letter from the boat captain confirming what happened.

 

[marpacifica]

Dee, looks like I'll be checking out DEPP when renewal time comes around!

Rocky, the rates for H20 are about $250/yr per $10,000 or coverage. That should be enough for a small family's worth of dive gear or barely enough for a digital SLR camera with aluminum housing and all the fixins.....

 

[Wristshot]

Michelle,

Glad to hear you got reimbursed.

I will be in Cozumel in July, where should I be looking for your old camera?

Wristshot

 

[Randyp1234]

Sorry you lost your camera and pics, but I'm glad to hear that h20ins came through.

I use the same insurance company and I just noticed that my policy says there's an exclusion for items that "wash overboard" or that are lost while in your care, such as if a wave hits the boat and the camera goes overboard or if the loss is from your own negligence. Seems like these are the things that I thought I was buying the insurance for so I wonder if the ins. co. is making a killing by enforcing this clause or if it's just paying the majority of claims and investigating only the fishy ones. Just a thought.

I was thinking the same thing. I even emailed them and asked them “what about an emergency situation where you had to ditch the camera for safety?” They said they wouldn’t cover it. Which I thought was especially odd since this is a DAN policy. :06:

 

[d56nut]

As of right now we have about 2000 bucks worth of gear and that includes 2 cameras. The cost for the insurance was 99.00. The person that handled my claim never asked me any questions...the claim was approved. I was surprised that they didn't charge me for the "water" deductible since I lost the camera in the "water". The "water" deductible is 250.00. I was only charged the regular deductible of 100.00. At least for now, I'm really happy with this company!

Michelle