Insurance difficulties cause more headaches for flood-impacted Rochester residents

Some are displaced, others face months of repairs before their homes are livable. Some are only just finding out their houses will need to be demolished.

Rochester Community House manager Amanda Logie said during the flood event and initial clean up the town was united. However, now people are having very different experiences when it comes to insurance.

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"At the very beginning, we we're all on the same page," she said. "Now some people are having great success with their insurance companies... but we do have people who are having difficulties with their insurance companies.

"Just little things are popping up, things missing out of scope of work [documents] and cash payment offers that have been considerably low.

"We're talking with other organisations and departments that are more suited to advocating on and supporting."

One Rochester resident said they had about five people assess damage at their home for over a month before any progress was made.

"We had a month just totally wasted because there was a disconnect between the actual insurer and the companies that they subcontract out to do assessments," the resident said.

Some home owners have not been supplied dehumidifiers, a "major oversight" by insurance companies which has allowed mould to grow as houses remain wet, according to a resident.

There are calls for insurance companies to cover the costs of constantly running air conditioners, fans and dehumidifiers to dry houses out, even when they are not being lived in, and delays in insurance assessments have led to fears irreparable damage may occur.

Another concern raised is the language used by assessors in the insurance process, leading many people to be "bamboozled".

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"[Our first assessor] quoted a low-ball figure of up to $300,000 or something like that," a resident said.

"However, when our actual insurer turned up this week and I brought that up, they were not impressed in any way because his whole statement about the flood insurance was incorrect."

The resident said his insurance covers a full building replacement, no matter the cost.

"The first guy created unnecessary stuff that you think about and stress over and it wasn't even his field," he said.

The resident said they are worried more people are being lowballed and not following up to correct any errors.

Rochester Business Network president Glenda Nichols said insurance companies have been very good at helping people, however people need to ensure they are paying close attention to detail when making claims.

"Some people are just not writing down the job, the points, and they're going back thinking they've got everything," she said.

"They've missed something and then they get frustrated because of course they thought 'oh, I'm here today, I'm going to get my money approved' and they haven't followed the steps through."

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She said it's important people understand exactly what insurance and assessors are asking of you.

"People sometimes felt a bit rushed," she said. "I believe they need to take a second person with them and write things down of what they say, write notes."

Early on in the response to the flood, the Rochester Racecourse Recreation Reserve, or 4Rs, was packed with up to 15 support services, including insurance and telecommunication providers.

Now, the room is quiet with many businesses closing for Christmas.

"The big issue we have now is those insurance assessors and those insurance officers are not there on the other side of the table," Ms Nichols said.

"The minute they turned up at the 4Rs, we were dealing over the table and we progressed very quickly.

"They've now gone, so we are now back to the stage of the phone calls... I really think we need people [there]."

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Ms Nichols said there are about 800 homes in need of repairs in Rochester alone, and builders are worried about being inundated with phone calls.

"They don't want 800 people ringing them, they're never going to get any work done," she said. "We have to come up with a phone listing or something for people to ring.

"I know my tradespeople don't wanna be on a list that 800 people are going to ring. We haven't got the answer to it yet, but we need the answer."

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