Claims delayed or denied? Policies cancelled? Stumped by confusing policy language? If you’re not sure if we can help you, it is always a good idea to call us. We answer hundreds of insurance questions every day. When needed, we also contact companies about complaints. We’ll review your issues, and if we can’t help you, we’ll point you in the right direction for further assistance. Call our toll-free Insurance Consumer Hotline at 800-562-6900.

What we can do:

• Forward a copy of your complaint to the insurance company and require the company to provide a response/explanation for their action(s).
• Review the company’s response for compliance with applicable Washington state insurance law and policy requirements.
• Look at what caused your problem and collect data, which helps find patterns of problems that may be used to evaluate the general conduct of an insurer in the market place.
• Serve as an advocate to try to help resolve your insurance concerns.
• Try to reopen the lines of communication between you and the company with the hope your problem can be resolved.
• Request the company take corrective action if we determine that the company’s position does not comply with Washington State insurance law.
• Help you understand your insurance policy and your rights.
• Recommend courses of action or procedures you can take to resolve your problem if we don’t have the legal right to resolve it ourselves.

What we can’t do:

• Act as your lawyer or give you legal advice.
• Make medical judgments or determine if further treatment is necessary.
• Make liability decisions or determine who is at fault.
• Establish the facts surrounding a claim (such as who is being truthful when there are differing accounts of what happened).
• Determine the value of a claim or the amount owed to you.
• Act as your adjuster.
• Address issues we don’t have the legal right or authority within our agency to enforce.
• Order a company to pay a claim, refund a premium or reinstate or issue a policy. In some cases we can encourage a company to reconsider their position, especially if they’ve made an error.
  

Updated 04/12/2013