HomeFirst Agency, Inc. Clayton Homes Let The Nightmare Begin Maryville Tennessee

My husband and I live in a manufactured (mobile home) that we bought new about 5 years ago. While cleaning recently, we discovered that there was water damage to part of the drywall and floor underneath a window in our living room. The floor has a soft spot that has actually separated from the wall and we can feel the outside air coming in. Upon further investigation we also found this same type of damage in one of our bedrooms, which is located on the same side of our home. Both floors have carpet over them.  We immediately contacted our homeowners insurance company (HomeFirst Agency Inc. of Maryville, Tennessee) and they sent an inspector out to our home to take pictures. The inspector said he couldn't be sure of what caused the damage, but that the insurance would probably not cover it and then tried to explain to us how we could fix it ourselves.  

That same day we contacted the Clayton Homes dealership where we purchased the home, and requested that one of their construction subcontractors take a look at the damage. The subcontractor came to look at the damage that same day, and said it was probably caused by water entering the home BEHIND the gutters and he found a place on the outside of our home...behind the vinyl siding...where there was a large water spot on the plywood. He gave us us a detailed explanation of how the damage could be fixed, along with an estimate for repairs, which we faxed to our insurance adjuster the next day.

We finally heard from our adjuster (Mr. Barry Wiliams) via phone call on May 2, 2014, and he informed us that our claim had been denied. His excuse was that the damage was not covered under our policy, because it was not storm related damage. We disagree because we do not know for sure that it wasn't caused by storms, since we have had several bad ones in the last few months. It is our intent to pursue this as a BREACH OF CONTRACT CLAIM, and a FAILURE TO REASONABLY SETTLE, however we are willing to give HomeFirst Insurance Agency an opportunity to reverse their decision before we take further legal action. We also have a mortgage (Vanderbilt Finance) on this home, therefore we expect the repairs to be done professionally and in a timely manner, to avoid any further damage to a home we are still paying for. We need and deserve a safe place in which to live, without worrying about rodents coming in through the holes, and/or the floors eventually sinking in to the ground below. The repairs for the damage to our home is a job for an experienced professional, NOT do-it-yourselfers as we were advised, and this is the reason we have been paying for homeowner insurance ever since we purchased our home 6 years ago.

One final comment...people need to be aware that the homeowners insurance company, HomeFirst Agency Inc, of Maryville, Tennessee, is owned by Clayton Homes.  This was not disclosed to us when we purchased our home, or we would have looked elsewhere for insurance coverage, due to a conflict of interest.