CORNELIUS, NC – After a fire destroyed a Cornelius apartment building, the people who live there are doing their best to move on.
Channel 9 was at Lake Norman Apartments in Bexley in early May as crews worked to put out the fire. At least 20 families were displaced due to the damage.
Now, two months later, many of those people say they haven’t seen a dime of their renters insurance payments. But once investigative reporter Madison Carter started asking why, the charges dropped that same day.
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Shayna McClelland stood in the parking lot and watched everything burn.
“My husband threw my bag to me and I got my dog. He got the phone and we ran out of the building,” McClelland told Carter.
McClelland makes it to the parking lot that night before she realizes she’ll lose everything when the fire breaks out. She called her renters insurance right then and there to file a claim.
“’So when did this happen?’ They asked me. I said, ‘Well, you can turn on your local news because it’s happening as we speak,'” I said to McClelland.
She said she has renters insurance through Assurant since 2019 and pays monthly for a certain amount of coverage.
(Photos: Fire at Lake Norman Apartments in Bexley, Cornelius)
“A total of $15,000, plus an additional $3,000 for living expenses,” she explained.
“How much of $18,000 did you see?” Carter asked.
“Zero,” McClelland replied. She tells Carter she’s been away for two months.
McClelland said many other families insured with the company were dealing with similar silence. She showed Channel 9 a group chat between neighbors displaced by the fire.
We were there when McClelland called the company again. The adjuster’s voicemail said she would call at 10 a.m. the next business day, but McClelland told Carter that wasn’t her experience.
“I left him six voicemails and four emails. No response,” McClelland said.
At 10:53 the day after she spoke with McClelland, she sent an email asking about Carter’s arrest. That same day at 1:14 p.m., she got a text from one of her family members saying the interview was done — just call Assurant.
Thirty minutes later, McClelland said her payment would be sent by the end of the day.
After first contacting Assurant, Carter received updates on the claims but was asked to redact the details.
Carter again asked why payments took so long and how others insured by Assurant could be sure this wouldn’t happen to them. The company contacted each claimant within minutes of following up with Carter, before a spokeswoman returned a statement saying they were diligent about their process.
The following is the full statement shared by an Assurant spokesperson. It is important to note that he did not answer any of our questions or say what happened to the residents of Cornelius.
“Assurant has been at the forefront of rental insurance for decades, helping millions of renters across America in times of crisis. Our employees work tirelessly to help our customers submit their claims in a timely manner, and our diligence in the process helps protect our customers’ privacy,” he says. “Assurant has invested in easy-to-use digital solutions such as instant messaging and self-service tools for our customers to help speed up the claims process.”
(See below: Organization helps residents who lost everything in Cornelius apartment fire)
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