Fort Worth grandmother fights home insurance claim she never made

FORT WORTH, Texas - A Fort Worth grandmother says she was at the end of her rope after her insurance company incorrectly added a claim to her record.

That alleged error caused her rates to jump. And despite her best efforts, she couldn't get it corrected — until she got FOX 4 on her side.

Becky Lane has lived in her Fort Worth home for over 44 years. During all that time, she's had the same insurance company. 

"I had Liberty Mutual for my insurance company," she said. "They were great! No qualms, no problems… until now."

When Lane recently called to question a big jump in her renewal rate for her car and her home, she was told rates are up across the board.

Lane says the agent also pointed to her claims. She told the agent she only had one claim on her roof three years ago, but the agent allegedly said there was more.

A section of her fence had blown down during a storm. Lane says she remembers calling and asking about the damage but never filing a claim.

"I didn't want them to pay that because I'd pay out of pocket because my deductible wasn't even covered, and I did," she said. "That wasn’t a claim; that was a question."

That call was assigned a claim number.

Lane says she called five times and spoke to five different people, but she couldn't get anyone to remove the erroneous claim.

Lane even started shopping for a new carrier, but she was denied by many of them allegedly because of the two back-to-back claims on her record. And not having insurance was not an option for Becky.

"Daddy taught me you don't get in the car unless you have insurance," she said.

That's when Lane reached out to FOX 4 Consumer Reporter Steve Noviello on Facebook.

Here's what happened.

After receiving Lane’s message, FOX 4 reached out to Liberty Mutual's media team. Days later, they responded with an email saying, "As a matter of company policy, we do not publicly discuss details of our customers’ claims."

We explained that Lane had tried to resolve things on her own but didn’t have any luck. Instead, Liberty Mutual escalated Lane's case to their presidential service team.

The team confirmed there was no inspection or payment. They said record of any claim suggesting there had been "has been deleted from (her) records."

"I'm not putting them down to the ground, but what I am saying is this wasn't fair. It was not right," Lane said. "I’m elderly. I forget a lot of things. People that are older than me, they forget even more.  Some of them wouldn't know to call or to look back and say, ‘Why is this?’ I'm glad I did."

Lane's advice for others?

"Just keep moving up. Don't give up," she said. "Keep fighting for your rights!  Call Steve if you have to!"

FOX 4 reached out to Liberty Mutual again for comment once this case was resolved, but we did not receive a reply.

As for Lane, having to shop around ended up doing her some good. 

With a clean record, she now has a new carrier where she says her rates have been cut significantly.