Just got this "connected home" survey from my Insurance Company

I doubt they get too many responses that look like mine:

I feel like I’m so close to getting a BINGO or something.

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What no thermostat!?

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I know, kinda crazy I haven’t gotten one yet. But someone is almost always at the house pretty much all day, so there’s not a whole lot of logic or adjusting it on any kind of frequent or automated basis.

Sweet, I got all of the above, including don’t know as I’m pretty sure I’ve got some multi’s I used early on for a few things that I’ve since forgotten about :slight_smile:

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The question arises is this to lower your insurance, or my bet is to raise your insurance as the companies consider smart homes to be hackable.

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And no voice control. He’s practically Amish.

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Wonder what this means? Are they going to give some discounts because presumably you have a better ability to limit costly damage/claims? Or, are they looking to sell/resell HA services to people.
Interesting any way.

I got all except the don’t know and the glass break. Oh and the valve shutoff is not installed yet :wink:

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Yeah I’m curious what they’re researching. They do surveys constantly. Not sure if they’re just trying to segment customer base or if they’re trying to think of new policies or possibly physical products/services to sell.

Or going to reject your claim next time because you had sensors and they didn’t fire?

In that case, I’ll direct them to open up a help ticket with ST. :grin:

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I’d lose that form. None of their business. They aren’t surveying in order to give you money.

Maybe, maybe not. I periodically update my and my family’s information with my auto insurance carrier. The last time I did that it reduced my monthly premium by ~$75. Insurance company’s routinely offer discounts for various things that statistically reduce the probability that they’re going to need to pay claims (and/or the $ amount of claims) as a way of retaining customers. This is especially important for them in an age when customers are heavily incentivized to switch carriers to save even a few bucks because it’s so quick and easy to do so online.

As I had said before it is a survey to find out if you have a system that isn’t secure so they can raise your rate. There have been lots of articles saying how many of these Home Automation and security systems are open to attack. Funny how they are asking now after these articles. Or possibly they will remove your alarm discount as they feel it isn’t secure as hard wired or commercial systems.

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That’s true, but they do drawings for $75 Amazon gift cards which I have won before, so that’s where they get me I guess.

I highly doubt this. Like @DParker said, it’s so easy to switch insurance companies, I would be off to another one the next day if they ever raised my rate based on home automation, and they know that. I honestly don’t think this is nefarious. Farmer’s has been great to me, and they do surveys ALL THE TIME about all kinds of random stuff. Not to mention the number of homes with things like connected locks and doors is so insanely low in the grand scheme of things, it would be a massive waste of resources for them to base any kind of policies around them.

Believe it or not, sometimes companies (in competitive industries anyway) do research to figure out ways to make customers want to do business with them more, not less. This tends to make them a lot more money than finding ways to screw their customers with as many annoying fees as possible. Needless to say I would not return a survey like this to Comcast or Verizon…

Also worth noting I never requested an alarm discount since they’re pretty clear it needs to be 3rd-party monitored.

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On what inside information are you basing that assertion?

It isn’t the automation, it is the security part of SmartThings. There have been a number of Internet security companies saying that home automation hubs are open to attack. That is my only assumption, and that the survey came a week after the Security companies released their data.

OK, so it’s purely speculation based solely on circumstantial evidence. The way you phrased it came across as a statement of fact.

None the less, it doesn’t make sense to assume that they’re looking to raise his rates based on a perceived lack of alarm system reliability when he wasn’t receiving an alarm system discount in the first place.

I was just voicing my opinion, nothing to get into a huff about. Do what you feel is right.

Well then, I guess it’s a good thing that I didn’t get into a huff, and simply voiced my opinion back.