Here is how the insurance Claim Game works.

You've been paying into your insurance for years. You're a loyal customer. So, when disaster strikes, you can assume that you'll be compensated fully for the damages incurred, right?
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Wrong.

Enter the insurance adjuster. The Insurance company’s adjusters work for your insurance company, reviewing and processing claims and determining what customers like you are entitled to in the aftermath of damage.

Once you've filed a claim, the process starts with an adjuster coming to review the damage in person. This includes taking photos of the damage and interviewing you, the policyholder, about how the damage occurred—and here's the first place where you can be tripped up.

The adjuster will pay special attention to what you say and how you say it, and can use your words against you to justify lowering your payout. But how are you supposed to know the "wrong" things to say?

After the interview the claims adjuster may contact local service professionals, in order to get average repair cost estimates for similar damage in your area. The adjuster then uses these estimates and photos of your damage to generate a payout amount for your unique case—an amount which is typically well under the actual cost to repair or replace what you've lost.

So why do insurance companies get away with this so often? A number of factors, including perceived loyalty on the part of the policyholder ("I've been a customer for years; they wouldn't cheat me like that") or the simple assumption that the payout amount the insurance offers is the "best they can do."

And just like that, you've lost the claim game. You suffered material (and perhaps emotional) damage, you played by the rules, and you ended up losing money on the whole thing through no fault of your own.