You say "try getting them to pay out" and follow up saying you never filed a claim? I've gotten my home insurance to pay out twice, once for a beer that fried a laptop (my fault, but I had coverage for it) and again when a lightning strike took out part of my solar array and some indoor electronics. They've also promptly paid in situations where I wasn't a customer but the beneficiary of a claim and bent over backwards to make sure I was taken care of.

Maybe the problem is using an insurance company that farts out millions of dollars a quarter marketing Gecko, Jan, Jake, Mayhem, or Emu instead of investing that in claims. Though, I'll give a shout-out to my homegirl Jan back when I was in a different situation and a snowplow took a chunk out of my car. Progressive took care of me then while the city took their sweet time making good on the claim against them.