Allstate on Friday said that it will discontinue running an advertisement that features the destroyed home of a Staten Island couple, a representative from the insurance company told The Huffington Post.
Sheila and Dominic Traina's Staten Island home, which they had lived in for more than 40 years, was destroyed by Superstorm Sandy, and the couple is mulling legal action against Allstate, their insurance company, because they've only been offered $10,000 in compensation, according to The Staten Island Advance.
On Thanksgiving, the Trianas saw images of their destroyed home in a television ad for the insurance giant, according to The New York Post.
“I got disgusted,” Dominic Traina told the Post. “I said, look at the all the trouble we’re getting with Allstate and this is what they’re putting on TV. That was terrible.”
“It made us sick and angry,” added Sheila Traina, according to the Post.
The advertisement, called "1,000 Thank You's," has been removed from YouTube. It showed footage of destruction wrought by Sandy and thanked Allstate agents for their hard work.
According to the Advance, Allstate did not ask the couple for permission to use images of their destroyed home in the advertisement.
Allstate, for its part, said that even though the ad showed only part of the Traina's home and didn't identify them as customers, the company will no longer feature the images in its advertising.
"The advertisement in question showed general images of the destruction caused by Sandy including a partial image of the Traina’s home," Laura Strykowski, an Allstate spokesperson, wrote in a statement to The Huffington Post. "It does not reference them as customers or in any way imply they are satisfied with the status of their claim. We regret any concern this advertisement may have caused the Trainas and images of their home will not be included in Allstate’s advertising."
The Trainias say that their house was destroyed by wind, not by floodwaters, so they should qualify for additional compensation, according to CBS News.
“Our neighbor said, ‘The side of your house just collapsed, and the water isn’t even here yet,’ Sheila Traina told The New York Times in November.
"It is our understanding that the Traina’s chose to drop their flood insurance policy before Sandy struck," Allstate said in the statement to HuffPost. "Traditional private homeowners policies, such as provided by Allstate, do not cover flood losses. We encourage our customers to consider flood insurance to protect themselves in ways that would not be covered under a homeowner’s policy."
Watch the video from CBS News above, and for an in-depth report on the the Trianas, click over to The Staten Island Advance.
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