It is 15 months since Tropical Cyclone Debbie smashed Mel Deacon's north Queensland home but it's still so badly damaged it is unfit to live in — something she blames on a bitter fight with her insurance company.

"This trauma is way worse than having to deal with the cyclone," she told 7.30.

"I'd actually have another cyclone if I could — the frustration of thinking you've bought a product that will protect you, thinking that you'll be treated in a way that's fair and reasonable."

Next week, when the royal commission into financial services begins its fourth round of hearings, Mel Deacon will be watching closely as it investigates the conduct of insurers after Cyclone Debbie.

Ms Deacon is calling on the royal commission to make urgent changes to the industry to protect other consumers from what she has had to endure.

'I just can't afford to give up'

Part of the damaged roof and mouldy ceiling in Mel Deacon's house. ( ABC News: Michael Atkin )

When 7.30 visited her home in Proserpine this week it was riddled with mould, had widespread water damage and gaps where the roof should be.

"Just watching my house die for 15 months, that's what I've been doing," she said.

After the cyclone her insurer, Youi, paid to install a tarpaulin over her damaged roof, but Ms Deacon claims it caused more damage when it rained.

"The tarpaulin failed, it didn't fit," she said.

"So all the water started coming through and that's what caused extra damage."

Youi refused to fix all of the additional damage and Ms Deacon lodged a dispute with the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

In December, FOS found in her favour, ordering Youi to obtain new quotes to repair additional damage caused due to the failure of the tarpaulin.

However, Ms Deacon's lawyer, Nikki Hancock from the Mackay Community Legal Centre, claims Youi failed to comply with the decision.

A new dispute has now been lodged with the Ombudsman.

"What they did was get one quotation from one builder which was their cheapest builder they had used the entire time, and they weren't locally based in the Whitsunday area, and they put that sum of money into her account and said the claim was settled," Ms Hancock said.

Youi has paid Ms Deacon approximately $161,000 and now closed the case, against Ms Deacon's will.

Her local Federal Member of Parliament is the LNP's George Christensen.

He told 7.30 he was disturbed by the way Youi had handled her case and would be taking it up with them.

"Youi have got a lot of explaining to do and I've heard this repeatedly about Youi," he told 7.30.

"To say I'm disappointed is an understatement."

The insurer declined to be interviewed but said in a statement:

"Ms Deacon has stated that she made a complaint against Youi with the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) and, to date, Youi has paid her approximately $161,000 pursuant to her claim. This matter is with FOS and awaiting further determination."

However, she said the actual cost of repairing her home based on a recent quote is more than the $270,000 it was insured for.

"It's really extensive, the actual structure its sagging, the floors have been affected, all the interior walls, it's riddled with mould, so the mould issue is really major," Ms Deacon said.

"I've been told, 'Give up Mel, give up it's hurting you, it's hurting your family, it's not worth it', and I just can't afford to give up."

'It shouldn't take an MP' to get action

Kristel and Rod Taylor in front of their cyclone-damaged house ( ABC News: Michael Atkin )

Kristel and Rod Taylor have had a similar struggle against their insurer, Suncorp.

Repair work finally got underway at their home near Airlie Beach this week, including on their damaged roof which was at the centre of their claim dispute.

The Taylors allege Suncorp used expert assessments to avoid paying to fix their home properly.

"They ended up cutting the scope of works from $34,000 down to about $15,000," Kristel Taylor said.

"They rang me straight away and said we're putting the money in your bank account and I said, no, I want my house fixed to the way it was before the cyclone."

They say it was only after their local MP, George Christensen, got involved that Suncorp quickly increased its offer by an additional $100,000.

Mr Christensen said it was one of many complaints he'd had about insurers after Cyclone Debbie.

"It shouldn't take coming to a Member of Parliament," he told 7.30.

"This is stuff that people are entitled to, they pay a premium, and a whopping premium at that, every single year, more than other Australians pay in North Queensland.

"When it comes time to access what you've been paying for there should be little to no drama whatsoever.

"But in the Taylor's case there's been a lot of it."

Suncorp declined to be interviewed and did not answer any specific questions about the Taylor's claim.

In a statement it said it had received 20,000 claims after Cyclone Debbie and conceded it had let some customers down.

"Finalising all insurance claims for a major event of this scale takes time, and we work hard to help our customers recover as quickly as possible," a spokesperson said in the statement.

"However, we acknowledge that in a very small number of cases, our processes have let us down. We set high standards for ourselves and we apologise to any customer where our service has fallen short of expectations."

'Over 100 people who still can't go back to their homes'

David Keane has jobs with dozens of homes that remain unliveable. ( ABC News: Michael Atkin )

David Keane has decades of experience in the insurance industry and is now a professional advocate for people battling their insurers.

He's worked on hundreds of claims from Cyclone Debbie and said while most claims run smoothly too many people in the Mackay and Whitsunday region have insured homes that remain unliveable.

"There'd be dozens (of houses) that I'm aware of, that I'm personally dealing with, and there would be dozens more that I'm personally aware of but not acting on," Mr Keane said.

"I would say there are well over 100 people in this area alone who still can't go back to their homes."

He's made a submission to the royal commission alleging some insurers are using expert assessments to unethically drive down the cost of claims beyond what is reasonable.

He acted in one case in the Whitsundays where an insurer initially offered $40,000 before the disputed claim was settled for half a million dollars.

"You have insurance companies who are using their own loss adjustors and in many cases they get the builder to be assessors, to save them a little bit of money again, rather than appointing an external assessor," he said.

"The assessor is not truly objective.

"The biggest exclusions in most policies remain pre-existing issues, wear and tear and defects, and so when you read some of these reports regarding consultants or engineers or loss adjustors, they'll focus on every tiny little piece of wear and tear or maybe a tiny little building defect, whether or not it relates to the overall damage, to say, well, that's not covered."

Insurance company assessors make it 'an unfair system'

Cyclone Debbie caused widespread damage in the Whitsunday region. ( ABC Rural: Tom Major )

Kristel Taylor is calling for the royal commission to make structural changes to the way insurance claims are handled after natural disasters.

"The assessment process must be independent of insurance companies and of us as customers, that makes it fair for everyone," she said.

"Those insurance companies have gone to the model where their building supervisors are the assessors and I think that makes it an unfair system."

"We went through that cyclone and 33 hours of hell, it's nothing compared to what those insurance companies have put on us," Rod Taylor added.

"The stress of the insurance companies, it was worse than the cyclone."