HOME iNSURANCE CLAIM. DEPRESSED AND UPSET. Plz advice!

Hello there

I've been having EXACTLY the same issues with Crawford and Co and on the advice of dacouch, I went directly to Legal and General for help. Since speaking to them at the beginning of this week, we have actually made more progress in 4 days than Crawford have in the 5 weeks our claim has been ongoing - ours is only contents as our house was rented so you'd think it wouldn't have been so complicated!?!

However, whilst I'm not happy with the way in which Crawford's have handled our claim I do understand that they are extremely busy - but that's no excuse for not answering your concerns and doesn't help to assure you at an already stressful time.

I hope you get a more positive answer from them soon

Definately agree with you there dacouch.

In my (recent) experience, Legal and General were by far more approachable and made you feel like they actually cared about what had happened to you.

Whilst I appreciate there's alot going on for the loss adjusters, they do come across as "number crunchers" rather than "customer service" and in my personal circumstance, our advisor is actually being trained whilst handling our (and a number of other) case. Not really comforting when you've got a total contents loss but then everyone's got to learn from somewhere I suppose. . . .

I hope you get the same help from Tesco that we've had from Legal and General Abhiman; God knows it's stressful enough dealing with the loss without having someone to talk to about it!

I'm not very impressed with your loss adjuster. Part of his job is to explain to you how everything works and whats happening next etc. I know how you are feeling as I had a big fire when I first bought a house.

I recommend you speak to the loss adjuster about them paying for your post to be redirected they should agree to this if not have a quick chat with your postie and ask if he can drop yours at a neighboors (He/she will prob help out in the circumstances) alternatively when I had mine you can pick it up from the sorting office although this can cause delays.

The Insurance company will need to get dryers (Dehumidfiers) into your home to dry the plaster etc out. I'm surprised they have not already got these in, it can take weeks and even months to dry out. (Advise the loss adjuster you will bill them for the cost of the electricity for the dryers).

The builders can provide quotes while its wet but its highly likely that they or you will find other things that need doing at a later date so they Insurer will agree these at a later date.

If you know a good local builder I personally would ask them to provide a quotation as its often easier than using the Insurance companies builders. The other advantage of your own builder is that if you want things put back in a slightly different way they are more likely to do it for you as long as it does not cost the builder extra. The Insurance company will not mind you using your own builder as long as their quote is equal or lower than their cheapest quote. (If your builder is higher than the cheapest quote they will often allow them to reduce their quote to match it).

You will probably find a lot of your plaster has "Blown" the builders quotes will not always quotes to replace all of the plaster. I would recommend you go and check your walls so you know what plaster has blown and keep and eye on it as further plaster might blow. (You can check this yourself by knocking on plaster you know is good and then knocking on the plaster you think is blown, you will notice it sounds different) Although if your using your own builder it would be best for them to check, you are entitled to have the home in the same condition as if the claim had not happened so explain this to your builder so he finds as many things as possible.

Ask the loss adjuster if he has done a "Schedule of Works" they don't always do this but do on bigger jobs. This is basically a list of all of the work that needs doing and a schedule of in what order and the timescales eg First instal fryers, second check wiring etc etc. You may find it helpful to see this so you know whats going on and timescales.

I would also ask about having the home rewired or at the very least the damaged areas. They often just try and get away with getting an electrician to just test the wiring. If your not sure or happy consult an electrician for advice on this.

You need to be asking the loss adjuster for an "Interim Payment" of say £500 to £2000 to allow you to go and buy some clothes etc

Do not be embarrassed about asking for money or insisting things are done a certain way. You have insurance and it is designed to put you back in the position you were before the claim. The Insurers are entitled to keep their outlays to a minimum but if its damaged you should claim for it.

I would also recommend you keep an eye on whichever builders you get as they sometimes treat these types of jobs as "Hospital Jobs". This means they do some work at yours and then someone else offers them a quick job for cash and they go and do that and then come back and do some more on yours etc etc. Make sure they knuckle down and get yours done asap. (This is less likely now as due to the recession there is not much work on for them so they are less likely to be lured away).

Speak to the loss adjuster and ask him to explain exactly what is happening, what the timeline is and what your covered for and what your not covered for.

I would recommend you keep a record of any money you receive and what it was for so that you can keep a proper budget and not run over

dacouch wrote: »

I'm not very impressed with your loss adjuster.
I would recommend you keep a record of any money you receive and what it was for so that you can keep a proper budget and not run over

Also this is very good advice - I've just started doing this using an excel spreadsheet, noting what payments were recieved and when with a running total costs etc.