Claiming for freezer foods?

Insco

Sorry but I find your comments to be rude and insulting too - "Strange a high percentage include full salmons, full joints of beef, 58 lamb chops etc " is pretty rude and unhelpful.

gazza975526570

It was a light hearted comment thats all and really shouldnt be taken literally- none of our posts are being that helpful to the actual question so lets all try to get back on track.

My advise to the OP is give their insurer a call - try and gain some insight to potential future preium increase, take into acccount any other claims withnt he last 3-5 years (is excessive give this one a miss) IF it then seems worthwhile put the claim in - if not just replace the goods themselves

Hope this helps.

FlameCloud

Thanks for all the messages of support people! I do have to say though, Insco's hatred for me stems not from my posts, more from my employer.

Whats the saying- 'Failed loss adjusters, sacked for being incompetent, become loss assessors'?

jessjess_2

Surely they all go to work for Concept!!! Biggest PITA in home claims atm for our company!!

FlameCloud

jessjess wrote: »

Surely they all go to work for Concept!!! Biggest PITA in home claims atm for our company!!

Do your fraud department not deal with any claim they are involved in? Very brave if you dont!

jessjess_2

Most of the time we manage to talk policyholders out of dealing with them, if not just use a LA to manage the overspends out of the claim. Had a good success rate, all be it at a higher cost per claim for LA fees.

Concept should be put out of business for the trouble and increased premiums they cause!

FlameCloud

I find they have gotten alot better recently- i.e. they've cottoned on to the fact that insurers dont believe them.

jessjess_2

thay have also been buying up smaller companies and putting high estimates through. a quick companies search always reveals all!

Insco

FlameCloud wrote: »

Thanks for all the messages of support people! I do have to say though, Insco's hatred for me stems not from my posts, more from my employer.

Whats the saying- 'Failed loss adjusters, sacked for being incompetent, become loss assessors'?

There's also a saying "those that can, do; those that can't, pretend"

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Oh dear, personal jibes...

Loss Adjusters (by whatever name you want to call them) deal with many different types of claim. Many of them are fairly serious - house fires, floods, etc, etc, and all too often they have to deal with relatives of the recently deceased, the newly homeless/jobless and so on. Whilst I would probably bawl my eyes out with frustration if my fridge freezer packed up, it's an expensive inconvenience rather than an unmitigated disaster. If my home goes up in flames, it's a disaster.

The example coming is based upon the type of house I grew up in and the home I have now, so nobody need take offence to it.

As insurance law is (or was, last time I worked in the field) based upon events happening 'on the balance of probabilities', going to a tatty house, with dirty floors, no carpet, snot covered children and being told that their tiny Beko fridge (which hadn't been opened for over 3 days as it takes that long for things to start going off) contained fois gras, 3 whole beef rib joints and £500 of other high end foodstuffs, all paid for by cash, all disposed of before they contacted the Insurers (and no photographic evidence taken on the £300 cameraphone on the armchair) - and there is no sign of anything actually happening to the fridge (least of all cleaning, much less an authorised repair to prove it was faulty) and the cupboards are filled with Tesco Basics stuff, an element of doubt has to creep in.

My flat is fairly presentable - some things of value in it (furniture, TV, clothing, solid wooden floors) - some kitchen appliances are newish and a reasonable brand, a couple are needing to be replaced as they are over 10 years old. Most food in the cupboard is of reasonable quality. My children have fairly pricey musical instruments neatly placed in the only tidy corner of the bombsite that they laughingly call their bedroom. I'm not rich or posh, but in comparison, it would appear more likely to a Loss Adjuster that I had a slightly dearer meat joint in there and a packet of smoked salmon, especially if I have some bank statements showing my usual spend in the supermarket to be quite a bit more than £30, for example.

However, unless there is obvious evidence to the contrary, a LA will usually give the claimant the benefit of the doubt and authorise payment. It's simply not worth the bother to argue about it, unless the attitude of the claimant is appalling.

So, the easiest way to make sure the claim goes through smoothly is to try and provide everything you can to make it reasonable to accept that the loss happened in a way covered by the policy and to the extent claimed.

Keep what receipts you can, keep packaging (there's enough of it these days), take photos, show the bank statements for the shopping trips, have the freezer repair invoice/keep the old freezer in the garden until the LA has seen it and then get it disposed of. Don't assume it's going to be turned down, because the odds are it isn't. And most LAs are actually rather nice people!