Insurance claim for the theft.

Olga_W

Hi all.
Today in the morning (4am) my mobile phone (Iphone) was stolen from my house. The thief crawled through the gate and entered through my patio door which was opened. I all the time was in the dinning room (where the patio door is), working on the computer and only walked in the lounge for a few minutes to record program. While I was away he walked in and "helped himself" to my mobile and few other minor items with not much value (which was on the computer desk) When I comeback to the dinning room, he legged it and I chased after him. (he obviosly was watching me before and waited when I leave dinning room). He dropped all the stuff (apart of my phone) and crawled through the gate. I shouted, and caught his leg when he was on the top of the gate, which he subsequently kicked me with. (I am ok though :-) and run away faster them Linford Christie. All of course was reported to the police which just left. (as well as CSI)

Here is the question and sorry for a long ramble above. (I did tried my best to cut the long story short)

In my phone insurance "small print" (damn this small prints :mad: ) it says.

Exclusions:
This certificate does not cover:
Theft from any property, place or premises unless such theft or damage has occurred through forced or violent entry or exit.

There was not any forced entry (patio door was opened after all, and gates not damaged). However will it be considered violence, since I chased after him and he kicked me with his leg when I grabbed it?

I will be very grateful if you can advise, if it is worth it for me to make a claim. Thank you (Sorry for my English, as it not my first language)

JAYMARSH2005

You should be able to claim for that as you were in the house at the time. It is still an unlawful entry and get a crime reference number off the police and give them that number when you make the claim.

Olga_W

JAYMARSH2005 wrote: »

You should be able to claim for that as you were in the house at the time. It is still an unlawful entry and get a crime reference number off the police and give them that number when you make the claim.

Thank you Jaymarsh. I of course got the crime number and all that.

I still can not understand how "unlawful" entry can be equal to "forced" or "violent". After listening my friends about genuine insurance claims, this companies always have a "small print" to wiggle away. With a very clever wording they "cover themselves", not cover you.

Does anybody on this forum ever had a successful mobile phone insurance theft claim? LOL. I really cant see its happening after reading theirs TOC, unless you are beaten to a pulp, and your phone was snatched then.

Maybe I should just after get a hammer, and damage my gates a bit, to make it looks it was "forced", or at least some force applied.

JAYMARSH2005

I got my phone robbed from me a couple oy years ago, someone asked me to use it in an emergancy so I let them use it and they did a runner, it was not classed as aggressive theft but when I spoke to the police and told them what had happened they make a note of it, I think those terms are just a warning to people who make false insurance claims. If you get the police involved then you will be o.k because I'm sure they will contact the police and check what has happended prior to letting you have the insurance claim. Things may have changed but I'm 99% sure an inciddent like that they wont be able to wriggle out of. I would put the claim in, give them the crime reference number and if they disagree with it just say to them that you are going to post a warning to people that phone insurance isnt worth it unless you get beaten to death for the phone.

JAYMARSH2005

What they will consider as a non agressive theft will be, left in a car with nobody in it, left in a coat/jacket pocket unattended, left on a table, somebody entering the house while you are up and about in it will be a different scenario.

JAYMARSH2005

If all else fails, take a hammer, lie on the floor, hit yourself over the head a few times, picture the blood, but saying that if your phones gone, how can you take a picture !!!

davidwatts

Speaking more as an insurance "expert" (and I use the term loosely) you might be lucky enough for them to class it as a violent exit because of what happened when you tried to stop the thief and he kicked you. If it wasn't for that (i.e. you'd not seen him and given chase) it would definitely be excluded by any normal interpretation of that wording.

However, a normal house contents insurance policy probably wouldn't contain a requirement for violent and forcible entry/exit. The only trouble that is it probably wouldn't be worth claiming because of the size of the excess and the effect on your premium!