house insurance claim - How long does it usually take???

emmafifema

Hi all,

I just got back from my hols and whilst I was away my house got burgled - they cleared me out almost. Have gone to police and insurance company etc but just wondering what usually happens from here regarding the claim and how long it usually takes before you get the stolen stuff replaced or some money through to replace it??

djalix

Sorry to hear about what has happened to you.

Am with AA / Halifax and was burgled back in Jan 2008.

They will arrange a visit to interview you and check your place out, locks etc. Then they will process all the paper work, seek thier own valuations and costs for items, then and in my case drag things out for as long as possible

My case has just been assigned to another loss adjuster and my own assessor thinks there will be another 6 months stalling before anything happens.

Hope things run better for you.

emmafifema

OMG!! But we have practically nothing

Would be interested to hear other peoples experiences with similar claims so please post - may be able to put my mind to rest a little???

Oscar_The_Grouch

djalix, I don't want to jump to conclusions, but if you have a straightforward burglary claim that has not been settled by now, I would assume the insurer has concerns about your claim.

emmafifema, I would expect your insurers to be looking to replace as much as possible as quickly as possible once they have accepted your claim. Post back on here in a month and let us all know how you got on!!

djalix

I hope your claim is taken care of fast as I know it's upsetting.Am in the same boat and have almost nothing

With my claim, I am not sure what is happening. It's fairly cut and dry. The guy nextdoor heard them smash my window, saw them enter my flat, called the police, guys ran when they saw the guy nextdoor on the phone, dropped some of my items on the street, police arrived saw them running, gave chase and lost them, then arrested x2 people further up the street in a stolen car but never recovered any of my stuff. They did all the CSI fingerprint stuff, boarded up my window before I even knew what had happened. I came home late that night and found a letter on my hall unit asking me to contact one of the attending PC's.

My claim is in no way inflatted and I have box's, reciepts, photo's and valuations for 99% of what's missing. I have been reading this forum everyday since the event in order to see if anyone else has been going through the same situation. The Halifax are know for being "stallers" and the loss adjuster they have assigned is also know to be rubbish at the job and communications.

Anyway, I don't wish to hijack this thread.

My advise to you is to document everything well, prepare a detailed Inventory with supporting documents, reciepts, photo's, valuations, box's and even items left behind that were broken or part of a set. Submit a copy of the inventory to the police asap. Your insurance company should arrange a visit with you and you can then submit a copy to them including your proof. Depending on the size of your claim you might want to also consider apointing a loss assessor.

I hope your claim goes smoother and a lot faster than me. Once again I am very sorry to hear about your loss / break in.

FlameCloud

If you have had a regular adjuster go out, and it has now been farmed out to others I dont think you your insurers are stalling at all. However, the presence of certain assessors on claims will autmatically mean different people are involved.

emmafifema

Thanks for all the replies - "Direct Line" have had an assessor out to us today to go through the claim - is that a good thing then??? My head is in a right mess not sure if im coming or going...

Also they already had someone out to arrange for the broken windows and pation door to be fixed.

Sarah111222

I have been having an awful time with my insurers.

I was involved in a house fire back in July, there can be no question it was deliberate, we both had to be saved from it!

I made the claim the day after it occurred as I was in hospital all the previous day.

Its now September and the loss adjuster has !!!!!!ed off on holiday without even chasing the insurers to see if building work can commence.

I was told I would be out my property for 8 weeks max, its now been 8 weeks and works havent even begun.

I also was told we would receive a disbursement allowance because we cannot live at our address, to date they owe us £1600??

I would love to know how they get away with treating people who are already vulnerable this way.

ravenfire_2

Sarah111222 wrote: »

I have been having an awful time with my insurers.

I was involved in a house fire back in July, there can be no question it was deliberate, we both had to be saved from it!

I made the claim the day after it occurred as I was in hospital all the previous day.

Its now September and the loss adjuster has !!!!!!ed off on holiday without even chasing the insurers to see if building work can commence.

I was told I would be out my property for 8 weeks max, its now been 8 weeks and works havent even begun.

I also was told we would receive a disbursement allowance because we cannot live at our address, to date they owe us £1600??

I would love to know how they get away with treating people who are already vulnerable this way.

Whilst your Loss Adjuster may be away its normal practice for someone to cover their work. Give them a ring and ask them to contact the Insurance Company.

It's surprising that it has taken so long for builders to commence work and their must be a reason for this, again something I would query with the Loss Adjuster once they return from holiday. If it was a large fire then it is likely that they have had to contact a number of firms for quotes for repair and there may have been some delay in hearing back from them.

As for accommodation allowances, if you ask them they should be able to make an interim payment for costs you have incurred to date.

ravenfire_2

emmafifema wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies - "Direct Line" have had an assessor out to us today to go through the claim - is that a good thing then??? My head is in a right mess not sure if im coming or going...

Also they already had someone out to arrange for the broken windows and pation door to be fixed.

To be honest there are no set time dates for how long each claim takes.

Presumably it was a Loss Adjuster that Direct Line sent out to you? Normal procedure now would be for them to refer back to Insurers and await further details on how they should proceed with the claim. In the meantime get together any receipts or manuals you may have for the stolen items and send them off to the Loss Adjusters, remembering to keep copies for yourself.

babymaddie

Hi, We were burgled on the last night of our holiday and had a phone call in spain to tell us the devastating news on the 17th August. As of today the 8th October, the Halifax have still not even made a decision regarding whether they are going to pay out or not even though we have fulfilled our policy, had no exclusions etc and answered all theiur questions and provided receipts, photos, boxes etc for 90% of our stuff.

Our house was cleared out of all things electrical and sentimental and also my partners van was taken and we think was used to load all our stuff into - hence why so much was taken.

We have borrowed an old Tv off some friends but apart from that have not replaced anything else as we cannot afford to. I'v had to go into debt for a new laptop as I work from home and therefore would have been done in wages also.

The loss adjuster has done background checks on us as if we are the criminals and has treated us terrbily. He never rings us I have to chase him all the time and we get the minimum amount of information given to us. I am today wiating for a phone call as it has been another 3 weeks with no word given to us., It is 8 weeks this weekend since this happened to us and we are still waiting the Halifax's verdict.

After 12 years of a mortgage and insurance with them and no previous claims I shall be cancelling my insurance with them as soon as they deliver their verdict and then taking them to a solicitor if they refuse to pay out because we were not the people who reported the crime.,