Bathroom suite damaged - how to claim

Lally

I dropped a can of hairspray and cracked my bathroom sink, a plumber in my building took a look and said it is unreparable. The suite is very distinctive, so I reckon they would have to replace the whole suite so that everyting matches, am I right?

I also want to make sure that they will cover it, so if I tell the truth will this be OK? Im just thinking of the time I told them I was defrosting my freezer and pierced it with a knife (doh!) and they said it wasnt covered as it occured whilst cleaning.

owey

If you have accident damage on your policy you will be covered, but most of the time they will only replace the damaged item, so you need to make sure it damaged your bath, I would have a closer look at your bath as you might of damaged it and not noticed it .

Lally

Its a coloured suite, and you wouldnt be able to replace the sink. So I would end up with a cream bath and loo, and a white sink?

There is no way that the can could have damaged more than one thing, and no way I could make it sound (or look) as though it did....

After the freezer incident I thought that 'Full accidental damage' was exactly that, but it isnt.

lush_walrus

Your insurance will definately not pay for the replacement of the whole suite, purely the damaged item. If you don't want to risk damaging the whole suite, then perhaps you should source the closest match for the sink now, prior to putting in the claim. Often discontinued bath suites are still available somewhere, its just a matter of looking around.

bestyman

Hi,
I work as a plumber and it all depends on the level of cover and the company.
I would argue that you dont want a multi coloured suite and stick to that .

From experience I have found that if you argue the point the bath will sometimes be replaced too and also the wc if its in the same room ( had a customer once who wanted a wc as well and that was in its own room, the insurance said no). Failing that perhaps you should look for a plumber that will fit the bath cheap as part of a package.

Remember tiling may have to be replaced as new items are not same exact size and if bath replaced tiles need replacing there as well. May have problem of not getting tiles to match so again you can argue for retile or settle for patchwork bathroom .

Another option is to try find a basin the same colour. This may help
http://www.bathroom-ceramics.co.uk/ , but they aint cheap.

silvercar

We needed to replace the shower tray as part of an insurance claim. The 5 piece suite is in pale blue. We found a plumbing shop that could source it and gave details to the insurer. they ordered the shower tray but it did take 5 weeks to arrive.

Incidentally, the bathroom needed retiling and we had to contirbute to the cost of the tiling; otherwise they would only retile the one wall effected. Even had a visit from the area manage who was adamant it was reasonable to have walls in different patterned tiles.