HOME iNSURANCE CLAIM. DEPRESSED AND UPSET. Plz advice!

Lindy_Loo_3

Ta Flamecloud, that makes a bit more sense to me now. So basically the adjuster is there to make sure what you're claiming is fair / reasonable etc but not necessarily there to sort out the actual building works, replacements etc?

FlameCloud

Basically, yep. Sometimes they do, but quite often not. Really depends on the contract the insurers hold with the adjusters as some will not allow them to use contractor networks (builders) on claims.

dacouch

geri1965 I assume by your answer you are a loss adjuster.

People in Insurance and in my experience especially loss adjusters forget that the general public do not understand insurance and unlike a loss adjuster who has seen lots of fires or burst pipes claim it is likely they have never experienced their home being flooded. They therefore look for advice on what they need to do from the loss adjuster. If you read abhiman and lindyloos thread (Search the forum) you will see that both of them had problems with the loss adjuster and it is obvious from their posts that they assumed the loss adjuster was their only point of contact for the claim. Having dealt with lots of customers in this position and loss adjusters they client is distraught due to the damage to their beautiful home and having an image that insurers try their best to get out of paying claims. They then start to think the worst and that their claim may not be paid for some reason. As a result they take what ever the loss adjuster says as gospal and go out of their way not to upset the loss adjuster as they do not want to jeopardise their claim in anyway

In abihams case the loss adjuster just needed to sort our some dryers asap, surely this would involve one phone call to a company like rainbow. If I was a loss adjuster getting dryers in when the house is flooded would be one of the first things I would do, its not rocket science. To say the client should know to do that is expecting a lot of the client.

By passing their inefficient loss adjusters and going straight to the Insurers has appeared to have help both abhiman and lindyloo get their claims back on track. The job of a loss adjuster is to ensure the correct amount is paid for the claim, ensure any costs are kept to a minimum and oversee the overall running of the claim. As part of this it would be reasonable to expect a good loss adjuster to explain exactly what is going on in the claim and whats happening next as the client will have not had dealing in this before.

In both of their claims the loss adjusters inefficiency will almost certainly cost the Insurers more money through increased alternative accomadation costs and probably more damage being cauused so further costs and time spent by the insurer resolving the policy holders complaints. The worse thing about this is the Insurers would want their clients claim to be paid as quickly and efficiently as possible so that the client becomes a loyal customer. In abhiman and lindyloos cases if they had not spoken to the Insurers and realised that its not the Insurers causing the problems but the loss adjusters and would have lapsed their policies and not doubt told all of their friends.

The fact you are working until late and have large case loads is well known in the industry but not by the clients who quite rightly expect a good service. The problem is not the clients fault but crawfords fault for being under staffed and not doing things to aleviate the problems they have. I would add that in the vast majority of claims I have seen that crawfords were involved in the last couple of years the level of service is awful.

I know the Insurers have whittled away at your fees which has affected your saleries and the ability to attract new loss adjusters into the market but this is not the policy holders fault but is between crawfords and the Insurers.

I am a professional and take great pride in performing my job correctly and giving customers great customer service. When people buy insurance they are buying in effect a piece of paper that says if you have a valid claim we will pay it. They do not know the value of this piece of paper until they need to make a claim. That is what the client is paying all their money for so their claim gets sorted out. As an industry we need to ALL ensure that when the worse happens we get it sorted out as efficiently as possible after all that is our job!

So everyone in the industry please remember that the policyholders are our customers they pay our wages. They are buying a product to pay out in a claim so lets all make sure we deliver that

nadine12

Hi I am currently going through similar situation, however I have now been out of my home for six months due to a simple rainwater flood. This has been down to incompetent loss adjusters (although from a different company to yours). The asbestos test does not have to be done before the dryers come in. I would go straight to the insurance company and query why the dryers have not been appointed - expalin that the loss adjusters are not doing anything and they should get on the case for you. After all it will cost them more money the longer it goes on! The asbestos test should be done asap though - we had a massive delay as there were some old plastic marley tiles in kitchen and hall which were retaining water. They need to be tested for asbestos before they could come up and the loss adjuster took months to sort it out. Once they took them up another week and the property was dry! My advice is to bypass the loss adjuster and go back to the insurance - I wish I had done months ago then maybe we would be back home!

dacouch

Good advice nadine12 but you customers should not need to bypass the loss adjusters to get the job done. If your having problems with your claim, speak to the loss adjuster and be firm you have paid your money for your premium and for valid claims you are entitled to have your home repaired as quickly and efficiently as possible. If that fails rings your Insurers up, the vast majority will be shocked and will want to help you. Be polite when dealing with the Insurers and Loss Adjusters you will get more done than being rude or shouting

There are some good loss adjusters out there who do a great job, it would be nice if anyone has any stories of good loss adjusters to post them on here to give a little balance.

Derby2

I had exactly the same experience nadine12. Rainbow tested for asbestos very quickly and it showed we had asbestos tiles in the kitchen and living room. The tiles in the living room were then removed but not the kitchen. When we questioned this, our insurers (who our only contact and has the title of Household Claims Specialist, Loss Adjusting Services) said they wouldn't have taken the kitchen tiles up because they contained asbestos. It turned out they hadn't read the report properly, and asbestos tiles were removed without the correct protection. Once removed, our house dried up very, very quickly.

I appreciate Loss Adjusters are busy, but many of us have busy jobs for low wages and do not have the time to chase builders, insurers and various other parties. As a customer, we assume when a claim is made, the payments we have made is for this service to be done for us. I am fortunate that myself and my partner are young (ish) people who are able to read insurance policies and contracts with confidence, and have been able to co-ordinate all parties and to move the works on. Without this we would have progressed very little and items to which we were entitled would not have been included in our claim. It concerns me that if this had happened to our elderly neighbours, they would not have been able to do this and it could have been awful.

I can see the view of both sides, but from having my life massively disrupted for the last 4 months, I think Loss Adjusters should try to remember what a stressful situation their client is in and remember that although they deal with it every day, most people don't.

dacouch

A good post Derby2, some people in the industry forget that our job is basically to sell you a piece of paper that gives you peace of mind but if things go wrong thats when we deliver on our promise.

Things have changed a lot since the bad old days and are still changing, luckily most Insurers see themselves as brands now so want to give you the service you expect when you have a claim. Often things go wrong which cannot be helped but often they can be helped. People in offices etc often detach themselves from the customer who is in a desperate state because of their house buring down etc. These same people no doubt have high expectations of say their local garage and would not stand to be messed around personally.

We have to remember we are providing a service, we don't just sell policies we have to deliver effective solutions when people claim.

If money is no object and you want the best policy with an absolutely amazing claims service you would have to go with companies like Chubb, Hiscox or Oak. They only deal with the very high end of home insurance for rich householders etc. Because of the types of clients they have, they long ago realised that it is when the customer has a claim is the important time and their customers are quite prepared to pay extra for superior service in say Harrods and thus have the same expectations of their home insurance.

Remember people the customer is our King and pays each and every one of our wages in the Insurance Industry

dementedhousewife

dacouch wrote: »

A good post Derby2, some people in the industry forget that our job is basically to sell you a piece of paper that gives you peace of mind but if things go wrong thats when we deliver on our promise.

Things have changed a lot since the bad old days and are still changing, luckily most Insurers see themselves as brands now so want to give you the service you expect when you have a claim. Often things go wrong which cannot be helped but often they can be helped. People in offices etc often detach themselves from the customer who is in a desperate state because of their house buring down etc. These same people no doubt have high expectations of say their local garage and would not stand to be messed around personally.

We have to remember we are providing a service, we don't just sell policies we have to deliver effective solutions when people claim.

If money is no object and you want the best policy with an absolutely amazing claims service you would have to go with companies like Chubb, Hiscox or Oak. They only deal with the very high end of home insurance for rich householders etc. Because of the types of clients they have, they long ago realised that it is when the customer has a claim is the important time and their customers are quite prepared to pay extra for superior service in say Harrods and thus have the same expectations of their home insurance.

Remember people the customer is our King and pays each and every one of our wages in the Insurance Industry

Nicely Put ..... If only others took your way of thinking

paintpot

dementedhousewife wrote: »

Nicely Put ..... If only others took your way of thinking

I would agree with that.

If I explained everything that has gone wrong over the last XX number of months with two claims then it would be like a book.

I had an arbitration surveyor appointed due to damage caused by insurance contractors, insurance contractors walking out without a word having caused more damage than they fixed, a complaint upheld with compensation awarded, loss adjusters refusing work that was under the policy, total lack of communication when there were 6 companies involved where no-one knew what the other was doing or even that they existed on some occasions causing chaos. This left me in the middle to try and keep each one informed of what the other was doing.

It was madness at times and totally and utterly soul destroying.

There was one major incident and I rang my insurer directly. I was so frustrated I did burst into tears because no-one would help me. I was spoken to by an insurance contractor like I was something they had scraped off the bottom of their shoe and I was at the end of my tether. I like to think I can deal with most things but they really did test me. The person/company who drove me to tears were wrong in their "opinion" and I have it in writing now from the insurer that they were wrong but they would not budge and left me in a really difficult situation. Hence receiving compensation and I truly hope the "person" gets their just desserts.

It is stressful and I have every sympathy for anyone going through an insurance claim but it is even more stressful when professionals who should know what they are doing do not.

nadine12

Paintpot, exactly the same here - I broke down in tears to someone at the loss adjusters! Which I found extremely embarassing but could not help myself as I was feeling so low about the whole thing. I think it is disgusting that someone can sit in their office knowing that someone is so upset to the point of feeling ill and still do nothing. I was also spoken to like cr*p and at one point, after having a bit of a rant because things were at a standstill (I am generally quite a polite person however, and my 'rant' is probably nothing compared to what some people say to them) I was asked, with a great deal of attitude, 'well what do you want me to do about it'! Well duh - DO YOUR JOB!! In my case it was literally a case of a phone call/ email to the drying company to say 'please take the floor tiles up at x address' - how difficult can that be?? I really think these people should be ashamed at how they are just toying with peoples lives and homes - in my opinion there is no excuse for it. If I didn't do my job properly (I am a probation officer) I would be sacked, simple as that.