Crawfords Loss Adjusters and vouchers

cosmeticjunkie

Hi,

Just looking for some advise, basically we our house was broken into whilst we were on holiday over Chritmas. We put in a claim to Sainsburys home insurance who appointed Crawfords as there loss adjuster. After an initial visit and many many phone calls to chase them up they have finally aggreed to settle my claim. Yippee. Then they told me that they would only give me vouchers for use with thier recommended suppliers. Most of the items stolen were jewllery and this supplier is the same company who validated the values of the items in the first place. I really don't want vouchers as some of the jewellery was inherited and cannot be replaced and some of it I just don't wear anymore and so would not want to replace it.

I looked at the financial ombudsmans website and found this

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]In some cases, policyholders may not wish to purchase a replacement for the damaged or stolen goods. This may be, for example, because their circumstances have changed, or the object had sentimental value. Where this is the case, we will normally ask the insurer to agree a cash settlement. [/FONT]

When I told Crawfords and the insurance campany this they both said that they don't have to abide by this as it says in their terms and conditions that they will replace items and only offer cash at their discression.

Crawfords have also told us that if we don't accept their offer they will have to look at the claim again with regard to decreasing it, this I find very threatening.

I'm finding all this so stressfull at the moment but I just need to know what my rights are and if I should make a complaint to the ombudsman. Sainsburys are saying it's upto Crawfords how they settle the claim but Crwafords are saying that it's down to sainsburys to decide wether vouchers are offered. Maybe I should start paying my preminums in tescos vouchers see how they like that

Sorry for the long post but could someone please help.

Quentin

Crawfords and Sainsbury's are "on the same side".

Ideally you should have your own expert batting for you (esp when Crawfords are involved).

See an assessor for their advice.

If this is not possible/viable (they charge for their services, though hopefully are cost effective), see your policy for details of how you can dispute the decision.

dacouch

You might find this helpful which is the Ombudsmans opionion on Vouchers / Cash Settlements. Try mentioning this information to Crawfords / Sainsburys and they should eventually play fair

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/10/oct-repair-replace-cash.htm

pelirocco

crawfords are a nightmare ,you have tochase themhard topay up

tc0001_2

Make sure you put everything in writing to Crawfords as they tend to ignore all phone calls. Also make sure you have copies of all paperwork and receipts submitted to them as they lost all my partners receipts, but luckily we had copies lodged with a solicitor before providing them.

dunstonh

Don't crawfords tend to get involved in cases where the insurer has doubts about the claim or major loss cases?

cosmeticjunkie

Thanks for the replies.

I contacted an independent adviser who could'nt take on my claim as it was too far advanced but she did give me some useful advise. She said that I don't have to deal with Crawfords at all, as my contract is with Sainsburys, she also said that I am within my rights to insist on a cash settlement.

I've written a letter to sainsburys and told them that I will not be dealing with Crawfords again as they have been rude and obstructive. I also listed the items on my claim and my reasons for wanting a cash settlement for each of them. I also printed out the web page from the ombudsman's website which deals with cash settlements and highlighted the relevent paragraphs. I've told them that I expect a cash settlement and if it's not forth coming I will lodge a complaint with the ombudsman.


So here's hoping they pay up soon.

Dunstoh: Crawfords are involved because the claim is for amounts greater then £1000 not because there are any doubts about it, the insurance company have accepted liability in this regard it's just the method of settlement that's the issue now.

dacouch

Let us know how things go

FlameCloud

dunstonh wrote: »

Don't crawfords tend to get involved in cases where the insurer has doubts about the claim or major loss cases?

Crawfords are a major loss adjusters and like all adjusting firms will do different things for different insurers.

For HBOS policies- they always had the SI, Major Loss and Subs work, the normal domestic stuff was split between CLUK, Merlins and GAB.

cosmeticjunkie

Well some good news, Sainsbury's phoned me this afternoon saying that they have received my letter and apologised for all the problems that I've had with Crawfords. They've contacted Crawfords and told them to send all my paper work to them and they will contact me again Monday or Tuesday to discuss a settlement.

Fingers crossed this nightmare could be coming to an end shortly especially now Crawfords have been removed from the equation.

cosmeticjunkie

Well this saga is still on going, I'm not dealing with Crawfords directly now but via Sainsbury's, they contact crawfords and wait for a reply before forwarding it on to me.

The latest is that they are re-investigating the case because when they came out they asked me if either myself or my partner had any aliases, I said no. Well my partners name is william and I must have reffered to him as Bill on the phone, they now say that that is an alias and we have therefore been dishonest. I have wriiten to them to say that Bill is a well recognised contraction of the name William and he is reffered to as William on all legal documents, ie mortgage, bank accounts so therefore not an alias at all.

They've also questioned why I left high value items in my home whilst I took a 2 week holiday. I'm not quite sure what I should have done with them, people don't usually take games consoles on holiday with them :rolleyes:

I just can't believe this has taken 6+ months and still no resolution, I've had this policy for 10+ years and only ever claimed twice for minor things. I have valuations for most of the items that were stolen and the valuations are over 2 years old so it's not as if I've just taken out the policy and staged a break in.

I have contacted the ombudsman but they can't do much until they send me their final decision letter, which they don't seem to want to do. I have escalated my complaints with halifax to level 2 but nothing seems to be happening.