Norwich Union turning a drama into a crisis

callas

I have had two water leaks in my flat. One from the flat above which damaged five rooms and one from my own bathroom.

I am insured under a commerical property policy with Norwich Union.

I thought that when you needed to claim you contacted your insurance company NORWICH UNION in my case, made your claim and you were written to with your options, i.e. get three quotes or they could arrange for someone to do the work for you.

After months and months or getting no where with Norwich union and Asprea I am left stressed and annoyed. I have read the reports on here regarding Asprea and perhaps its been a lucky escape that they have not managed to start any works.

Which leaves me with the problem of Norwich Union pushing me from pillar to post with no one actually doing anything. At what point do I take this to the ombudsman or the small claims court?

I am so sick of this all it has really made me ill. What I haven't mentioned is the rude and distressing calls that I have had to encounter and yet still nothing moves forward.

dacouch

How apt the post of your title is considering Norwich Union merged with General Accident and Commercial Union. Any oldies amongst you may remember the Commercial Union adverts used the catch line "We don't make a drama out of a crisis"

Not sure if it was intentional or not but I like it.

Callas try email Rebbeca Sibley who is a Customer Services Manager aka the Customer Experience Team for Norwich Union, she is a regular contributer to MSE and has permission from MSE and NU to post on here and help MSE members. She will welcome you emailing her and has the authority to try and sort your claim out.

rebecca.sibley@norwich-union.co.uk

Email her as much information as you can eg policy number, claim references, the address of the property the Policy holders name. It would be helpful if you could scan and email through the quotes you have as she may be able to get a quick decision made for you

As you have discovered its best to avoid Asprea, hopefully NU will eventually realise this although I doubt it as they have been using them for many many years

Good luck

P.S Can you let us know how you get on

callas

Drat. I hadn't realised I was showing my age!

Thank you for your advice I will email Rebecca and let you know how I get on.

Interestingly, the moment I start to write this reply I receive a call from Asprea being very helpful and telling me that my claim has been put on hold and they have been told to close their files. A loss adjuster has been asked to deal with one of the claims. As to the old claim I have been told Cunningham Lindsay have been appointed and have been contacted three times since 31 March and their reply has been to put my claim on hold until further notice. With me kept in the dark.

Thanks again Dacouch

dacouch

I assume beccus monitors MSE for NU problems which are normally Asprea problems, it looks like she may have worked even quicker than normal. Send her an email and let her have a look at your claim.

If you have any issue with Asprea be sure to advise her so she can add them to the Asprea file which must be a big file. When they reveiw the award of the contract they do review the complaints although they amazingly keep awarding Asprea the contract.

The key with NU (It applies with a lot of Insurers) is not to keep banging your head against a brick wall, simply contacting the right perso often gets amazing results. It should not be that way but at the moment its the best way. NU are a good company they just get an amazing amount of problems when Asprea are involved.

If you get any more problems post up here or speak / email beccus

callas

I have emailed Rebecca and I am awaiting a reply.

This board has helped me with so many things I shall certainly post any progress.

Thanks again.

dacouch

I would have thought if its a Property Owners Policy that it was arranged by a broker, were they not able to help? I'm a broker and our skills include knowing how to get a claim sorted out efficiently, knowing to tell Asprea where to go in the first place but more importantly knowing the right people to contact when there is a problem.

We have the ace up our sleeve of being able to threaten the Insurer with transferring out entire book of business away from them which with NU is normally upwards of £200k into the many millions. Insurers are falling over themselves for Property Owners Business as its one of types of Insurance where they have decent margins so they especially take notice

If there was a broker involved they should have sorted these claims out for you.

callas

This insurance policy was taken out by the Managing Agent of the Management Company of the block of flats through a broker. The broker being Torbay Insurance Serivces.

We have had no help what so ever from them except to use them as a post box. Naiveley I did not realise the clout of the Broker until I read your post. Perhaps I should give them a call and tell them that I want this sorted out.

dacouch

It might be worth seeing what beccus has to say now you have the ball rolling

[Deleted User]

Thanks Dacouch and callas.

Callas, I've responded to your mail and will let you know how I got on.

Beccus

dacouch

Well done beccus, Callas seems happier now that things seems to be moving, it looks like you moved quickly for them. I think Callas is still not sure whats happening on the "Older" claim.

callas

Thank you Becca for looking into my problem.

After taking Dacouchs advice I rang the Broker who to be fair was unaware of any of my troubles. He agreed to help with the latest claim and would contact NU on my behalf.

It seems that NU had told him that I had refused to have Asprea deal with the latest claim and that was why the file was closed. Not true.

If that had been the point then why did NU not contact me to tell me that they had closed the file and offered me something else? Instead they told me that they had approved a Trace and Access survey to be carried out and that I would be contacted to arrange this. As the leak is coming from the flat above it would be sensible that both parties be present and that the water leak that has been going on for some four/five years with numerous claims from both myself, upstairs and the flat below me are finally sorted.

Not so, Asprea rang late yesterday asking for an appointment to view the problem. I asked is this for a Trace and Access, 'No', they have no approval for this. I told her to go back to NU as I have been told by them that there has been approval. I have sent a very clear photo of the water damage to my ceiling to the Broker.

If this is painful to read let me tell you its painful to experience. I am only writing a shorthand of the events. This is like a slow torture. I went to bed last night with a headache and woke up with one. Asprea might have the reputation of being bad but Norwich Union must take the blame on this one.

It might be that my claims have slipped through the net and that the months and months of trying to get something done has been an oversight on Norwich Unions part but they are not dealing with it nor are they communicating with me. This is why things like this go to the small claims court.

Perhaps NU need a little less patting on their own back with expensive adverts and really need to deal with their actual customers - who are the ones that allow them to stay in the market place.