Esure SBS Insurance help

dekd

Hi All,

If anyone with a little more know how than me or perhaps who has been through a claim refusal with some success can take the time to offer their thoughts, I'd be most grateful....

I genuinely dropped my Plasma from only 4-5 inches off the ground on to the carpet, when taking it off the stand to go up onto a wall bracket. OH couldn't quite manage the weight....
Anyway, 50" LG plasma landed face down with only a tiny scuff and the buttons on the front loose/popped into the panel itself, with no other visible damage.
Assuming all is ok as the power LED was still on, we tried again and managed to get it on the wall. When I tried to turn it on from standby, I only get sound, no picture.

Call Esure who appointed SBS insurance? TV collected and inspected and today gets a phone call to say, that the Power Supply is the fault. Great I thought, an easy ish fix seeing as they identified the problem. Before I could for ask how long for repair, the chap on the phone from esure said 'as it is a power supply fault' they will not cover the claim as they do simply fail and are a common failure. I went round in circles for a minute or two stating that it was working before it took a knock and I also pointed out the TV buttons were loose etc. The chap did not want to know and advised that a letter would be sent out.

I hate to say it but I lost the plot and hung up as I would have ended up swearing or saying something silly!!
Well and truly frustrated that i'm a esure customer for some 7-8 years with no claims to date and they pull this one on me....

Frustration with the fact that they appear to only be interested if the set showed more external damage, which is odd as it surely is in everyone's interest to have damage to a minimum? If I wanted to be silly about this, I would have broke the screen properly and blamed the kids Wiimote but that's not what I'm all about.

I'm livid as this is a genuine case and I'm not to impressed with having to accept that out of sheer coincidence, a component just happened to fail at the exact same time that the screen took a knock and it's somehow not related!! From my end, it worked before it took a bump and then failed. Nightmare. Poor analogy but not unlike car body damage claim being rejected as the cd player has packed in ? ? ?

Am I way off the mark in thinking that the complex internal bits and bobs inside modern TV's don't like being bashed or bumped and can fail??

This was a genuine bump and now I feel pretty much let down by esure!
Is this worth some kind of challenge and if so, any ideas would be great.

Or if it's a no win and I'm stuck, I'd sooner know then I can move on and take my 2 cars, home and buildings cover elsewhere...

Thanks in advance!

Note, to mod not sure where to place this - here or Consumer help section, move/delete if you see fit.

huckster

How much is the excess on the policy that would be deducted from claim and how much would the repair cost? How much would your premium increase due to the claim?

I suspect the repair is going to cost less than the excess amount, so no claim could be made anyway. Even if the repair was slightly more than the excess, if you were faced with an increase in premium, you would want to think about whether it was worth claiming.

Another isssue it whether there is any warranty on the TV. The power supply should not fail after a slight knock, so you should be able to claim off the warranty for the repair. For most products you have a minimum of 2 years warranty under EU regs, whatever the manufacturers may say. Speak to the store you purchased the TV from or the TV manufacturers via their helpline.

dekd

Cheers Huckster,

Pretty much just bang on over 2 years, January sales 2008!! So I think I have missed the boat with warranty etc.

£100 excess and I'm sure I won't suffer to much with claim? loose 5% which will equate to around £15. So all in possibly cost of £115 to me. If It can be done for that, it's a no brainer for me. I just had a quick look and I seen some second hand ones for around £100 ish. Struggled to find new, perhaps as I'm looking in the right places or possibly due to it be ing couple of years old? Any ideas on price for someone to fit this as I would not attempt it myself.

Either way, thanks for the input, still frustrated as the buttons on the screen are goosed. Might ask them to fix that only :0

dacouch

Have a look on ebay as people often sell these types of items or sell broken tv's on ebay so you might be able to find one

huckster

Speak to Consumer Direct. 2 years is the minimum warranty but under the sale of goods act, you may still be ok.

If not check around about repairs. I think some of the large stores, carry out fixed priced repairs. They may also find that the repair does not require a replacement part. It may just be a loose connection.