Hom Insurance Claim Pleae Help

Jo734

Please can someone give me some advice.

I have a buildings claim and an contents claim with AXA. I had mould and water damage in a fitted wardrobe that ruined the clothes.

I've never made a claim before and knew nothing about what I should do. I phoned the insurance company and explained this and they said not to worry they would send someone out to look at the damage on the buildings side. H asked me about the contents and I said i had thrown the clothes out (I now realise my mistake there) but he said don't worry just to make a list of the contents and send it in.

A company came out to look at the buildings side and settled the claim for redecoration etc.

However they aked for receipts or proof of purchase on the contents side which I don't have receipts but have provided the best I can with bank statements. I can't provide credit card statements as i will be charged for this. I've sent everything back and they've said they don't expect me to pay for replacement statements as proofand the claim will be passed to the handling department (which I thought I already was dealing with).

I've now been visited by a loss adjusting company who have sat in my house and asked me all sorts of personal questions and have basically implied that they and the insurance company think I'm being fraudulent!

I'm shocked and gutted! I've tried to provide the information they've asked for the best I can but C & Company said I've basically gone through my statements looking at what might match up!

He's said he will report to them and it's up to them whether they pay or not and he'll be in touch to let me know. But he asked me to sign a statement of what happened (which he wrote down whilst he was in my house) and warned me that it could be used in a prosecution case!

I'm mortified!

I am a very honest person and he's made me feel like a criminal in my own house!

Please can someone advise me of what I should do / expect or do I just sit and wait for someone to decide I'm a criminal and what happens then?

McKneff

Please dont take it personally, They take this stance with everybody,
its because there are so many fraudulent claims, if you are honest, they can spot it a mile away, as they could if you were dishonest.

Dont worry about it. Its just normal,
And of course like he says, it could be used in a prosecution, he is only informing you of this, If the claim by dishonest people is made then of course it wuold be used. They cant say it to some people and not to others, they have to say it to everybody.

Like I say, dont take it personally. Just wait to see what happens. Its
just the way insurance companies work.
Good luck.
Annie

Jo734

Thanks very much Annie I appreciate that. He just made me feel like I was a criminal! I wouldn't have the balls to think about making a fraudulent claim!

I've always been a very honest person and I felt like he was making a judgement on my character when he knows nothing about me.

dacouch

Are they designer clothes by any chance?

warez22

The other thing to remember is you dont get new for old cover on clothes, its one of the few things on a contents policy that has a reduction in the claim settlement for depreciation.

Also a separate policy excess is applicable for the contents from that taken for the buildings so, depending on what that is, you might find the claim amount would be quite small. This would obviously depend on how much clothing you were claiming for.

But, if it is a relatively small amount, you need to investigate how much no claims bonus you would lose on your contents section and how it would affect your premium over the next few years. You might find that the extra premiums you would pay to bring your bonus back up again might be more than what you have claimed.

The no claims bonus is separate for buildings and contents.

Also with regard to the attitude of the loss adjuster, if you took this policy out through a broker you could contact them and they could contact their AXA account executive who could help. If not, you have the right to ask for the contact number of a claims troubleshooter who should be able to help you.

Hope that helps

warez22

Jo734

Warez - thanks for your advice. I went direct to Axa for the quote not through a broker. It was just his attitude that really upset me to be honest and the fact that he obviously thought I was trying to pull a fast one which is far from the case.

dacouch - I'm not sure what the relevance of your comment is but the contents of the wardrobe were dresses and suits and shoes/boots from Coast and Principles places like that - not designer no, but still expensive all the same and not things I can afford to replace with rising power bills, insurances, petrol, mortgage and generally trying to keep my head above water on one salary.

Unfortunately I don't have the luxury of buying new clothes every time a special occasion comes up and I've never had the luxury of owning anything designer.

I posted on this site genuinely for advice and don't appreciate your comment as I've already had one person look down their nose at me today and make me feel an inch tall, and once is enough thanks.

McKneff

dacouch wrote: »

Are they designer clothes by any chance?

Thats not a normal comment from the normal Dacouch we know and love,
whats up then?

dacouch

McKneff wrote: »

Thats not a normal comment from the normal Dacouch we know and love,
whats up then?

You and the OP have miss read the intention of my question

It was a sensible question, if the claim includes designer clothes it can put the Insurers on guard and cause extra investigations. This is why I asked the question.

McKneff

Sorry but it didnt come over that way,to be honest it came over a bit sarky.

If you had amalgamated

It was a sensible question, if the claim includes designer clothes it can put the Insurers on guard and cause extra investigations.

into first post it would 'nt have beens so ambiguous.

I thought it wasnt like you so hope the OP is okay about it too.
Annie

Jo734

I apologise dacouch for you being on the sharp end of my tongue but I thought you were being sarcastic - The guy that sat in my house for 2 hours today made me feel like a scheming chav only fit for Jeremy Kyle and even raised his eyebrows sarcastically when i told him I was a legal secretary so the way your comment came across was the last straw of the day.

dacouch

McKneff wrote: »

Sorry but it didnt come over that way,to be honest it came over a bit sarky.

If you had amalgamated

It was a sensible question, if the claim includes designer clothes it can put the Insurers on guard and cause extra investigations.

into first post it would 'nt have beens so ambiguous.

I thought it wasnt like you so hope the OP is okay about it too.
Annie

I was expecting the OP to give a bit more detail on what type of labels they had which would have helped explain the possible implications.

I find Insurers tend to thoroughly investigate these types of claims as soon as Versace is mentioned.

I would suggest the OP allows the processes to go through the motions and see what happens. The items being destroyed would make a lot of Loss Adjuesters look further into a claim as they often feel they can have this type of damage professionally cleaned and the lack of items to inspect upsets their systems.

The type of questioning they have done is fairly common and is designed to weed out fraudulent or exaggerated claims. If there is nothing to hide then the questioning should highlight this which would result in a report going back stating it's a valid claim