Theft of rings

tortilla69

Hi all newbie here

I need some help with an insurance claim, so here goes.

We suffered a theft earlier this year, my wife had some rings taken, and we had a camera taken, none of these items were worth a great deal of money, the rings mostly had more sentimental value than real money worth, and the camera was just a budget digital but very new.

Now the camera was pretty new so we had a reciept, but we had nothing for any of the rings, we could show some of them in photos, but thats all.

Now after some months the insurance are settling some of the rings, but not all. I don't understand, if they can settle some of them , why not all?

Is it worth me complaining, if I do I expect I'll have to go to the ombudsman, or do I just accept ?

Quentin

No, don't "just accept".

Ask why they are not prepared to settle for all your rings, then decide whether or not to accept or appeal. (No-one on this forum knows why they haven't dealt with all your claim)

tortilla69

Thank you Quentin that's exactly what I'll do.

Regards

tortilla69

Hi all

They have now agreed to settle on all the rings, and given us a settlement figure, I quote:

[FONT=&quot]Thank you for your recent communication regarding the above policy.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] In regard to the claim that you have going through at the moment your insurer, HBos, are happy to cover the claim and will either provide you with vouchers or a cash settlement, which ever you prefer.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Your policy covers you for replacement of the items; it does not guarantee that you will be given money to buy new items yourself. However HBos are offering a settlement of £2, 875 in vouchers or £1, 803.75 if you choose to take a cash settlement.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] The reason that the settlement in vouchers is of a higher value is because HBos can purchase vouchers worth £2, 875 from their regular jeweller at a cost of only £1, 803.75 as they have an agreement with them. This means that HBos get greater value for money as they use this same supplier on a regular basis.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] HBos will only every pay out £1, 803.75 for the claim regardless of whether they pay you directly or pay the jeweller. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] I hope this explanation gives you a greater understanding of the situation and shows that you are in no way penalised if you chose to take the cash settlement.[/FONT]

Surely if thier settlement is X the fact that they can minimise thier costs by getting a discount from a certain jeweler shouldn't mean we should have to accept either a lower figure in settlement or goods of a lesser quality, we should have the choice of goods or cash to the same value?

Any comments will be very welcome please

Regards

WombleSW20_2

You should find out what exactly the current market valuation of the rings are as this is what they are obliged to pay out.

When I was burgled, we were paid on the basis of the valuation set by the insurer's jeweller which turned out to be higher than the amount I paid for them (price of gold appreciated since I bought it). Ask for this and use this as your settlement amount. By the way - you do not have to accept vouchers instead of cash - there are precidents set on the FOS site that support this.

tortilla69

Hi WombleSW20

thanks for your interest, I'm not disputing the valuation of 2875 if they pay us that it is very fair, but they will only give us that amount in vouchers, if we want cash to spend where we want they will only give us 1803.

Have you got a link to the FOS precidents please.

Regards

silvercar

Could you replace the rings from the voucher source for the amount of the vouchers? If you can you probably have to accept. If not for a reason like the rings are antique and the voucher source only sells modern jewellery then you don't.

silvercar

Ombudsman ruling here:

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

Its an old one from October 2001. Here is an ombudsman recent comment to show it still applies:

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/75/75-household-insurance.html

scroll down to 75/10.

tortilla69

Hi silvercar

Thank you so much for those 2 links I think they are just what I need, I'm going to quote them to the insurance company and see what they say, thanks again.

regards

tortilla69

Hi all

Still no luck, I've spoken to both the broker and the underwriter and the story is the same from both, so I have instigated a formal complaint, do people think i am wasting my time?

Regards

silvercar

If you could buy similar jewellery with the vouchers then you are wasting time. If you can't get similar replacements then I would carry on with the complaint.