My insurance company's builder (Rok) now in administration...

quietheart

We had a dishwasher leak in the summer which resulted in us needing a drying out company and a new kitchen floor so we claimed on our insurance.
We had the floor retiled whilst we were on holiday by a builder suggested by the insurance company. We haven't been happy with the work, there was poor communication, some tiles aren't laid flat, some edges are grouted with dark grey grout, some are with clear sealant, others with bright white sealant. It looks like I've done it myself. The builder's manager came out and agreed it wasn't up to standard and would sort it out. This was 2 wks ago but I heard the other day this company has gone into administration.
I believe the insurance company are going to appoint a new builder. I'm wondering if they will try and patch up the work done or rip it out and start again?

dacouch

I'm guessing your Insurers are Axa or Zurich and the builders were Rok.

The situation with a builder that an Insurer appoints to carry out work is that they are working on behalf of your Insurers and any problems with the work is normally your Insurers responsibility to correct including the builder going bankrupt.


Have a read of this link from the Insurance Ombudsman, in particular paragraph 2 http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/10/oct-repair-replace-cash.htm

quietheart

Thanks for that.
LV are my insurers, and yes Rok are the firm in question. I'm assuming Rok won't have been paid by LV as we haven't been happy with the work and haven't paid the excess to Rok. Hard to guess but I'm hoping they'll be happy to make the job good if it hasn't cost them so far...

dacouch

It would not matter whether LV have paid Rok, as I mentioned and as per the link, it's normally your Insurers responsibility to ensure the work that is covered is carried out correctly.

I doubt LV have paid them yet as one of the things Insurers typically look for from their suppliers is longish credit terms eg they would probably have paid Rok's invoice after perhaps 28 days or longer.

It would be worth you ringing LV and asking what they are doing for customers affected by Rok's downfall. They would have had an emergency meeting this week when they found out about it and briefed the relevant staff. If they mess you about, remind them that it is LV's responsibility to ensure the repairs are finished to a satisfactory standard

Could you do me a favour and amend the title of your thread to include "Rok" in it, this may help other people who are in the same position who either google it or come on MSE looking for advice. You just need to click on the "Edit" button next to your first post

LV=_company_representative

We're sorry to hear aobut your issues with your home repairs.

ROK went into administration on 9 November. ROK is one of LV=’s preferred building contractors and we currently have circa 300 live cases with them. This is approx 25% of our ‘live’ building claims. In August we took steps to reduce ROK’s share of our workload following reports of financial problems. This meant they were only dealing with a small share of our claims.

We are proactively contacting customers to explain the current situation and in the majority of cases we will arrange for another contractor on our network to finish the works. Because we have a dual supply strategy and use a number of different suppliers including Eastwell, ROK and Davies in a situation like this, we are able to quickly increase capacity to our other suppliers so customer impact will be minimised.

All new claims have already been switched to other preferred suppliers who have capacity to handle this work. We have put together a dedicated team to deal with each existing cases individually during this period to ensure customers are kept up to date and individual circumstances are accounted for.

LV= currently deals with between 20,000 and 30,000 home buildings insurance claims per year. As well as being able to use our preferred supplier networks, customers can alternatively choose a contractor of their own choice to deal with the claims work.

If you wish, you can email your contact details to [EMAIL="insidelv@lv.com"]insidelv@lv.com[/EMAIL] and we'll arrange for someone to call you and discuss this further.

Regards

Nick Joy
eCommerce Team
LV=

dacouch

Nick you need permission from MSE to post on behalf of a business, this is to ensure you are who you say you are and that your company accept the legal implications of you posting.

It is relatively simple to become a registered company poster, you simply need to contact MSE and they will then run some checks and get clearance from LV.

P.S Would it not be sensible for an Insurer who was recommending a builder who have gone into Administration to put a clear message on their website for any affected customers such as quietheart rather than them having to come on a forum for advice

LV=_company_representative

Thanks for advice dacouch. I'll drop MSE administrators a line to get clearance carried out for future posts.