can anyone advise on insurance claim?

jess09

Hi
We were burgurled a couple of months ago and the burgular stole my laptop, a digital camera and jewellrey,a lot which was sentimental and n o amount of money can replace,we have been through the most horrific experience and its really upset me emotionally.
We contacted the police who took some details of items stolen etc and after a few weeks contacted our insurance company with details of what was missing etc.
In the meantime the police have caught the burgular and he has admited to doing around 20 other offences and stealing jewellrey and electricals,he has also admitted to burguling our house,we asked regarding the jewellrey and the police say that the burgular also admitted he took all the jewellrey to a jewellers and it has now been melted down,the police we spoke to actually visited the shop and clarify this is whats happened.
My main worry now is my insurance,they contacted us re our claim and said that it was to be investigated further as our claim is over £3000,we informed them re what the police had told us etc but they want to investigate us,what does this mean? i just want to put all this behind us,does anyone have any advice on what will happen next? i thought now tyhe burgular had been arrested and admitted to the theft that the claim would be fairly straightforward.
Any advice wopuld be greatly appreciated,many thanks x

Quote

I imagine they're investigating the claim because of the reason they've told you - the amount. Don't forget, when you take out an insurance policy you're saying to your insurer, "If I have a claim can you sort it out for me, please?" Also don't forget that they are businesses so they're not going to want to pay out for claims willy-nilly without investigating them first. There could be any number of other reasons why they want to investigate. Maybe they're concerned why you didn't report a theft to them until weeks after the loss? Maybe they think it's fraudulent and you need some Christmas money?

No-one know but your insurer.

jess09

Quote wrote: »

I imagine they're investigating the claim because of the reason they've told you - the amount. Don't forget, when you take out an insurance policy you're saying to your insurer, "If I have a claim can you sort it out for me, please?" Also don't forget that they are businesses so they're not going to want to pay out for claims willy-nilly without investigating them first. There could be any number of other reasons why they want to investigate. Maybe they're concerned why you didn't report a theft to them until weeks after the loss? Maybe they think it's fraudulent and you need some Christmas money?

No-one know but your insurer.

Firstly we did inform the insurance straight away who told us to list everything down that was missing including age of item,any receipts photos we have,can you imagaine how difficult it was to list all these items from dead relatives? the insurance contacted us eventually to say they needed the information to process the claim,i have found it very difficult dealing with all this and came on here asking for some advice, i thought somebody may have been able to giove some advice instead of implying i need the money for christmas!!
As i said at the beginning no amount of money will compensate for what ive been through

G_M

No one implied you need the money for Christmas!

Quote was explaining, as per your original enquiry, why the insurance company might want to investigate. THEY might think you need some money for Christmas.

Let's be honest. Lots of people get burgled, then inflate the claim by saying "Oh I had a 52" LCD TV and that's gone too".

No one here is saying YOU did this, only that insurance companies need to check. If they just paid out whatever everyone claimed automatically, all our premiums would go up even more. And the higher the claim, the more likely they are to check.

they want to investigate us,what does this mean? i just want to put all this behind us,does anyone have any advice on what will happen next?

They may send a loss adjuster round to see you. His (her) job is to check the value of the things you are claiming, check he believes you genuinely owned them, check that the security arrangements at the property complied with whatever requirements are listed in the policy, etc.

Ian_W

jess09 wrote:

a lot which was sentimental and n o amount of money can replace

I would avoid using language like that to the loss adjuster/insurance investigator. If no amount of money can replace something, would you be happy with the insurers paying you "no amount of money" for them? Get my drift? The items may be of sentimental value but the only way the insurer can compensate you for their loss is to replace them with something similar or give you their monetary value.

They clearly can't be investigating whether a burglary has occurred as the police have arrested someone who has admitted it. As G_M suggests they may want to convince themselves that the security was at the right level and that the value of the items is as you report.

I appreciate you may find this very distressing but do try to chill. The insurers are entitled to make sure all is above board before they pay out. Do your best to co-operate and provide the receipts and photos they seek and I'm sure they'll soon realise all is kosher.

shoppingnoodles

Hi OP.

I really sympathise-we to were burgled on 7th December and its a horrible experience. The other posters are completely correct, the insurance company are just doing their job when they investigate a claim. Its easy to get paranoid (we felt almost guilty ourselves making our claim and being interviewed, although we are completely honest folk!), wondering if they think you have done something wrong, but you just have to remember that you are the victim in all this. The fact that they have caught the burglar and he has admitted the crime will give them all the information they need ultimately.

My advice, or at least what we have done to put it behind us, is to install a burglar alarm, an inexpensive CCTV system, prikka strip all round our perimeter fences/gates, all the windows are locked and we have made sure that the neighbours will call the police if they see or hear anything suspicious. Your burglar probably chose you randomly and if you make it as hard as possible for anyone else to pick your house again, you will feel better about it all.

Wishing you a much happier New Year.