Home Insurance - learning valuable lessons

wwftw

I am a single mother with two teenage children and last April the rented house that we were living in was set on fire.

I was insured by Tesco's and the loss adjustor being Crawfords, who in turn subcontracted the cleaning to Rainbow.

It was very positive from the start, it was pretty much a 100% loss. The loss adjustor appeared 2 days later and assured me that Rainbow would be there to start cleaning the following Monday. 8 weeks later after all of my belongings had sat in the water/soot/ash etc, there was not much that could have been salvaged left.

I had however, been in the day after the fire and salvaged my precious photos (unbelievably unharmed), together with shoes, bits and pieces that hadnt been affected. As my garage is detached from the house, I stored them all in the garage, along with a load of things that I had already been storing in the garage. I explained this to Rainbow and they said that was fine, they would store those items until I was ready to have them delivered to where I would be living.

Crawfords said they would allow a week of staying in a hotel (I'm not sure how they thought I could source a house, furnish it etc in a week with no money???) However we made alternative arrangements.

4 months later, I asked that Rainbow deliver my belongings. They had drycleaned clothes that were stored in plastic containers (with lids) and together with a few glasses returned this to me. No photos, no garage full of belongings, that had all been disposed of.

9 months later, after employing my own loss adjustor, Crawfords have given me 50% of my insurance value,and are offering me another 25% as the final 25% is to be paid to Rainbow for the cleaning they had to do.

I am still fighting this, AND I also have to pay a % to my loss adjustor.

The moral of this story, and believe me, its far from complete:

-Make sure you insure your contents for far more than they are worth
- get involved from Day 1 with the loss adjustor, insurance company and find one person that is willing to take responsibility for your claim
- get involved with the cleaning company, in fact, be there as they make decisions about your property
- do not trust that anyone will have your interests at heart

I hope that other people can read my experience and hope that no disaster ever befalls them, where insurance is involved.

geri1965_2

There is no need to insure your contents for more than they are worth, as you won't be able to claim any more and your premium will increase as a result. You need to ensure that your sum insured is adequate and that you are not under insured.

Are you saying that Rainbow disposed of things they shouldn't have? If so, you need to raise a complaint - there is potential negligence there and if so, they will have to reimburse you for these items.

DonnySaver

Just had a very reasonable insurance quote from Tesco for buildings & contents (under £200) compared to quotes of over £300 elsewhere.

Was going to take their policy but reviews on here and some other sites (reviewcentre) aren't good.

Not sure what to do now ...

wwftw

Thanks Geri1965 for your comments.

I am saying precisely that, that Rainbow have disposed of my property after telling me they would store them. A whole double garage full!! I raised a complaint last July, August and September. I got letters to say that someone would deal with it. Finally November came and someone in Scotland is dealing with it.....whatever that means.....it is now the end of January, still not resolved.

It is clearly not in their interest to get my claim sorted. They seem to be quite happy to sit back...I guess eventually they imagine that I will give in and agree on a lesser amount.

The ombudsman will be next, but I have heard this process takes even longer than the 9 months that have already passed.

vusys1

there are some major changes going on at the moment in the Glasgow offices(out sourcing) alot of back office and account work will be gone by June and there has been a mass exodus of staff as with other sites (Cardiff,Croydon,Bromley,Leeds)

wwftw

Thanks, it seems now that everyone that was dealing with my claim has gone awol, most importantly the guy who was looking after my complaint. 10 months on and I've clearly gone to the bottom of the pile.
If you work there, or have any influence, I'd really appreciate some advice/help anything !!!
I have my own loss adjustor who has been emailing every week, and still nothing is happening, not even replies now.