Lost valuables - investigator appointed

pitbulluk

Wife and daughter lost their expensive pandora bracelets on holiday in October 2010. Daughter put hers in her pocket and went on the fairground rides. Wife can only think that hers was in her room after she took it off. Searched high and low for it and couldn't find it, so put in a lost property form to the holiday company.

Filed a house insurance contents claim and travel insurance did not cover those items.
Our suspicion is that it was stolen from our room.

In February 2011, I lost my expensive watch. Just remembered looking to put it on on Monday before I left for work and it wasnt in its usual place. last time I remembered having it on was on Friday at work as took it off at lunchtime as went running.

Thought I left it in my drawer but wasn't their on Monday.

It's either been lost in the house, or been stolen. I can't prove either, so where do I stand? the combined total of the 3 valuables is £5.5k.

Now have a investigator coming to see me. I feel that if I say something wrong they will think Im lying and will reject my claim.

Am gutted that I have had to make these claims in the short space of time.

Any advice appreciated.

Voyager2002

I suspect that they will say that you failed to take reasonable care of these valuables, and so will reject the claims while continuing to be confident in your honesty.

pitbulluk

We were taking reasonable care. Wife left bracelet in hotel room and it ws locked. Admit that it wasnt in a safe but the room did not have one. Daughter was silly though but she is only 10.
I sort of took reasonable care, watch not on show, but was in my drawer albeit not locked and watch was at home on the side. OK the doors wasnt locked, but I was in and upstairs watching TV.

dacouch

Your best bet is to tell the truth, if you lie they are very likely to find out

pvt

pitbulluk wrote: »

We were taking reasonable care. Wife left bracelet in hotel room and it ws locked. Admit that it wasnt in a safe but the room did not have one. Daughter was silly though but she is only 10.
I sort of took reasonable care, watch not on show, but was in my drawer albeit not locked and watch was at home on the side. OK the doors wasnt locked, but I was in and upstairs watching TV.

If I have this straight:

Daughter's bracelet - lost from pocket at fairground;
Wife's bracelet - stolen/lost from hotel room;
Your watch - stolen from desk drawer at work.

The first one may be difficult. If she had been wearing it it might look better, but if it fell out of 10-year-old's pocket they may argue it not being looked after.
The second and third ones should be no issue when you provide the crime reference numbers you got when you reported the thefts.

As regards your comment that "if I say something wrong they may think I'm lying". Erm, I think that's the definition of lying, isn't it? If you are not sure you have to say you're not sure.

Look at it from the insurance company's POV. You're claiming for £5,500 worth of gear and sound rather woolley about where and how they went missing. Hardly surprising they want to send a man round to give it a coat of looking-at is it?

pvt

pitbulluk

dacouch wrote: »

Your best bet is to tell the truth, if you lie they are very likely to find out

What is there to lie about. Valuables were lost or stolen. Not sure at the end of the day, thats why insurance policies cover for items lost or stolen as accident do happen.

When people say where did you lose it. Bit of a dumb question really isnt it, if you accidently knew that your braceleft fell off down the drain. When something isnt there when you go to get it. Its either lost or stolen.

Likely to find out what? I will tell them what happened, plain as day. Not sure how thing went missing, if I knew they wouldnt be lost.

pitbulluk

pvt wrote: »

If I have this straight:

Daughter's bracelet - lost from pocket at fairground;
Wife's bracelet - stolen/lost from hotel room;
Your watch - stolen from desk drawer at work.

The first one may be difficult. If she had been wearing it it might look better, but if it fell out of 10-year-old's pocket they may argue it not being looked after.
The second and third ones should be no issue when you provide the crime reference numbers you got when you reported the thefts.

As regards your comment that "if I say something wrong they may think I'm lying". Erm, I think that's the definition of lying, isn't it? If you are not sure you have to say you're not sure.

Look at it from the insurance company's POV. You're claiming for £5,500 worth of gear and sound rather woolley about where and how they went missing. Hardly surprising they want to send a man round to give it a coat of looking-at is it?

pvt

Wolley about where they went missing as sometimes you take it for granted that the watch you are wearing is still on your arm. How many times do you look at watch and say "thank goodness its still there"? Simply took the watch off at lunchtime and would imagine i would of put it back on, but cant be sure I did otherwise i would still have it. So assumption is, it was stolen.

Or, I did put it back on, cant remember for certain, took it off at home and its lost, fell down the drain, dog ate it, who knows? thats why Im making an insurance claim.

Insurance companies would do anything to not pay out a claim and am worried that our precious valuables will be rejected as Im not certain about how they went missing.

TSx

pitbulluk wrote: »

Insurance companies would do anything to not pay out a claim and am worried that our precious valuables will be rejected as Im not certain about how they went missing.

I think you're over-reacting.

From a claims handlers perspective, it looks like a set of dodgy claims. It's certainly got several fraud flags attached to it. It's not really a surprise they've sent an investigator. From experience, it's unusual for someone to not be able to pin down a day when they lost something.

I think you just need to be patient and understand that if the insurance company 'just paid out' every time someone claimed they had lost something, your premiums would be sky high. I'd prepare for that anyway, with 3 all risks claims on the policy.