Swarovski Crystal Collection Smashed By Bird

kah22

On Saturday morning a blackbird got into my house via a window went mad against the window and knocked all my Swarovski crystal collection for six, breaking the majority of it.

I had been buying one piece of it each year for the past 24 years or so, some of it locally and later direct. The earlier pieces were about £30 to buy the later ones no more than £120 per item.

To date I have contacted my insurance broker and obtained a claim form, but to be honest I’m getting bad vibes from both the broker and the insurance company. They seem to want me to gather up all the broken pieces many of which are imbedded in the carpet, I’ve lost heads of ducks and beaks of birds, some small bits are just smashed.

The insurance company want me to make a list of all the individual pieces I had and to be honest they were just bits and pieces I’d bought over the year. I’ve no photograph or invoices for them, and they weren’t insured as individual items. I can only guess at the individual items but that’s about it.

A quick trawl through the Swarovski site suggests that replacement value could run into £1500 + but I don’t know how I can prove it, most of what I have is just in pieces.

Can you make some suggestions as what to do, and how best to progress a claim with the insurance company. The girl in the brokers office said she’d never heard of this type of claim before. For myself I just want to be pre-armed if the insurance company start been difficult. Can’t remember the last time my insurance was claimed on, certainly not within the past ten years.

huckster

If you have accidental cover on your Contents Insurance, you should be ok.

Gather up all the broken pieces and put them on a large sheet of white paper. Then take photographs of the broken items, as much as you can individually and then overal as a broken collection. Write a list of the items that you had and if you can print/provide a copy of a catalogue from the company, then this will assist them.

Just be as helpful as you can by providing as much information as possible. I am not sure how the claim will be settled, but you can discuss this with your Insurers. It is possible that they could opt to replace the items, as by buying many items direct, they can probably negotiate a substantial discount.

Norfolk_Jim

I hope impact by animal isn't one of your policy exclusions

kah22

Norfolk_Jim wrote: »

I hope impact by animal isn't one of your policy exclusions

Wasn't an animal it was a bird

Outpost

kah22 wrote: »

Wasn't an animal it was a bird

Still an animal. Don't try to be too clever...

kah22

They have you every way

huckster

Have you actually discussed this with the Insurers claims department yet ?

kazwookie

Do you have any photos where you can see them in the background?

kah22

huckster wrote: »

Have you actually discussed this with the Insurers claims department yet ?

Yes, Talked to my insurance broker this morning, she contacted the the insurance company and I spoke to the guy. The claim has been officially lodged now it is a matter of trying to get all the information I can to progress the claim.