Cunningham Lindsay & Esure have done me up like a kipper!!

brownie4583

I hope nobody on here has the mis-fortune to have to deal with this company Cunningham Lindsay in their lifetime!
They were appointed by Esure to handle my home insurance claim and we have endured 3 and a half months of sheer frustration,lies,incompetence,ignorance,you name it!!
They sent a out a loss adjuster,he completed our statement,the dreaded 'risk assessment',viewed photos and evidence etc saying we will be contacted within 10 days!!3 weeks went by,no contact,so i rang and was told he had left the company and had not left some of our details behind!The 'risk assessment' was missing so they arranged another visit.The loss adjuster didn't turn up,with no word at all,which was infuriating as my wife had the day off work especially!I rang them to complain and stated that my solicitor was talking about claiming for loss of earnings as they would have to visit now a 3rd time,and more time off work,i was then told they now had miraculously got all my details!!:)Another 2-3 weeks went by,no contact,so i rang again,and was told i had to sign my statement and 'risk assessment' forms again,they would post them that day 1st class!
4 days later i received the letter from a woman down the road,opened by her daughter,with the wrong address on the envelope,with the forms hanging out,my personal details!!I had informed them on 2 previous occasions about the wrong address they had got for me(but they had the correct address on the letter inside!):mad:
On reading the forms i was gobsmacked at the amounts the loss adjuster had stated,eg.£4,000 clothing,£1,000 cutlery in kitchen,£500 for a £150 tv in bedroom,£250 for jewellery in bedroom when all the lot had been stolen,and also £1,000 for a damaged fence panel which is £16.99 at Homebase etc etc etc!
I ammended the amounts signed and returned it.Around 2 weeks later i received a call from the valuation company requesting me to send them my list of stolen items,evidence,photos etc as they had been trying for well over a month to get these from Cunningham Lindsay and couldn't!I rang C & L straight away and was told they had sent them '2 hours earlier' which was a lie and then they told me to send them,because obviously they hadn't!!
Now after 3 and a half months,mainly due to the ridiculously high amounts submitted to Esure by them,i am told that i am under insured,my claim is rejected and my policy cancelled!!:mad:
I have paid my home insurance for 23 years,the last 6 years with Esure,and i have never claimed a penny,and i get treated like this,it's totally disgusting,bordering on criminal!
By the way,my wife rang C & L around 6 weeks after the loss adjuster had supposedly left the company,asked for him by name and was told he was out visiting clients!!!!:exclamati
If you hear the words Cunningham Lindsay,take my advice,run for the hills or just stick your head in the gas oven,the most incompetent company i have ever come across in my whole life!!

opinions4u

1. Complain to eSure.

2. Take it to the FOS if you don't get satisfaction.

(At the very least they should be refunding loss of earnings for any missed appointments).

Dynamic_Panda

opinions4u wrote: »

1. Complain to eSure.

2. Take it to the FOS if you don't get satisfaction.

Totally agree...............one question thought about the jewellery...........was it specified because of the value of it being over their recommended figure or not.............if for example there was a clause saying that all single items over £1000 had to be specified and they were not this could be the reason why you are classed as under insured............

As for CL............they are probably one of the worst companies I have ever dealt with when I worked in claims............

DP

brownie4583

No,none of the items were over £1,000,all roughly £100 to £300.I have today seen my solicitor who is on the case and already contacted both Esure & Cunningham Lindsay,and i will be also reporting the whole farce to the FOS and every name and shame site i can find!!
A total con if you ask me!!

mikey72

brownie4583 wrote: »

No,none of the items were over £1,000,all roughly £100 to £300.I have today seen my solicitor who is on the case and already contacted both Esure & Cunningham Lindsay,and i will be also reporting the whole farce to the FOS and every name and shame site i can find!!
A total con if you ask me!!

I hope you get a good result. It's about time the customer holds out for the service they have paid for.

brownie4583

I will and i have informed my solicitor i want to take it as far as i possibly can,it's the principle now,totally insensitive,hassle,upset etc etc and how many 1,000's of people out there are in the same boat,they think they are adequately insured,as i did,have never claimed and are ignorant as to how it works,as i was,and will not be able to claim if,or when a claim is made,and unbeknown to them their policy which they pay in good faith month after month is not worth the paper it is wriiten on!!!!
Take my advice and make sure you are insured for contents for at least £30-£40,000 minimum!!!!

bouncydog1

The question that people should ask themselves when taking out contents insurance is, if my house was burned to the ground and nothing remained, how much would it cost me to purchase everything from scratch (which is the amount you would expect the insurer to pay if the worst happened). Although you have stated your case you haven't said how much your total contents sum insured was. If it was very low then I would suspect that this is the reason that the claim has been declined. However if you didn't have very much in the way of contents then you may be able to argue that the adjuster's valuation is unreasonable.

brownie4583

The contents are just the usual,a couple of tv's,mobiles,suite,stereo,beds,clothes etc,nothing worth alot!My argument is though that the claim process is not explained to you and is totally misleading to say the least!!If you are insured for say £15,000 contents,you then think you are insured for £15,000 and if you do suffer a burglary etc and claim say £8,000 you are fully covered??WRONG!!!!
They pay out a third which is £5,000,then send a prat out to conduct a 'risk assessment' and if their figure is above the £15,000 sum insured,which in Esure's case is going to be grossly inflated,then the % difference is also deducted and you are left with a fraction of your claim or nothing at all and your policy cancelled!

Dynamic_Panda

brownie4583 wrote: »

The contents are just the usual,a couple of tv's,mobiles,suite,stereo,beds,clothes etc,nothing worth alot!My argument is though that the claim process is not explained to you and is totally misleading to say the least!!If you are insured for say £15,000 contents,you then think you are insured for £15,000 and if you do suffer a burglary etc and claim say £8,000 you are fully covered??WRONG!!!!
They pay out a third which is £5,000,then send a prat out to conduct a 'risk assessment' and if their figure is above the £15,000 sum insured,which in Esure's case is going to be grossly inflated,then the % difference is also deducted and you are left with a fraction of your claim or nothing at all and your policy cancelled!

Turn your house upside down and everything that falls out is contents...........its a lot more than you realise............my current policy is unlimited on both buildings and contents but to be honest the minimum the average household should be looking at in my mind is £50000............

DP

bouncydog1

When you took the policy out you would have received a policy document detailing the cover that you had bought. Within the terms of the document there would have been an explanation as to how claims would be assessed and also a requirement that you insured for the value of the contents. I am assuming that you didn't read this?

Contents include everything in your home - so you have to include carpets, curtains, bedding, dusters, dustpans, books, CD's, toiletries etc. not just personal possessions - unless you rent and your landlord insures his own contents.

If you were to write down everything you owned how far out is the £15k from the actual value? If you can come up with a reasonable figure then you may be able to discuss the matter with the insurers. However failure to read the policy cannot be blamed on insurers - that is down to the purchaser of the contract.

bouncydog1

Dynamic_Panda wrote: »

Turn your house upside down and everything that falls out is contents...........its a lot more than you realise............my current policy is unlimited on both buildings and contents but to be honest the minimum the average household should be looking at in my mind is £50000............

DP

I agree - people buy stuff and when renewal comes along they just carry on without taking into account everything that they may have bought and insure for the same as last time. It's only when they make a claim and blame insurers for not paying out that they realise the implications.

Friend lost everything in a house fire and it was only when the loss adjuster reminder her to include everything that she realised the contents of her sewing basket were probably well over £100!