Axa Home Insurance, advice please!

lawlorlane

Hi, hope this is the right place to post, please move if not!

I am a tenant in private rented accomodation. I took out home contents cover when I first started renting, which was 5 years ago. I have always renewed with the same company - Lets Cover, tho the policy is with AXA.

This morning I was setting up my sons game system as it was just replaced by Sony, I moved his tele (26" LCD) forward so I could get to the HD slot and as ive pushed the cable in the back of the tele its wobbled and fallen forward onto the floor. I caught it with one hand slightly but wasnt able to stop it crashing to the floor. It now has a crack in the screen and is causing some lines down the screen.
I have dug out the insurance papers and have a £100 excess :eek: but considering the tele cost about £250 almost 2 years ago I can live with that!

Stupidly I have had a quick search on google to see how the claims process may work as I no longer have the reciept and have been told by a friend this morning that insurance companies wont pay out unless you can prove you bought it!?
Is this true?
I have found some bad stories about how they intimidate you, make out your lying and some people have had a false claim against them on future insurane! now I am worried to call them as I am not the most confident speaker, prefer written complaints etc..lol. And I am bound to get flustered if they start firing questions and making me feel like a criminal. I have never made a claim before and its a legitimate claim so im not sure why I feel like that!? Its a bit like walking out of a store and the alarms go off even tho I havent stolen, I instantly go red!!
Has anyone dealt with AXA before? Horror and good stories please. How does the claims process work!? Thank you

no-oneknowsme

lawlorlane wrote: »

Hi, hope this is the right place to post, please move if not!

I am a tenant in private rented accomodation. I took out home contents cover when I first started renting, which was 5 years ago. I have always renewed with the same company - Lets Cover, tho the policy is with AXA.

This morning I was setting up my sons game system as it was just replaced by Sony, I moved his tele (26" LCD) forward so I could get to the HD slot and as ive pushed the cable in the back of the tele its wobbled and fallen forward onto the floor. I caught it with one hand slightly but wasnt able to stop it crashing to the floor. It now has a crack in the screen and is causing some lines down the screen.
I have dug out the insurance papers and have a £100 excess :eek: but considering the tele cost about £250 almost 2 years ago I can live with that!

Stupidly I have had a quick search on google to see how the claims process may work as I no longer have the reciept and have been told by a friend this morning that insurance companies wont pay out unless you can prove you bought it!?
Is this true?
I have found some bad stories about how they intimidate you, make out your lying and some people have had a false claim against them on future insurane! now I am worried to call them as I am not the most confident speaker, prefer written complaints etc..lol. And I am bound to get flustered if they start firing questions and making me feel like a criminal. I have never made a claim before and its a legitimate claim so im not sure why I feel like that!? Its a bit like walking out of a store and the alarms go off even tho I havent stolen, I instantly go red!!
Has anyone dealt with AXA before? Horror and good stories please. How does the claims process work!? Thank you

Sounds just like something I would do!

However , I have to say that the price of televisions are pretty reasonable these days. I have just bought a 32inch lcd for £220 from Argos.

You say that you have a £100 excess on your policy and if you DO claim this through your insurance you are going to have to declare this to insurers for the next 5 years or so which will increase your premium......Im wondering is it really worth it?

The fact that you dont have the receipt for the tv is another matter..they would probably only allow you the value of the tv in todays prices....

Personally for smaller items I wouldnt even dream of using my home insurance but each to their own.

lawlorlane

I didnt even realise how close to the edge I had it! Too eager to set it up for him I guess
I was thinking of putting it down to experience and just forking out but I dont have the cash right now.
I think I was kind of thinking along the lines of, once Ive been paid out, I could go to Currys get a cheapish tele and pay for 'whatever Happens' as Ive got that on the tele in my room which has been replaced with no problems after an accident. Of course this would mean paying out any extra myself.
Would the premiums go up alot then?
I dont know how it would work with the prices, I assumed (wrongly probably) that they would look for the latest model of the same one and give me that value. It was bought from currys - http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/logik-l26digb11-26-full-hd-lcd-tv-08665613-pdt.html Mine is a L26DIGB10.
So I guess after the £100 excess, I would end up with £79.99 .... Not sure now. Maybe I could find the other £80 another way and pay out...thanks for your view!

InsideInsurance

For an AD claim they are unlikely to be too worried about receipts as they could send someone to look at the TV... receipts are more important in fire or theft claims where you no longer have the item to prove that you ever actually owned it.

As to movement in premium, check the aggregators to see what your premium will be with a claim and what it will be without it. Ultimately your premiums will be impacted for up to 5 years and AD claims tend to have the highest impact on contents insurance.

lawlorlane

InsideInsurance wrote: »

For an AD claim they are unlikely to be too worried about receipts as they could send someone to look at the TV... receipts are more important in fire or theft claims where you no longer have the item to prove that you ever actually owned it.

As to movement in premium, check the aggregators to see what your premium will be with a claim and what it will be without it. Ultimately your premiums will be impacted for up to 5 years and AD claims tend to have the highest impact on contents insurance.

Well after speaking to them anyway, just to get an idea of things they have said that I would most likely need to get an independent engineer to quote for repairs, with specification to damage or something like that, more money to pay out!! I did ask for the option of them sending someone round to do that and they said, not in these circumstances. If I was claiming for something more expensive it would be fine but I will be left with pennies so really not worth it! Thanks all

Sally_A

InsideInsurance wrote: »

For an AD claim they are unlikely to be too worried about receipts as they could send someone to look at the TV... receipts are more important in fire or theft claims where you no longer have the item to prove that you ever actually owned it.

That'll be those paper receipts that burnt along with the contents in the fire claim then?;)

I keep meaning to, but haven't done it yet - scan all receipts, and email them to myself, so they are accessable from any computer.

It would be a wise move to do similar with photos of jewellery, or even pics of rooms showing what was in there.

Note to self.........must do, must do, must do!!!!!

*Scarlett

lawlorlane - I would not be happy to leave it at that.

I understand that they may not want to pay an engineer to visit but ask them will they reimburse your own costs for this.

Could you take the TV somewhere and ask them for an estimate to repair? Some will do this free of charge or waiver the cost if you get the repair done there.

I had this scenario with damage to an expensive watch several years ago and my jeweller provided an estimate for the repair - I received a cheque in a few weeks (minus the excess of course).

Bear in mind that this will still register as a loss against your policy and affect your no claims discount even if you don't proceed with the claim so you might as well try to get the value of the TV replaced.

InsideInsurance

Sally_A wrote: »

That'll be those paper receipts that burnt along with the contents in the fire claim then?;)

I keep meaning to, but haven't done it yet - scan all receipts, and email them to myself, so they are accessable from any computer.

It would be a wise move to do similar with photos of jewellery, or even pics of rooms showing what was in there.

Note to self.........must do, must do, must do!!!!!

Must admit that I create a Dropbox account (free) for exactly the same purpose