Norwich Union stole my ceiling

Steve_Rudd

If your home insurance is with Norwich Union, I recommend you read THIS cautionary tale before renewal.

https://www.baggis.co.uk/onion.htm

mattymoo

Sorry but you sound like the policyholder from hell.
Yes there has been incompetence on the part of contractors and NU but you do not seem to be giving NU the chance to rectify things.
Loss adjusters are employed by the insurers to deal with the claims and organise the repairs. They do take instructions from the insurers over matters like policy cover but they should organise building works for you.
Biggest problems seems to be your refusal to allow access to the property. The problem is not going to be fixed if you do not allow it.

Mikeyorks

Sorry ... but tend to agree wholly with post#2. You sound to be making more of a meal of it than they are.

Large companies comprise of individuals. And when you start proceedings with offensive communications .. they tend to start taking it personally. So it's not wise to burn your bridges at the outset?

ohmsoft

Again my apologies but agree as well.

I couldn't read it all as didn't have the time or inclination but a for instance is the phone call you described - you were rude in your second sentance - if I were on the phone at customer services I would also have gone 100% by the book - why would I care about frustration caused in such a case?

Cooperation

Like so many hard-done-to people I think you have your got yourself to embroiled with too many issues surrounding your claim that you are consfusing the real issue for yourself, us and Norwich Union!

Do you think that posting your problems on here here will really help, or are you just intent on venting off steam?

Kinnairdy

Quote Me Happy! :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

kscour

to be honest - in the letters the bad language is a no-no. Imagine how it would look read in court. But beyond that well I have my own wonderful experience of an insurance claim and I am eternally grateful that we insured through a local broker who dealt with the flack on our behalf. Even so it was a living nightmare. We insisted (and I mean insisted) on having a loss adjuster brought in. Loss adjuster arrived, photographed everything in sight, said here's my number ring me any time you want I'll be there for you and left. After ringing (over a few days) about 20 odd times and leaving messages because we need to clarify things we were slightly cheesed off the calls weren't returned but then it wasn't personal as the loss adjuster didn't return the calls of our insurance broker either!
but the best bit of it all was when we presented the bill for having our gas fire & fireplace refurbished (it would have cost 3 times as much to have a new one to which we were entitled but we liked the one we had - the cost was because it needed to be fitted and replaced by a qualified person and the hearth had been damaged upon removal and needed to be repolished) the loss adjuster told us that they couldn't remember a fireplace in the room! Funnily enough they didn't have a photograph of the fireplace either although it was the only thing left in the room except for a rather large pool of water. We were lucky in that our broker had advised us to take photos of every room for insurance purposes several months earlier and that was the one room I'd got round to doing.
so yes OP is over reacting and yes they could be around more often to let various people into the house but I struggled to do that and I was working from home!
And if I've learnt anything from this it's:-
use a local broker that you can trust - it may cost a couple of quid more than the internet but you'll have a real live person to kick up the bum!
take photos of your house right now - the equivilant of a 3d walkthrough. You may think you don't have anything worthy of taking photos of and neither did I - however without those photos I'd still be trying to convince the insurance company there was a fireplace in my living room.
and last but not least should the worst happen insist on a loss adjuster and be prepared for a long and exhausting battle

mattymoo

Good advice Kscour.
I work as a risk surveyor for an insurer - on the large commercial side but I started out doing domestic surveys in the early 90's for high net worth clients.

I always used to suggest photos of each room and of unusual items. That way, if a thief comes calling or worse still, the house burns down, you have a useful aide memoire to use when compiling your claim. I'm sure we would all remember the tv, dvd, sofa, tables, chairs etc. but when it comes to the ornaments, lamps, books and general bric a brac of life I would be hard pushed to do so.

Needless to say, keep copies of the photos (or a CD if digital) away from the house, with a relative perhaps.

looby-loo_2

I tend to agree with all the other posts too.

Years ago when I was a child we had a fire at my home. Starting in the kitchen it soon spread upstairs and through the roof. My parents had just been decorating and the decorator asked my mum if they were insured, just in case he put his foot through the ceiling (he was joking), however, this got her thinking so she asked the Norwich Union man the builder knew to come round. She took out he insurance for buildings and contents to start on the 1st. The fire was on the night of the 1st that same week. The forms/letter were still in the mans briefcase - he hadn't posted them yet. Still they honoured all the claim without question, putting us up in hotel for several weeks.

Perhaps it's different these days but maybe not. Three years ago I had a burgulary claim and the loss adjuster from NU actually put my claim up - he told me of a few extra things I should claim for which I hadn't though about.

alias7

I like your sense of humour!

"So, Mr Alasdair Phillips, with regard to your wonderful offer of prizes of a DVD player, your mountain bike, your Ipod and your hot air balloon trip, I can only say that I hope they aren’t insured with Norwich Union, because when you stick them up your !!!!, as I would suggest in my present frame of mind, on this performance, they’ll be there for at least the next three months and you’ll end up having to pull them out yourself."

Thats my favourite bit!

Something tells me you might just be sticking to this, so make sure those b*stards at NU what they deserve!