Home Insurance Discussion

HeadKM

Sorry to hear of your burgulary and now this upset with the insurers - it's the last thing you need after such an upsetting incident.
You need to read all the small print of the policy carefully. A lot of contents insurers will say that they have the discretion to replace the item(s) themselves or send you to one of their specified jewellers, rather than paying cash. Also there is usually a maximum limit on a single "valuable" item (for example up to £1000 each)and usually a cap on the total amount you can claim for unspecified valuables (for example £10,000 or much less!)
This is assuming, of course, that you haven't got some of the items insured under the "specified items" option - this is where you provide a valuation certificate at the outset for certain detailed items and they will then cover them for more than the unspecified limits - but you have to pay a higher premium to add this option on.
Having said all that - the insurer will try to get away with as low a pay out as they can get away with so don't accept their first offer and I think it is perfectly reasonable of you to ask for a more specific list of how they reached their offer and explain why 2 items are unaccounted for - stick to your guns on this. They will be difficult and unhelpful as they are trying to limit their damage but be insistent and, if necessary, if they come to the stage of offering you a final sum, then ask for their formal complaints procedure and start a formal complaint. If you are still unhappy with the outcome then you can, having exhausted their formal complaints procedure, go to the financial ombudsman.
At no point accept their offer if you intend to do this
So, read the small print and, if I can help any further, I will be happy to do so.
Good Luck
Katie

dacouch

loonbeam wrote: »

Hi there

There were so many items that were stolen, and that i had built up over 43 years, so it would be hard to replace all of them. I am left with nothing so yes there are items that i would definately be replacing, but some no.

The 2 items they have not quoted on are just not quoted but there was no explanation as to why, I am now waiting for this.

Really not sure what to do.

I guess, the way I feel is that it should be up to me what i replace, and where i get it from?

I just feel that that amount of vouchers is not fair, and the difference between cash or vouvhers is unfair too. I know that the vouchers costs the insurance company way way less than they give me.

Thank you for replying, any ideas???

Have a read of this from the Insurance Ombudsman, your Insurers are bound to follow the Ombudsman's guidelines. Refer to this from the Ombudsman (The Loss Adjuster should be aware of it), if they still want to discount the cash offer on the items the Ombudsman says they should not post back up and we can advise you on how to proceed.

Read the whole link, but pay particular attention to paragraphs 5,6 & 7

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/10/oct-repair-replace-cash.htm

ebayqueen40

We had always had our buildings insurance through Barclays as the mortgage was with them. Now the mortgage is finished I thought I'd shop around. Barclays quoted £269.00 for Building Cover (not contents), using cashback .co.uk I got a quote from LV= which has better cover than the Barclays quote and only cost £63.80 (inc £5 cashback) - No brainer!!

verntern

The various buildings/contents insurance quotes are a headache. So much small print for my ancient eyes! I have previously relied on an insurance broker for their best search and deal. I'm not so sure it is the best cover. £338 for buildings and contents last year. More favourable with online quotes. However, the local insurance broker is always there to sort out claims on your behalf. Does anyone recommend the Tesco policies and have experience with claims to them? Seems that the Tesco policies are in plain English.

gregd_3

I work for a Loss Adjuster & best policy I have seen is M&S policy underwritten by Axa. Go with them. Tesco are OK, part of RBS. They look after their customers well on the insurance side from my experience.

Jodders_2

I have home and contents insurance with Tesco. Last year, when renewing the policy, the man I spoke to told me that the 'Fabric of the building' (tip the house upside down and what is attached to the sides is the fabric) was not covered. Having just installed a new bathroom, I paid up the extra £28. Moving forward to this year, we discovered recently that the draining board in the kitchen had split. It is set into a long run of worktop. My nice man at Tesco gave the example that if worktops were damaged, they would all be replaced (there are two other, smaller tops). So I rang to check, Tesco at first said no way would they replace the worktops, but when I informed them of the date, time and person I spoke to, they listened to the tape and then rang me back to confirm that what I had said was true and correct. With me so far?
I received the renewal policy documents today. As I am still waiting for the two quotes for the work, I have not actually made a claim, I was ringing last week to check that I could. According to the policy renewal, I made a claim of £700 on 8th February this year. I rang them on 22nd February, maybe they are psychic?
Now, to my way of thinking, if I had given false information like this, I could be sued for fraud. And, by the way, the policy has gone up from £295 to £473.

Guess what I'm doing next....

gregd_3

Are you sure that 8/2 is not what they have down for the date of loss.

Anytime you call to enquire about a claim insurers will log it because if they didn't and you were told you weren't covered for something people could just phone back and change the circumstances.

I used to work in a claim dept.

Balthar

Tesco terminated their agreement with RBS for personal lines insurance last year. A new company (Tesco Underwriting) was created instead which is a joint venture between Tesco Bank and Ageas/Fortis. As such any new policies and renewals will now be with Tesco Underwriting directly rather than RBS.

Jodders: Given the fact your policy has renewed recently it is likely that behind the scenes it has been transferred from RBS' systems to Tesco Underwriting (TU). I would imagine that RBS have your claim open on their system (as it has been notified but not settled), that £700 is their estimation of what they are expecting to pay and that this information has been passed to TU who have sent the renewal documents. Unfortunately whilst settlement of the claim is pending it is likely to have an effect on the premium as whilst it hasn't been paid yet, the insurer has no reason to believe it won't be so the premium calculation will be based as if the claim had been paid and closed.

waterbaby

I have just got my renewal from Halifax, and I phoned to check what value of contents I was actually insured for as the schedule didn't say.

Apparently the cover is unlimited. Which seems rather generous. But, how do I go about using online comparison sites, if I want to compare like for like? Tried leaving the boxes blank but (quite reasonably) it won't accept this.

Waterbaby.

jpstar

HELP

can anyone in this forum help me. I am a teacher by profession and by no means an expert in home insurance hence why i need help.
we bought a house first time buyers 8 months ago and i took out building and contents insurance with sheilas wheels. The previous lady
was going into sheltered housing so left the washing machine, microwave etc for us.

13th feb we were burgald..a very frightful experience..they took our gold which we had received from our wedding. Now the insurance/loss adjustors
cunnigham and lindsey are saying that our contents insurance of £10,000 is too low our claim is £4000. Now i dont know much about this but at that
time (only two of us) this seemed adequate as our valuable was just the jewellery...i dont like to have too many expensive things through sheer worry.
and the chian and bracelet that was expensive was my partners.

Now, i would like to know if i have any right as a consumer over this? (no previous hostory of any claim whatsoever) or can they say our claim is not
valid and get out of paying us?

any advise would really be appreciated.