Clothing damaged by water - broken pipe - do I claim on Insurance?

blue_monkey_2

I wonder if someone can offer me some advice on this please, I am not even sure where to put this on the boards. Has anyone else had clothes damaged by water?

On Saturday at 4.30am the dogs woke us howling, we came down to find that water had flooded through all but one downstairs room.

On Monday after speaking to insurance it dawned on us why the water stopped at the bottom of the stairs and did not go into the last room - it had gone under the bottom stair into a cupboard that we have that runs 2-3 foot into the foundations of the house. In there I have about 8 boxes of immaculate or new kids clothes that were destined for eBay (I sell the kids stuff as we do not get hand me downs as I have one boy, one girl, it helps with the cost of clothes).

The loss adjuster came around on Wednesday so I thought I would leave the boxes in there until he arrived and get them out and leave them for him to see but he was not interested in me getting everything out.

After he had finished putting everything through he just said 'email if you have anything else'.

Does anyone know what I am supposed to do with the clothes? Am I supposed to claim for them, launder them or just chuck My husband and I were going to turn the cupboard out tonight but I have my son's birthday party at home this weekend, I really cannot have boxes and boxes of damp clothes hanging around waiting to get washed and dried and if I do not do it now they are going to go mouldy.

What do I do? Has anyone else been in this situation before? I hate claiming for anything as it is, I feel guilty for having to claim for the stuff that was damaged and feel like I am taking the mick if I ask for the money for them, but I also am loath to chuck them in the bin as there are around 1500 items of clothing down there and even at 99p each (less fees) that is £1200 and as I say, some of them are new. I do not know what I am expected to do with clothing.

My husband and I were going to turn the cupboard out tonight but I have my son's birthday party at home this weekend, I really cannot have boxes and boxes of damp clothes hanging around waiting to get washed and dried and if I do not do it now they are going to go mouldy.

jog

Hi, when we had a burst pipe that flooded the ground floor, anything that was ruined beyoned economic repair was replaced under the insurance, but stuff that could be cleaned and reused was.

The insurance company did pay for some specialist cleaning of a few things, and I seem to remember that they gave us a payment towards the cost of cleaning the things we cleaned ourselves.

They wouldn't replace things that just needed a clean but were otherwise OK. Our flood was caused by clean water though and I think it would be different if it had been dirty or waste water.

I would give the insureres a ring and ask about it, they may be willing to factor in some money to cover the costs of cleaning all those clothes. Might be worth roughly working out how many loads of washing it would equal and therefore roughly how much it would cost to clean in terms of water, washing powder, power usage etc.

Good Luck, its amazing how much damage water can do.

Jog

*max*

More than a grand's worth of second-hand kids' clothes stored in 8 boxes? Really?
Were I an insurance investigator, I'd think you were taking the proverbial, quite frankly.

suki1001

The problem is 8 boxes of kids clothes is not just you getting rid of a few bits. It's a business. Have you already declared this to your insurance company? They may not be interested, but not declaring it could make your insurance null and void Be careful and look at your insurance policy. My and my oh work from home, I have declared this with the insurance company, because if the computer equipment is damaged or we don't tell them the whole story, we may find out in the event of something going wrong, they might not pay out. It shouldn't make any difference to your policy, except piece of mind that you have declared it to them and it is now definately covered in the event of a claim. You have to be upfront in the first place, or else you are effectively voiding the insurance, because you do not have the appropriate cover for yourself.

Having said this, if you only did this a couple of times a year and it was you just getting rid of some stuff, they they probably wouldn't bother calling it a business, so you can mention it if you want. Personally I would wash the second hand stuff anyway and see how you go on from there.

peachyprice

Just sort them and wash the stuff on the bottom that's actually wet or take them to the laundrette for a service wash and claim the cost of that. Claiming for the whole of the 8 boxes without even trying to salvage some is lazy and taking the pee TBH.

bright_side

1500 items of immaculate or new clothes?? How old are you children??

blue_monkey_2

Thanks for the reply jog, I am going to go through them tonight - and will make a list of anything that is damaged and cannot be washed and make a note of how many loads of clothes I will have to wash. I cannot wash them until next week though so I guess I'll have to see if any more of it goes mouldy by the time they come to be washed. I will email him next week.

He said he was going to take photos but did not unroll the rugs or go though skip bag or anything, he said we were the 4th call of the day and he was only here for half an hour. I could have stuck anything on there if I had wanted - he was not even bothered about checking all the stuff I said was damaged, I was trying to show him but he just was not interested and just wrote them on the form. I showed him my receipts for rugs that were £90 each in the sale when I bought them but he gave me what they would be to buy new which was £250 each.

I've never had an insurance claim before, I worry about it being too much.

blue_monkey_2

And to those questioning it, yes I have got that many. I do not buy Primark crap!! What is more, I also have the last 6-8 months ebay invoices to show what the other clothes I have listed and sold and what they have sold for and I am quite happy to give that to the insurance company if they need to see it.

Yes, I sell my kids clothes and no, it is not a business. I run a business from home and yes, the insurance company are aware of that as are the council, I buy them decent clothes and if they are looked after I sell them on after. In fact, there is probably more than that there. Sometimes they do not even wear the clothes as I buy too many. Why would I chuck a £40 dress in the bin when I can get £10 for it? My husband has that attitude too but was happy with the £300 fish tank the money bought him in November!! I do not have anyone in the family I can hand clothes down to and charity begins at home and all that!! I have a box of Boden clothes down there - and boden clothes sell between £10 and £30 each (one skirt sold for £26 in December).

I sold one box back in April/May and it paid for our trip to Disneyland Paris which was £600. So go on, mock me and call me a liar, but I have not sold on eBay since we moved to this house and that was 4 years in May and after my DS was diagnosed with his conditions and with working so I've not had the energy for it. I just shoved them in the loft and left them there and the last year I sorted everything in age and boy/girl order - hence there being so many boxes.

And I could have claimed on the insurance for my son's to be held at a local restaurant too as I have 'up to £7000 party insurance' on the claim as well, but I have not. I could have left my 2 pairs of Uggs floating in the water (one of those pairs was £250) but I did not. Ditto on my DSi XL, Blackberry, iPhone, £2500 worth of Maharani furniture I bought from eBay for next to nothing as they would have given me whatever I asked for...... the list is endless and my claim could have easily run to £10k but I claimed for 6 items and did not bother about everything else which was about £150 worth. Not everyone is out to screw the insurance company over for everything. However, I do not see why I should be out of pocket and chuck £1000 worth of stuff in the bin because of something that was not my fault. Those clothes were for our holiday spending money.

I've also got a desktop PC drenched in water down in the cupboard but I am not claiming for that as they'll just give us a new one and we do not need it so what is the point.

blue_monkey_2

karen23 wrote: »

1500 items of immaculate or new clothes?? How old are you children??

8 and 9 - I've clothes in there from age 2. I've also got loads of toys the kids no longer use which are worth money. I do not throw anything away unless absolutely neccessary. My DS Thomas the tank engine stuff sold for £500 which he used to buy new lego with. Why would people just chuck that stuff away??

I was always too busy working or looking after my kids or being made homeless, then having o redecorate a house from scratch, to put them on eBay.

And listing your personal effects is NOT a business. And Yes, I have receipts to show I bought them if need be.

One bonus to being a hoarder I suppose.

I had this pass the parcel electronic toy that you fill with sweets and pass around, a remote control flips the lid up - I sold that on eBay and it made a whopping £50 as they are not made anymore and there was a massive bidding war on for it. Never assume that your old stuff is worth 'nothing'!!

blue_monkey_2

peachyprice wrote: »

Just sort them and wash the stuff on the bottom that's actually wet or take them to the laundrette for a service wash and claim the cost of that. Claiming for the whole of the 8 boxes without even trying to salvage some is lazy and taking the pee TBH.

Thank you peachy, if that is what I can do, I will do that and this is what I was questioning - whether I had to wash them all myself. I really have not got hours and hours to spend washing and drying these clothes. There are loads. It really is a big cupboard!!

Nicki

I am fairly sure that even on an insurance claim you are expected to minimise your losses as far as possible. So the clothes should be washed now, and if you don't and leave them for a week and they go mouldy, they may not pay out for them because it wasn't the flood which caused the damage but your failure to wash and dry them afterwards. Or at least would reduce the amount they pay out because you have done something which has increased your losses.

If you are too busy to wash them all yourself, as someone else has suggested, stick them all in bin bags, take them to the nearest laundrette and have them washed and dried there. It will probably cost about £30 for that amount of clothes which is surely worth it on a £1200 investment?