RAC Heath & Lambert Jessops - a warning to others

cypher007

i had my camcorder covered under my house insurance through the RAC, which it turns out is through Heath & Lambert, who then passed it onto Jessops.

after about two weeks of pointless conversations with Jessops, over the fact my Sony HDR SR11 wasnt your usual run of the mill camcorder, i finally moaned to Heath & Lambert who managed to get a settlement.

i was then given Jessops vouchers, which i could only spend instore, so i pre-ordered a Panasonic X900 on the 20th of Feb. im still waiting for them to produce a definite delivery date.

i spoke to both Heath & Lambert, who whilst helpful, could not reverse the vouchers into a cash settlement, as they had paid Jessops invoice, and Jessops are unable or unwilling to sort things out in the form of a refund or X900. Jessops say i can have a nice Jessops gift voucher to the value of the vouchers, which i can then spend on anything in a Jessops store.

this situation has come about partly because i did not push for a cash settlement at the time of the claim, and parley because i had faith in Jessops being able to get an X900.

so my warning to anyone else, claiming through there house contents insurance, is once they agree a value for the item ask for a cash settlement. if they say you cant have one, point them towards the insurance ombudsman, as it says on there site that an insurer cannot force you to accept vouchers to cover the replacement cost of an item.