Insurance company refusing to pay out

compingqueen_2

For over ten years we have been living in a house which is owned by my father. My father owns and lives in another house on the coast. Some weeks ago we had a burglary and mainly jewellery and smaller valuable items were stolen. Access was made via a window which was quite severely damaged. We informed the insurance company (Aviva) immediately and they sent a window company to secure the window. They also sent a carpenter to repair other damage to a wardrobe and cupboard. We made a list of the stolen goods and after three weeks the Aviva apointed loss adjustor came to discuss it. What we have subsequently heard is that the loss adjustor has deemed that we are not entitled to a claim as my father has been paying both the building and contents insurance (he has been with the same insurance company for over 50 years) but does not live in the house and the stolen goods were ours, not his. The claim totalled over £5,000 and some of the items were of great sentimental value.
What can we do?

Caz3121

As your father was not resident in the property, he should have had landlords insurance and you would have needed insurance for your own contents.
Does your father have landlords insurance on the property you live in?

huckster

Tricky. I can see the loss adjusters point. All you can do is appeal to Avivas head of claims and perhaps explain that the family have always had their Insurance together, with a policy being held with them for 50 years. Perhaps a letter from your father and yourself explaining the situation and saying that you have no understanding of technical matters of dividing a family up into individual legal seperate indentities. Ask for their consideration of this and that you would not wish to spoil a relationship of 50 years, by going down the legal or media route.

dunstonh

You have a problem.

The house is owned by your father. Your father has an insurance policy which covers his property and his contents. The loss was your contents and not his.

Chances are the actual home insurance policy (contents side) has actually been worthless and would never have paid out as your father is effectively landlord and you Tenant. He should have had buldings insurance. You should have had contents insurance.

The best thing to do at this stage is point out the long relationship with Aviva and play to their goodwill. However, you need to be prepared for rejection as it would take a lot of goodwill. An aviva representative monitors these boards and will likely spot it during the week and post to this thread giving you some contact details. Go through them as this will likely yield a better outcome then going through the normal call centre staff (the front line doesnt have discretions that those behind the scenes may have).

If in the end there is no payout because it is the wrong policy then you should pursue a refund of premiums since the period from the point it no longer covered your father's contents. That in itself may result in a figure close to the claim amount if you are going back many years.

webmasterpolo

I agree, Aviva are right and you're unlikely to get £5K goodwill. dunstonh makes an excellent point about refund of contents premiums going back years will definitely be worth pursuing. If your father hasn't shopped around for 50yrs he will not doubt be paying high premiums well over the odds and this refund could be thousands.

Some policies do cover guests belongings so worth checking the small print.

-Web

chanz4

he wouldn't be entitled to a refund, as they will say he should of read his policys and given factual information

huckster

chanz4 wrote: »

he wouldn't be entitled to a refund, as they will say he should of read his policys and given factual information

Not true. If the Insurers find that the policy is not valid, they will have to refund the premium for the cover that was not valid, for the relevant period.

I have actually dealt with a very simular claim/underwiting situation, but it was a long time ago. We paid out the claim as normal and then arranged the policies on the correct basis. This was also on the basis that the customers had held the policy for sometime and it was not uncommon for some families to organise themselves in this way. They just see themselves as a family and don't understand the consequence of the policyholder moving away and the rest of the family staying put.

ihateyes

again when a price is calculated im certain age of the policy holder is considered. the older you are they percieve you look after item better.
so they may have been pricing for someone older living in the house opposed to yourself.

the above poster have given best advice.

dunstonh

I have actually dealt with a very simular claim/underwiting situation, but it was a long time ago. We paid out the claim as normal and then arranged the policies on the correct basis. This was also on the basis that the customers had held the policy for sometime and it was not uncommon for some families to organise themselves in this way. They just see themselves as a family and don't understand the consequence of the policyholder moving away and the rest of the family staying put.

Once you get past the front line staff and get to those behind, then decisions like this can be made by people who will take a view. You can often get all sorts of things agreed that are non-standard if you get the right person.

Also, being with the same insurer for all that time will be a consideration. They say there is no loyalty nowadays and that is partly true. Front line staff wont give it a second consideration. However, when a problem occurs and back office staff are looking at it, then it can come into play. In this case, you can see Aviva coming up with some outcome (once it is with the right person) but if the father changed his provider every year then there wouldnt be a hope in hell.

huckster

dunstonh wrote: »

Once you get past the front line staff and get to those behind, then decisions like this can be made by people who will take a view. You can often get all sorts of things agreed that are non-standard if you get the right person.

This is getting more difficult as time goes on. The intelligent experienced human underwriting and senior claims staff have over the years been increasing replaced, by people who like to say 'no'.

Hence my advice to make sure this claim is registered with someone senior at Aviva, so hopefully they will view this from a corporate level, as being a claim that makes sense to help with. Not many customers will retain a policy with a company for 50 years.

dunstonh

Hence my advice to make sure this claim is registered with someone senior at Aviva, so hopefully they will view this from a corporate level, as being a claim that makes sense to help with. Not many customers will retain a policy with a company for 50 years.

That is why I am hoping the board Aviva representative will pick it up as I believe it will bypass the "cant do that" response.