Is it possible to claim compensation for appalling handling of claim

Linda_Seddon

Hi All

Back in January I had my car stolen and it was found burnt out a few days later.

Would you believe that LV have only just paid out???? At every step I have had to chase them to get things done.

They've not returned calls etc until I threatened them with the ombudsman in May and even then it wasn't much better. Today they've finally made me an offer for my belongings which were in the car at the time and I've accepted. Up until today they claimed they didn't know anything about the belongings which I've written to them twice about (and got proofs of delivery and they have acknowledged other contents of the letters!).

The icing on the cake has been that they gave my complaint to the person I was complaining about to deal with! You couldn't make it up!

Anyway, today we've finally agreed on figures for my losses but I feel I should be compensated for the efforts on my part to get the claim settled. They have literally done almost nothing and to take 6 months to settle is ridiculous. Fortunately, I was in a position to buy a new car but many people aren't.

Has anyone any ideas of what would be a reasonable and achievable figure to suggest?

I can't tell you how furious the whole thing has made me to have the theft of my car compounded by their inept handling of my claim.

Grrrrr

Linda :mad:

Sedgey

In short, no.

The only way you would be able to claim compensation is:

- You can prove the length of time is excessive and you have incurred loss due to it

- You haven't received items you are entitled to you under the policy, e.g. hire car.

Do check your policy however.

Dave

Annisele

In theory it is possible to claim compensation for poor handling of a claim. The Financial Ombudsman Service publishes a note on its approach to distress and inconvenience here.

Very briefly, you can't claim anything for the distress of having your car stolen, or for the distress of having to deal with the insurance company in the first place. However, if the insurance company has delayed things unreasonably (eg lost letters that you can prove have been delivered, as they seem to have done in OP's case) you might get something for D&I. The FOS website gives some idea of the size of awards, but in general they're pretty small.

Linda_Seddon

In a conversation today the guy I spoke to apologised for the "regrettable length of time" it had taken to resolve. He also couldn't answer why the person I made the complaint about was given the complaint to handle!

I'm not attempting to claim for the distress of having my car stolen but I can prove that they have not acted on letters I've sent. I have proofs of delivery and also, when I sent a copy of a previous letter today by email with the relevant bit highlighted, the gentleman I have been speaking to admitted that they hadn't read that bit of the letter!

I did have a courtesy car for 2 weeks and it was only at that point I discovered that 2 weeks was the limit under the policy. That was a lesson about reading the small print! I had assumed that I would have it for the length of time it would take to settle.

I'll take a look at the fsa website thanks and see what I can find out there.

Thanks

Linda

dacouch

"12. Creating extra paperwork
Requiring a consumer who wishes to claim on an insurance
policy to produce documents which could not reasonably
be considered relevant as to whether the claim was valid, or
failing systematically to respond to pertinent correspondence,
in order to dissuade a consumer from exercising his/her
contractual rights."

http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/cpregs/oft979.pdf