Direct Line - Not so direct when your house is robbed

Gemini33

Hi everyone,

I am hoping I can get some sound advice on a life changing robbery which has changed our family forever.

3 months ago, I had just got back from work and was on the way to my parents house. I noticed my mum down the road and me her made our way back to the house, immediately upon entering the house, like a feeling from the gut we both felt something was wrong, walking into the house we saw all the doors were open and straight away my mum broke down into tears.

I ran upstairs and to our shock, all the doors were kicked down and the house was in a mess. So many lessons learnt but as always too late.

We called the police, have done everything that has been asked of us, filled out forms etc However, it seems that Direct Line are trying their best to cause us more heart ache.

My mum who has been paying insurance for 30 years and never made a claim is obviously distraught, so many possessions that will never and cant be replaced, just gone.

A sick feeling and dark stormy cloud shrouds my mind every time I think of. Violation at its finest.

Then again, at times of despair, you also remember the most important things, like your family and their welfare.

She obviously never believed this would happen and had so much jewellery it would be impossible to write everything down, 24k bangles, a cartier watch, and much went missing. Including all our laptops and everything else they could grab, including hetty the hoover!

Direct line are the most terrible company I could possibly imagine dealing with, yes I understand that with insurance comes alot of scams, but everything they asked for including proof of purchase and proof of ownership have been provided.

They even had the cheek to ask why I was not on the electrol roll, what relevance is this? I dont vote and never will, so I dont understand why they even asked this, I find this defaming and offensive.

The jewellery claim has now been passed on to the third company, and she has been told some claims could take up to two years.

I have lost my current contract as a freelance operations manager due to this event, with no laptop and the tools I need, I am unable to perform any work for them.

This is very frustrating, please if anyone has some sound advice, I would really appreciate it.

For your information, she has Direct Line home insurance cover with a policy covering upto 50,000 our claim was an estimate of 21,000 which is actually less than what it should be, but due to the fact my mums Jewellery collection was so extensive, its impossible to state a valuation.

Thanks

P.S I would also like to offer some advice on this event

1. If you can, lock everything up and put it into a safe spot like the loft, bathroom, or a basement somewhere. These were 3 places they never checked.

2. Set up a system with your house keys, find hiding places for each key.

3. Dont put it off, get a little camera system, some type of alarm, just anything to make the robber think twice, its not fool proof but will make them think.

4. Keep all your receipts and lock away personal documents like passports, yes they stole my provisional and passport.

5. If you have locks downstairs, always lock hallway doors, this makes it much more difficult for them.

6. Work with your local society and neighbours, if you have some work planned inform each other, the reason our neighbours never thought anything of this, was because they assumed we was having work done when they stole hetty and walked off

All the best

dacouch

What issues are DL saying are a problem?

How much cover did you have for your contents ?

How much is the claim?

What is the total value of all of the jewellery pre claim.

Do you have another address you also live at eg a partners

Gemini33

What issues are DL saying are a problem?

My mum was originally told by the first Insure Company to write down an esimate for the jewellery as she had explained that it would be impossible to list 30 years of stuff, this included presents, gold bangles which were passed down and lots of junk jewellery. The amount is unknown but she has repair receipts for the Cartier watch which was a gift. It has now been passed on to the third company to assess this claim and they have asked her to draw each item and write a description, how is this humanly possible?

How much cover did you have for your contents ?

How much is the claim?
The cover was for up to £50,000 the rough claim was for £21,000 which like I mentioned is an undervalue really. We have listed everything as they asked, have bent backwards for them, yet they keep pro longing the claim.

What is the total value of all of the jewellery pre claim.
I dont quite understand what you mean by pre claim, but all in all there was about £14,000 worth of jewellery. Some of this is a simple proof of purchase, some of it is a bit more complicated. My mum being a legal secretary is a bit obsessed with organisation, so she had filled her jewellery in a way that her sister even mocked her for it and took a photo to share on facebook for fun, this was really the only evidence she had. Some of the stuff she does have proof of purchase however.

Do you have another address you also live at eg a partners
No I am her son, I live here and no where else.

Thanks

AppleMatt

Gemini33 wrote: »

My mum being a legal secretary is a bit obsessed with organisation, so she had filled her jewellery in a way that her sister even mocked her for it and took a photo to share on facebook for fun

I'm sorry to hear of your troubles, and that I can't be much help with the insurance side of things, but how long ago was this posted?

Was it obvious that it was a load of expensive jewelery?

Gemini33

AppleMatt wrote: »

I'm sorry to hear of your troubles, and that I can't be much help with the insurance side of things, but how long ago was this posted?

Was it obvious that it was a load of expensive jewelery?

Honestly, no need to be sorry, I am learning so much about myself and in a way God through this, I have had to make myself better in order to forgive the thieves otherwise it will drive you mad if you get angered by it.

I just posted it today after speaking to my mum again, she was not happy that they were being rude again and when the lady said well the claim could take up to a few years my mum replied so its going to take a few years? The lady got very frustrated and told her we are investigating this with the police etc

Yes, it was obvious, as you can imagine 30 years of collecting, a rare Cartier watch which was a gift, a load of 24k From turkey which was from my grandad when he passed and just so much stuff its so sad.

Thanks

AppleMatt

Gemini33 wrote: »

Honestly, no need to be sorry, I am learning so much about myself and in a way God through this, I have had to make myself better in order to forgive the thieves otherwise it will drive you mad if you get angered by it.

I just posted it today after speaking to my mum again, she was not happy that they were being rude again and when the lady said well the claim could take up to a few years my mum replied so its going to take a few years? The lady got very frustrated and told her we are investigating this with the police etc

Yes, it was obvious, as you can imagine 30 years of collecting, a rare Cartier watch which was a gift, a load of 24k From turkey which was from my grandad when he passed and just so much stuff its so sad.

Thanks

Sorry - I was being a bit obtuse - I meant when was the picture of the jewelery posted on facebook, and was it a picture of obvious expensive jewelery? If it was recently, I would let the police know just in case.

DL should be being so much more compassionate and caring than this, they have put me off going with them for anything with how they have treated you.

When it happened to my friend, MoreThan sent a counselor to see if she was ok!

dacouch

Did the thieves steal all of the jewellery and watches

Gemini33

AppleMatt wrote: »

Sorry - I was being a bit obtuse - I meant when was the picture of the jewelery posted on facebook, and was it a picture of obvious expensive jewelery? If it was recently, I would let the police know just in case.

DL should be being so much more compassionate and caring than this, they have put me off going with them for anything with how they have treated you.

When it happened to my friend, MoreThan sent a counselor to see if she was ok!

Oh sorry, well it was not the greatest photo, just a iPhone 3g photo of the stacks of jewellery, she obviously had the empty boxes as well. Of course the police knew this, but alot of stuff went unnoticed until the house was cleared which was the next day when the forensics arrived as we were unable to sleep in our rooms.

Thanks, I will mention more than to my mum. She really needs some counselling right now, she is very scared still and even I am on edge all the time, even with newly installed cameras etc, every noise you here it makes you nervous.

Thanks

missile

Sorry to hear, it must be a nightmare for you.

You might like to employ a loss assessor to act on your behalf. They know how to deal with insurance companies and take the stress out of dealing with the red tape. A skilled assessor will be able to prepare valuations and ensure you receive the settlement you deserve - this may recoup more than their fee.

http://www.morganclark.co.uk/

Gemini33

dacouch wrote: »

Did the thieves steal all of the jewellery and watches

Well yes, all of the jewellery was just stacked in my mums cupboard. Amazingly, they took 3 pairs of my trainers, some random items of clothing, everything electrical in my room, but failed to see my gold sovereign which was right in from of them.

It is amazing to what extent these people looked, I mean every single hiding place they had uncovered. They found my £1000 savings which was hidden in 4 places split up, its like they have an intuitive mind.

It is still a miracle how they managed to jump in through the windows in the front of the house, break down 6 doors and steal so much. All of this on a day everyone should have been at home!

Thanks

Gemini33

missile wrote: »

Sorry to hear, it must be a nightmare for you.

You might like to employ a loss assessor to act on your behalf. They know how to deal with insurance companies and take the stress out of dealing with the red tape. A skilled assessor will be able to prepare valuations and ensure you receive the settlement you deserve - this may recoup more than their fee.

http://www.morganclark.co.uk/

Thank you very much, I will pass this on to her. Thanks, I did not realise you could hire an independent assessor, I'm sure she must have known but this will be great information. Excellent! Just reading the site, thank you so much.

:beer:

Just read this from the morgan clark site:

It’s easy to forget that the loss adjuster you’re dealing with is employed by the insurance company to protect their interests, not yours. When you first meet them they will be very sympathetic and helpful. But a few weeks later, when they start to deal with the financial consequences of your loss, they’ll behave very differently.

Exactly what happened, the guy was so friendly and nice and charming to my mum and myself, then its like we hit a black hole and everything has been stripped from us. We pay insurance for this reason, being robbed is bad enough, I wrote about my debt story on another thread here and how through hard work I have managed to get nearly debt free, they have stolen everything I invested in and all my clients work, I am also out of my contracted work, surely there has to be some justice. I am so mad with Direct line! sorry I mean Direct Lies