Home contents claim denied HELP!

brethg

Hi

so the backround is that myself and my flatmate were upstairs and some lovley person forced our front window and made off with all our stuff... About 3k worth.

Any way we phoned our insurers, the post office and they say our claim isnt valid as the alarm was off.

Can this be true? we were in the house it was 3 am but the house was occupied.

Any help, advise, tips or draft letters to get these guys to pay up and i'd be most gratefull.

Thanks!!

DCFC79

Why wasn't the alarm on ?

rs65

Is there an alarm warranty on your policy?

InsideInsurance

As where in the policy it states that the alarm must be on when the property is occupied and post exactly wording

brethg

Dcfc - The alarm wasnt on because if we set it at night inevitably one of us will need to get a drink from the kitchen or go to the toillet and its very loud when it goes off.

rs65- Not sure what an alarm warrenty is.

Inside insurance - Ill try and look for it when i get home, my flat m8 has just delived the news and im at work.

Does it seem feasable to have a policy that would state the alarm must be on even if the house is occupied?

FlameCloud

Some polices require it to be on, but the variety if warranty wordings is huge and the differences can be quite subtle.

dunstonh

Dcfc - The alarm wasnt on because if we set it at night inevitably one of us will need to get a drink from the kitchen or go to the toillet and its very loud when it goes off.

Most alarms have a setting for such a scenario where only exits are alarmed and not the internal sensors.

Does it seem feasable to have a policy that would state the alarm must be on even if the house is occupied?

it depends on the level of discount you are after when you buy the policy. If you take the policy on with that basis and get a reduced price because of the reduced risk but then do not put the alarm on then it is going to be an issue for you.

However, in most cases you would expect the wording to be when unoccupied. Your policy documentation will verify this.

The problem with a lot of these plans that target the bottom end of the market, is that they may not be suitable for those requiring better quality products. You buy cheap and you get cheap coverage back.

Buzby

If you received a discount on the premium for having an Alarm, they invariably insist it is used att all times - when the house is unoccupied, and when you retire for the night. In the latter case, to catch out anyone doing what they did.

It seems a little incredulous to believe that they should not insist on this, as you were in bed, yet heard nothing? If you had a professionally installed system it will have had an 'Part Set' option which would have covered all external doors, but this is where it gets interesting.

Was any of your external doors used? Or was entry and exit effected only through the window? If this was the case, even if your alarm was set, it would not have been triggered. They may well agree to the claim, but not if the back door was used to carry off the loot.

lisyloo

even if your alarm was set, it would not have been triggered

Err........surely that depends on what type of alarm that is.
Mine has PIR sensors, so it shouldn't matter where someone enters it will detect their motion.

thegirlintheattic

A lot of policies will require the alarm to be set when you go to bed at night. From your statement this doesn't happen.

hugoshavez

Buzby wrote: »

If you received a discount on the premium for having an Alarm, they invariably insist it is used att all times - when the house is unoccupied, and when you retire for the night. In the latter case, to catch out anyone doing what they did.

It seems a little incredulous to believe that they should not insist on this, as you were in bed, yet heard nothing? If you had a professionally installed system it will have had an 'Part Set' option which would have covered all external doors, but this is where it gets interesting.

Was any of your external doors used? Or was entry and exit effected only through the window? If this was the case, even if your alarm was set, it would not have been triggered. They may well agree to the claim, but not if the back door was used to carry off the loot.

Wrong.

If a discount was given for the existence and certain use of an alarm, failure to set it may result in a higher excess.

The claim would only be declined if the insurer imposed a warranty/endorsement because they would not have accepted the risk without the alarm. Because, for example the OP had previous theft claims, or lives in a particularly high risk area.

The warranty/endorsement must be highlighted clearly in correspondence to the OP. An answer to a proposal cannot be automatically converted into a warranty or condition precedent.

OP, the policy booklet is not the important document in this case. The documents accompanying it are. What do they say?