Axa home insurance

dougelove

Wondered if anyone else has had trouble with a claim through AXA home insurance?

We had a major burst from a plastic water pipe over our kitchen on first May bank holiday,obviously a bad time as we were away for the weekend!
Came home to major water everywhere.
An assessor was sent out on the Wednesday, but only assessed the damage he could see at the time, not seeing that over the next few days many things such as doors,worktops would swell and twist.
Next it took 10 days to get someone to assess the damage to the laminate floor..

Basically we are now 5 weeks on, we still haven't had a final decision on a settlement, which is what we were offrered, there was no mention of them getting a contractor in to do the works, we have had to source it all ourselves and up to now, at our expense.

Axa have offered us 50% towards any of the units not damaged by the flood, as the kitchen we had was bespoke and fitted in 1998, the units and doors are no longer available as the company has shut down. All the units were hand made and we are now having to settle for an off the shelf kitchen.

We must have sent at least 30 emails to the incident manager at Axa as the phone calls were getting a bit expensive, and each time they are to and fro from consultants,getting opinions because no one can make a decision.
Now they are questioning the costs of the replacement to the remainder of the klitchen units saying it is not of the same quality...this is very true, its actually LESS in quality.

As of yesterday the incident manager has now had to esculate the case as he can no longer take it any further.

For the past five weeks myself,my wife and 3 children have had to survive in a kitchen with a sink,oven and a few work tops,no flooring,dust everywhere, being spread though the house,oh and a fridge in the next room as its where we have to prepare food.

I was going to approach the FSA which is something I have told Axa I was going to do 2 weeks ago when they wouldn't respond to my emails...
Anyone else have any suggestions in getting them to get their finger out and settle this claim reasonably ? and more importantly....quicker than they have been!!!

Quentin

The fsa has been replaced by the fca. (FSA now = food standards agency)

You actually mean the fos.

But although you can escalate a complaint to the fos it will take them months to resolve it. So in the meantime try and speak to a manager who can help.

(Not easy with axa though)

Alternatively consider getting your own assessor to deal with the claim for you.

dougelove

The assessor was sent by Axa and they did say they would try to do as much as possible to make things easier, the only trouble is, they missed loads off of the assessment and its now our job to go back and forth to Axa to get them to take it into consideration. We don't want to milk this, just to get our kitchen back useable for our family. But thanks for the update with the FOS

Quentin

Axa will have employed an "adjuster". They pay him to get the best deal for them.

An "assessor" would work on your behalf, and handle your claim for you, ensuring that you get what you are entitled to. Hopefully he earns his fee by getting you a much better deal than axa want to pay for!

InsideInsurance

Quentin wrote: »

But although you can escalate a complaint to the fos it will take them months to resolve it. So in the meantime try and speak to a manager who can help.

Months is optimistic, my FOS complaint is now approaching 3 years and will soon be statute barred against pursuing the TP if the FOS uphold my complaint


To the OP - by the sounds of it your complaint is in part about the fact they arent paying for non-damaged units. You need to check your policy wording again, as presumably you did when you got the policy, and look at the Matching Set's clause.

Most insurers do not provide matching set cover, only those policies aimed at Mid Net Worth and above tend to but you also pay the prices that those markets are willing to. That said, the latest Axa wording does provide cover for matching sets in fitted kitchen units and bathroom sanitary ware so its definitely worth checking.

If there is no cover then the FOS has previously deemed it more than satisfactory for the insurer to make a 50% contribution to the other part of any set despite the lack of cover. Most have to argue for this but it sounds like Axa have offered it straight away.