Claiming on House Insurance ... or not!

TMS_

We recently came home from a weekend away to find that the exterior pane of a double glazed sealed unit had been shattered. As it was toughened K-glass, it was intact but completely crazed, although still watertight.

We rarely have need to claim on our house insurance but this seemed a good case so we got in touch with the team at John Lewis who had provided the policy. All seemed well and an assessor came round to check the damage and arrange for a repair.

This is where we started to feel uncomfortable, as the assessor insisted on taking credit card payment for the £100 excess before the claim was progressed ... which my wife duly paid.

In the meantime, I contacted a local glazier and described the problem, the size of the window, and the type of glass ... and he estimated that it would cost £70 to replace the sealed unit (and no VAT as he wasn't VAT registered).

I then contacted John Lewis and put them on hold and asked them to tell me how much their contractor, Martindales, was quoting. The lady on the phone was quite reticent about providing this information but I insisted ... and also asked for the excess to be refunded. After discussing the situation with her manager, and finding that the quote wasn't on the system, she agreed to get back to me ... which she did the next day. The refund came in the form of a cheque as Martindales said they could process it back onto the card as they didn't retain card details (new one on me).

Now the shock! Martindales were quoting £243 to replace the window. Well, I can't help feeling that everyone is getting ripped off here. Obviously, I could get the work done more cheaply without the intervention of the Insurance Company ... but what is worse is that, although the Insurance Company were getting ripped off by Martindales too, I, as the customer, would be paying for that inflated repair cost for ever more in increased premiums. And Clearly JL wouldn't be out of pocket.

As it turned out, when we checked, the glass was still 10 months within the 10 year warranty and Crystal Windows agreed to replace the window free of charge. What absolute stars!

So, in the end, my window will be replaced at no cost to me and at minimal cost to Crystal Windows ... so everyone is happy.

However, the whole process has left a really nasty taste in my mouth and my faith in John Lewis is somewhat diminished. And I don't have words for Martindales that can be published here.

I guess the moral is, using your insurance policy is a last resort and you may well be far better off sorting the problem out yourself.

Regards, TMS

Quentin

You say this has ended up as no cost to you.

But you now have the claim registered on your record and must disclose this to any new insurer you approach for quotes in future.

Do dummy quotes online to see what difference this makes to your premium in contrast to your previous claiim free history.

In future consider finding out if a claim is cost effective before mentioning a similar loss to your insurer!

InsideInsurance

John Lewis Home Insurance is a rebadge of RSA/ More Th<n

You can not really cross compare the price of a local sole trader cash in hand type person with a national company that is done by the book and has to provide a certain level of warranty on the repairs. Your local glazer also wouldnt be the first one to estimate at X but then try and charge more than X when it comes to doing the job.

Secondly many insurers have relationships with suppliers where they pay pretty much list price and at year end get a significant rebate based on the volume they have spent with them that year.

As per Quentin's comments, remember to declare this claim for the next 3-5 years.

TMS_

The claim was withdrawn. The excess was refunded. No work was undertaken by, or on behalf of the insurer.

Quentin

TMS_ wrote: »

The claim was withdrawn. The excess was refunded. No work was undertaken by, or on behalf of the insurer.

Irrespective of all this, the loss will have been recorded on your history and entered on the shared database, so don't be tempted not to disclose it!

losgiganteskid

InsideInsurance wrote: »

As per Quentin's comments, remember to declare this claim for the next 3-5 years.

the word is "loss"- not claim

InsideInsurance

TMS_ wrote: »

The claim was withdrawn. The excess was refunded. No work was undertaken by, or on behalf of the insurer.

So the people who come out and inspected the window work for free?

TMS_

I have just checked with John Lewis and you are correct that there is an entry on my history record but it is marked as withdrawn.

I was advised that, again you are correct (as no doubt you know), that I should mention the fact at renewal time but, as the claim was withdrawn and nothing paid out, it should not affect my renewal premium.

Quentin

They may have mislead you.

They/you cannot withdraw the loss you reported.

Insurers usually want to know if you have had any claims or losses.

Your loss means you can expect a loading, which you can see for yourself if you do dummy quotes with no losses and again with one recent loss to disclose.

TMS_

Just can't win, can you?

InsideInsurance

Quentin wrote: »

They may have mislead you.

They/you cannot withdraw the loss you reported.

I believe they mean they have marked the claim on CUE as having been made and subsequently withdrawn not that they have removed the fact a claim/ loss ever happened