Insurance co lost hard drive

badgerscash

Hi,

I am looking for some advice following a recent claim on my home insurance.
I am insured with the AA and following damage to my laptop I sent this off to be repaired. My Underwriter appointed a third party loss adjuster to complete the repair/inspection. They decided that the item was not worth repairing and sent me out a new laptop for which I paid an excess.

Knowing that the hard drive could be removed and contained years of our family pictures i requested to have the hard drive returned and paid £30 for this. 6 weeks later, a failed delivery attempt plus five unfulfilled call back promises, we complained to a manager of the loss adjusters. A manager explained they have lost the hard drive and cannot tell us where it may be as the parcel returned to them (by the courier as we were out on the day) was returned empty, undamaged and sealed!

The hard drive contained five years of pictures of my two children, i felt the screen would be replaced and the item returned. My wife is very upset. The loss adjusters explained the courier service have not found the item, the warehouse has been searched and due to data protection they have a very strict audit trail which I am assured was followed, an employee has signed to say the item was placed and then sealed in the box for delivery! I am told this is the first time in 15yrs a hard drive has been lost. As a good will gesture they refunded my excess payment and fee paid to send me the hard drive.

I have complained to the insurer, this has been escalated to the highest level and i have been assured they will get to the bottom of this, even if that just means trying to assure me the hard drive did not leave the warehouse and is now in the hands of an undesirable.

I was assured that a full investigation would be completed by this afternoon - i have been told they are still waiting for the results of the investigation! They have politely requested i be patient and give them until Tuesday. My insurer has stated they feel return of the hard drive is unlikely and a compensation package will be offered. The adviser, a manager also stated that her manager is aware of the complaint and she hinted i should refuse her offer as her managers budget for compensation is significantly higher.

This has been very upsetting and my wife is devastated. I can't put a value on them and feel whatever they come up with will be an insult. My wife wants nothing to do with this and has asked me not to discuss it until it is resolved as she is too upset.

What should i ask for? What are they likely to offer, they are so valuable to our family I am unsure if any amount would "put things right", do you guys think we could ask for them to pay for a family holiday? At least then we would be able to take some pictures to replace the ones we have lost.

Thanks for reading,

ap1986

I'm sorry to hear that you're having so many issues with this. I can't offer any advice really, only sympathy! God knows what I'd do if I lost all of my photos, must be so frustrating and upsetting!

Hope it all gets sorted soon and one day you're reunited with the hard drive!

HappyMJ

Whatever they offer it won't be enough. You should have never sent it if it was so important to you. It could have got lost or damged further on the way there. The responsibility is on you to do a backup.....and a court will see exactly that too. They might offer £50...or £100...but I know that will not be enough. They will not pay for a family holiday. They are not liable for consequential losses. Personally I wouldn't push it as you will be insulted by the final offer.

CoolHotCold

The moment you accepted their offer of a replacement system, you forfeited the ownership of the laptop and data.

The fact they were going to return the hard drive for a fee was a nice gesture and their processes are probably what is required under the ICO guidelines. It could be anything from the courier taking the drive, to it being placed in the destroy pile.


The data always is your responsibility and unfortunately you've found out (like so many others) the hard way. Backup, Backup Backup.


I personally use a external hard drive and a cloud backup system (Livedrive, through Knowhow) to make sure I don't risk any loss.


I'd await their offer, but in reality it's unlikely to make up for the missing data.

badgerscash

Thanks for your input, i know to back everything up now. The screen was flickering and as the laptop still performed well memory wise i expected a screen replacement.

When i was informed the laptop was not worth repairing i was offered the return of my hard drive, this was a service offered to me, i did not request it and requested this before i selected a replacement model.

Obviously this was a huge relief to me and i paid them for this service.
I hope they continue to treat this seriously and sensitively, if they cannot find the drive i paid to have removed and sent to me securely the refund i have received is not enough and i would hope to receive a generous offer of compensation.