I chose an AXA insurance & now I homeless

FlameCloud

Hi Neil,

I am sorry to read your posts- it seems Axa really hasnt managed cost control since the heady days of their involvement with another loss adjusting company and significant mis management of costs. If you ever have half an hour, a read of Axa vs Cunningham Lindsey (2007) - http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/TCC/2007/3023.html makes interesting reading.

As others have said, this is too complicated an issue to resolve using a forum given the amount of data and letters that will need to be resolved. Others have mentioned the FOS- however, without wanting to get your hopes up this may not be an avenue that is open to you. Their current limit for binding decisions is £150,000 and including the AA costs (assuming you have been in for more than £10,000 given the timescales) it will likely be over this. Whilst they would still make recomendations above this, some insurers are notorious for refusing to accept these. It may work, however I wouldnt pin all my hopes on this.

Is there anything particulary special about the site to justify that exent of demolision costs? 10% of the sum insured would ordinarily be more than sufficient to cover all but the most problematic jobs and even with lots of Asbestos or land issues above 20% would be very hard to do.

One thing that concerns me is a comment from Crawfords letter dated 17/1/11-

Canham Consulting Structural Engineers have been appointed on your behalf to procure the above mentioned work.

How did this company come to be appointed on the claim- did Crawfords pass you their details or was it arranged by yourself? Do you have any of the agreements that were initially signed by you when they started works?

Who decided that the building was uneconomical to rebuild? Cases are on your side- specifically Carrick vs GA and Keystone vs Sun Alliance, which both say that the market value of a property is irrelevent in the event of a total loss and that the sum insured is the measure of indemnity. Keystone goes further to say that professional fees should be excluded from this measure of indemnity.

Axa will argue that their costs are limited by the sums insured under the policy, however if they have allowed their contractors to exceed the 10% limit imposed then they should have least let you know before what the implications to this should be. In any event, on a brief reading of your posts it would appear that the decision in Keystone would assist, however you will need to seek specialist advise from a solicitor, preferably after doing a full DPA request from Axa and Crawfords.

TurnUpForTheBooks_2

FlameCloud wrote: »

Is there anything particulary special about the site to justify that exent of demolision costs?

I have seen photographs and it looks like a normal street. Very odd.

Archergirl

I have just go my renewal with Sheilas Wheels of building/contents, what bits do I need to look out for please?

dacouch

Archergirl wrote: »

I have just go my renewal with Sheilas Wheels of building/contents, what bits do I need to look out for please?

If you're with SW you really need to check your sums insured are adequate as they have a habit of suggesting low sums insured and then voiding policies for under insurance (Not having enough cover) during claims

FlameCloud

dacouch wrote: »

If you're with SW you really need to check your sums insured are adequate as they have a habit of suggesting low sums insured and then voiding policies for under insurance (Not having enough cover) during claims

Added to the fact that their (along with esures) definitation of high risk items differs substantially from others.

Archergirl

I will have a good read tomorrow and maybe change companys I usually check prices each year but this is another worry...........

norwichmanneil

I need help preparing for my Ombudsman claim.

Does any one have the 2010 abc policy booklet and does this have the 10% clause?

Also I have no copies of the booklets. Did they send them out with the policies?

I hope someone can help

TurnUpForTheBooks_2

norwichmanneil wrote: »

I need help preparing for my Ombudsman claim.

Does any one have the 2010 abc policy booklet and does this have the 10% clause?

Also I have no copies of the booklets. Did they send them out with the policies?

I hope someone can help

Neil, here's a copy of the June 2009 version - page 33 Debris Removal 10% same as yours I think: http://www.adrianflux.co.uk/pdfs/documents/AXA_Home_Abc_2009_06.pdf

I'll keep looking for 2010 but would imagine yours isn't altered much from it.

Daniel54

norwichmanneil wrote: »

I need help preparing for my Ombudsman claim.

Does any one have the 2010 abc policy booklet and does this have the 10% clause?

Also I have no copies of the booklets. Did they send them out with the policies?

I hope someone can help

Someone else may be able to help with the 2010 booklet,but this link contains the current terms which seem to be identical to those you describe

http://www.axaconnect.co.uk/Documents/Personal_Stationery/Download_Personal/

loss,and this it has signally failed to do due to the the manner in which the claim has been adjusted and the policy conditions applied

This is all based solely on what you have felt able to tell us and there may well be other wrinkles of which we have not been made aware

Good luck,anyway

TurnUpForTheBooks_2

Daniel54
That link doesn't go directly to any document. I have searched for the ABC wording on AXA's own site and thus far only found a pdf under a link labelled ABC Legacy which goes to a document which still has a 10% Debris Removal Clause but on a different page (not page 33 as has been quoted by the adjuster to Neil).

In February 2012 FSA (now FCA) sanctioned AXA for other defects in the 2009 and the 2011 wording. No 2010 ABC wording was mentioned so they may not have changed it in 2010.

ABC wordings were never marketed direct by AXA and always with some middleman involvement I think.

The version of ABC Insurance sold via Liverpool Victoria for example appears to have no 10% Debris Removal Limit but I think that's Liverpool Victoria selling a completely different product with exactly the same name as AXA!

Another interesting thing is that AXA publish a chart of the features compared between their three current home buildings offerings and although they list 40 features, the word Debris does not appear. The same in an 8 page "Product Proposition" document addressed to middlemen.

Elsewhere on an AXA site they offer a sample Home Policy wording which appears to have no restriction in the mention of debris claims in that one.

The wording I have found so far is quite likely to be same as Neils I think.

I don't know if Neil intended it to be discovered, but photographs of this case can easily be found on the internet if you know where to look.