Cooker damage, our mistake - what to do?

Tygermoth

Hi Guys,

We have just had a very very stressful house move. It was running behind so we were pushing hard to catch up.

So being tired and grumpy and not at our best we should have quit but decided to do one last run of stuff to the new house.

After getting the washer and drier out we took the cooker out, over balanced and dropped in onto a large stone pot by the front door.

Smashed it up pretty bad. twisted the door hinges and distorted the frame.

Due to no storage and confusion at the new house the OH mistakenly thought as i had taken photos and made a claim he could take it to the tip as it was so very messed up.

We have all the original paperwork (the cooker was only 3 months old!) and photos.

However the insurer wants to send an engineer. we have spoken to the engineering company and they have advised we have to go back to the insurer. (after they advised us to go back to the tip which we did but it had gone)

Now years ago when i worked in insurance they just replaced such items as it was cheaper than repair. however as we now don't have anything to repair....

How will they approach this now? I am reluctant to withdraw the claim as the cooker was £400 which needs to be replaced and we still will have an open claim with a loss of NCD showing and nothing to show for it due to a misunderstanding in the middle of a chaotic and stressful time.

Thank you for any insights

dacouch

Does you Home Insurance not exclude damage caused during a house move not carried out by a professional removal company as most tend to have this restriction

Tygermoth

Hi dacouch,

They have not mentioned it. They have also appt the company to do a repair. However we don't have the cooker now.

(its endsleigh, if that helps)

themull1

I wouldnt have thought you could claim if you don't have the item, anyone could photo something and say it had broken and was taken to the tip - Flat screen tv, Ferrari etc....

TSx

Unfortunately, I'd agree - Endsleigh are unlikely to entertain a claim - it looks incredibly suspicious that the item has been disposed of now. In any event, you need to prove that an insurable event has occurred, and you can't do that now. Given the cooker is only a few months old, it is likely a repair is possible, but there is no way to tell now.

In short, I'd chalk this one up to experience and forget about it. No harm in calling Endsleigh though, there's always a chance you'll get a sympathetic claims handler (although I hate to say it, I'd definitely be declining this claim if you were speaking to me).

Tygermoth

Hello all, i was reminded to update this thread as the cheque cleared for the cooker today

I wrote a nice letter apologising that i had disposed of the cooker. I enclosed a copy of the original purchase receipt and the photos of the damage (drawing their attention to the distortion of the main oven space imho making it BER). I also enclosed the replacement invoice for the cooker we needed to buy to replace the broken one.

After about two weeks they came back and paid the full purchase price of the replacement less the excess due.

Very happy with the outcome.

vaio

Gold star to Endsleigh

Quentin

vaio wrote: »

Gold star to Endsleigh

Bit generous.


Taken them 5 months to pay out

Tygermoth

Hi Quentin,

No it took them two weeks to pay out.

The rest was me thinking i couldent claim so didn't bother writing to them. I was chatting to a friend about the trouble she was having with her Pet ins and told her that it cost nothing to write to them... and realised i should take my own advice!

InsideInsurance

Tygermoth wrote: »

After about two weeks they came back and paid the full purchase price of the replacement less the excess due.

Quentin wrote: »

Bit generous.


Taken them 5 months to pay out

Need to get some new reading glasses there old boy