Nightmare with flood damage claim

macca

First of all can I say that now I'm in the middle of what is in essence a small claim for a flooded cellar I truly admire anybody who is having to go through this for a whole house flood.

I can honestly say that my insurance policy and £780 a year premium just isn't worth it.

My sorry tale:
Came back off holiday to find the cellar had been flooded for 2 weeks, phoned the insurance company on 2nd July to make a claim. Loss Adjusters appointed. Clearance company appointed, they turned up on 6th July to a cellar 4 inches deep in water saying oh we weren't told there was water down here, they went away again. Came back again on the Wednesday but later than they said so I sent them away again - after they had plugged a de humidifier in. Came back today to clear the cellar out have put it all on the front drive and written a list which says:
Table - no clue as to how big, what wood or how old.
Boxed tabel and chairs - as above
Box of Christmas decorations - worth what 10p per bauble or £10 per bauble?

etc etc still no sign of the loss adjuster.

Realise that this list isn't going to get me a proper pay out so phone up loss adjuster who tells me that I have to go through these stinking horrible boxes and I have to write a list unless I can provide them with receipts for everything - I always keep receipts for baubles don't you?
Apparently the clearance company don't have to do this as they wouldn't know the value of everything.
The insurance company say it's not down to them they've appointed a loss adjuster! I went mad and said what on earth do I pay my premium for and it is your responsibility I pay the premium to YOU.
Rang clearance company they're now coming back out on Wednesday to do what they should have done today - properly itemise everything, and the jolly old loss adjuster is coming out as well. In the meantime everything is outside in the pouring rain on my driveway.
Insuarance - pah:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

raskazz

macca wrote: »

First of all can I say that now I'm in the middle of what is in essence a small claim for a flooded cellar I truly admire anybody who is having to go through this for a whole house flood.

I can honestly say that my insurance policy and £780 a year premium just isn't worth it.

My sorry tale:
Came back off holiday to find the cellar had been flooded for 2 weeks, phoned the insurance company on 2nd July to make a claim. Loss Adjusters appointed. Clearance company appointed, they turned up on 6th July to a cellar 4 inches deep in water saying oh we weren't told there was water down here, they went away again. Came back again on the Wednesday but later than they said so I sent them away again - after they had plugged a de humidifier in. Came back today to clear the cellar out have put it all on the front drive and written a list which says:
Table - no clue as to how big, what wood or how old.
Boxed tabel and chairs - as above
Box of Christmas decorations - worth what 10p per bauble or £10 per bauble?

etc etc still no sign of the loss adjuster.

Realise that this list isn't going to get me a proper pay out so phone up loss adjuster who tells me that I have to go through these stinking horrible boxes and I have to write a list unless I can provide them with receipts for everything - I always keep receipts for baubles don't you?
Apparently the clearance company don't have to do this as they wouldn't know the value of everything.
The insurance company say it's not down to them they've appointed a loss adjuster! I went mad and said what on earth do I pay my premium for and it is your responsibility I pay the premium to YOU.
Rang clearance company they're now coming back out on Wednesday to do what they should have done today - properly itemise everything, and the jolly old loss adjuster is coming out as well. In the meantime everything is outside in the pouring rain on my driveway.
Insuarance - pah:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

I'm afraid it is a fundamental principle of insurance that it is the insured's responsibility to prove the value of the loss, not the insurer's.

This is ultimately to your benefit - somehow I think that you would be equally as angry, if not more so, if the value of the loss was originally assessed by the insurer - they would always assess the value as low as they could possibly get away with!

macca

I expected the clearance company to go through all bags boxes etc and help me to itemise the items - i.e 100 baubles in this box, oh this box contains 20 strands of tinsel etc etc.
I didn't expect to have to don rubber gloves outside on my drive and go through everything where they had just dumped it - remember this is stinking smelly stuff which has been rotting for 4 weeks in water.
No problem with attaching a value either - just the complete lack of co-ordination and mis communication is unparalleled and has made a bad situation worse. I don't appreciate it.
Can you now understand my frustration?
We'll see what they say now about my total claim.

gazza975526570

Appreciate this is a difficult time for you but how do you expect anyone other than yourself to know how much your items cost?

The cost of any item varies massively so yes im afraid it is down to you to substantiate your claim and provide a price of its worth

Pretty standard practice and i fail to see what the alternatives are?

Regards the LA comig and then going with their being water down again there is no point installing drying out equipment until the flood water has gone

You have to expect a degree of inconvenenience with a flood

FlameCloud

And how exactly many big warehouses do you see empty in the exact areas you need?

You'd then have people moaning about having to travel to the warehouse. Plus having to pay for security, staff etc.

gazza975526570

im sure we all appreciate its a difficult time but there is little alternative than what is currently offered

macca

it's the going through the stinking rotten filthy items with only an old pair of Marigolds that bugs me - isn't this what the cleaning people are supposed to do?
I don't mind valuing it - but what about them itemising it as they take it out of the bags rather than dumping it in unopened soggy boxes on my driveway writing down box of decorations and leaving?
Am I missing something here ? Is this really what I should have expected to happen?

No the LA didn't come round and go again they have never been, it was the cleaning people who came round said Oh we weren't told there was still water down there we don't have the equipment and left again.

God help anybody who has a severe flood or a fire.

eatmyfish

I guess you shouldn't have bought a property subject to flooding!!!

Always by on a hill!!!

meme_3

We got flooded 3 weeks ago - or was it 4?
Can't remember... without checking.

What I do know is that the insurance company have been wonderful.
Our claim will be settled in full next week.... (provided that the building work is completed as expected).

Admittedly, ours was a small claim, but we did manage to avoid damage to the furniture.

There are a lot of people out there who still can't go home, I know.
We were lucky that the damage was minimal.

I sympathise with people that had a more serious problem, but insurers are human too! These things take time - our case was fairly straightforward.

However, in my experience, insurance companies are fair, provided that you don't try to rip them off.

macca

eatmyfish wrote: »

I guess you shouldn't have bought a property subject to flooding!!!

Always by on a hill!!!

my house has 5 steps up to it - the house didn't flood, your comment should have been don't buy a house with a cellar.
Thank you for your kind and thoughtful words in a time of great stress

macca

What I do know is that the insurance company have been wonderful.
Our claim will be settled in full next week.... (provided that the building work is completed as expected).

Exactly and ours haven't been - hence my annoyance.



However, in my experience, insurance companies are fair, provided that you don't try to rip them off.[/quote]

Wouldn't dream of it, just wish they would give me decent service and not rip me off!