Macbook Pro Insurance Claim - Direct Validation Services

tomaustin

Hi,

About a week ago I spilt a drink on my Apple Macbook Pro rendering it unusable. Whilst i didnt want to tamper with anything to avoid any problems with the insurance company, I strongly suspect the motherboard is fried.

I contacted my home insurance provider (Nationwide) who arranged for the laptop to be picked up on Monday. Today i received a letter saying it is with a company called Direct Validation Services where it will be inspected over the next ten days.

Does anybody have any experience with this company? I'm hoping the problem will be resolved quickly. If they cant fix it am I within my rights to expect another Apple laptop of matching spec? Or can I ask for cash to buy one myself? i do not want a PC.

any advice is welcomed.

shudder

Hi,

Haven't had dealing with them personally, but they are a claims management company working on behalf of the insurer.

It is usual for the item to be inspected to make sure it is beyond repair and or intentionally damaged.

If all goes well they will probably ask where a convenient mainstream electrical retailer is and arrange for you to collect a new one, or they may send you vouchers/cheque.

If they are offering to replace it make sure it is the same spec, as they often try to fob you off with a lower model if the damaged one is no longer manufactured.

HTH

tomaustin

Thanks for the info. I'll be certain to accept nothing less than an equal spec MacBook.

I'm still interested in whether anybody else has any personal dealings with DVS? Would be good to know what to expect.

dacouch

How old is your Macbook?

Do you use it in any way for business?

tomaustin

dacouch wrote: »

How old is your Macbook?

Do you use it in any way for business?

It's about 4 years old (late 2011 model) and no I don't.

dacouch

The way Insurers work is roughly the following.

The specifications for computers is constantly improving and at the same time reducing in cost.

Thus your Insurers can put you back in the same position as you were before by (Probably) replacing a top of the range Macbook Pro with a current low to mid range and still give you the same performance and specifications as you had before.

The above obviously depends on the specifics of your current Macbook etc.

It's not a case as a lot of people assume that if you had a top of the range Macbook costing £2k four years ago that you will get a top of the range Macbook as a replacement.

Be aware that part of the validation of your claim will normally mean DVS check the hard drive to see if what you've told your Insurer correlates with what the hard drive has recorded. Basically if you told them you spilt drink on it last Tuesday they will check the hard drive to make sure it was still working and then stopped working last Tuesday.

The above is a basic fraud protection as some people stage a claim when their lap top has suffered an uninsured damage eg mechanical break down or just because they want a new lap top.

Most Insurers will allow you to upgrade the lap top they offer eg if they assess your lap top as costing £800 to replace with model XYZ. That you can pay the difference between XYZ and a XYZ++ costing £1k

bbk87

If they can repair the macbook, they will do this. If they can't repair it or if they think it's beyond repair, they'll replace it with a MacBook of the same specification that you have, sometimes they can replace with the exact same model as well.

tomaustin

Quick update...

Just over a week since DVS received the laptop and I got a message today saying they've fixed it. Absolutely thrilled to bits.. Sounds ridiculous but that laptops been all over the world with me and I'll be pleased to have it back. No word on what the fault was yet.

Couldn't fault DVS's service and Nationwides... Thanks for those who gave info above.