Lost earring claim - advice needed

marowall

I was given a very generous wedding gift from a family friend of a set of pearl earrings. I opened the gift on the morning of my wedding and wore them on the day and for several days after with no idea of the value of them. Unfortunately I lost one of them and so took the remaining one to a jewelers to get a replacement but they advised that finding an exact match would be extremely difficult due to the high quality of them. This led to getting a full valuation which valued them at £4,100 for the pair - much higher than I every imagined they would be.

I didn't name them as a separate item on my home insurance policy (ie name them at a value over £2,500) as I didn't think they would be that valuable. I have since spoken to my insurance company and they have advised that the maximum they could pay out would be £1,500 which is the max on any unamed item on my policy but they would also then keep the remaining earring as it becomes their property once they pay out.

My question is whether this is still the case when they are not paying out the full value of the lost earring? The person who took my call at the insurance company actually said that retaining the earring was their way of getting some of the cost back - I pointed out that the remaining earring was worth more than they would pay out and my premium would also be increasing (by over £100 per year) because of the claim so surely that was getting their costs back!

A payout of £1,500 may allow me to get a close match replacement earring but it certainly wouldn't allow me to replace the pair. The remaining earring also has a lot of sentimental value for me as I wore it on my wedding day so I don't really want to lose that.

Has anyone had a similar situation? I have seen lots of posts saying that the insurance company keeps the remaining earring but only when they have paid out the full valuation for the pair.

Thanks

huckster

The Insurers will normally pay up to the single article limit for one earring to be manufactured.

If you visit your nearest jewellery quarter e.g Birmingham, you will find a number of jewellery companies who will quote you to manufacture one earring as near a match as they can achieve.

Your Insurers may also offer this service via a company they deal with.

xMonsoonx

If they settle based on replacing the lost one you get to keep the remaining one.

Get your own quote for replacing the missing earring and submit to them so they can settle within the single article limit.