My First Direct and Aviva Insurance nightmare

davidoko

Hi,

I'm currently in dispute with Aviva insurance over the way it's gone about doing repair work in my home following an ingress of water on the ground floor.

I'm a First Direct customer and bought their buildings insurance because I was so impressed by their great customer service. What i didn't realise was that First Direct only brand the policy and have nothing to do with the customer service element. Customer Service is done purely by Aviva.

The chronology of my story including dates is as follows:

14th May 2015 - The first drainage contractor (ANSA Drainage Ltd) attends the property and wrongly identifies the water as coming from a gully at the rear of my property. The gully is replaced.

15th June 2015 – I move out of my property and told to take enough clothes for 10 days stay away. The repair contractor (AllTrades Ltd), which isn’t a member of any recognised Building Trade Organisations, attends site and removes the wooden flooring only in the hallway and dining room area and removes the standing water. The water refills and is 1 foot high, well below the joists.

18th June 2015 – I return to my property and discover all my contents have been removed from the ground floor living room. The wooden flooring in the living room is also removed.

25th June 2015 – I return to the property and discover the entire kitchen including contents, ceramic tiled floor, dishwasher, fridge freezer, washing machine and tumble dryer have all been removed. Only the washing machine, fridge freezer, dishwasher and tumble dryer are taken into storage by the contractor. The rest of the contents were negligently discarded into the upstairs bedrooms.

29th June 2015 - A second drainage contractor (Lanes for Drains) arrives at the property to trace the source of the water ingress, and the water is found to be coming from the neighbouring property. The height of the water, still 1 foot, is supported by photographs contained within the drainage report produced by Lanes for Drains. The water level is still well below the joists.

31st July 2015 – The source of water, now identified as coming from the neighbouring property is permanently fixed.

10th August 2105 – The repair contractor installs dehumidifiers and fans at my property. A large volume of gravel is deposited into the whole of the subfloor area, living room, dining room and downstairs hallway. All the wallpaper is removed from my property, except in the 3 upstairs bedrooms.

10th August 2015 – 1st September (22 days) – large volumes of dense moist air and dust are blown by the fans and dehumidifiers into the bedrooms and bathroom areas, where all the internal doors have been left open and the windows closed. This severely damages a large amount of my personal property.

3rd September 2015 – The repair contractor is locked out of the property by me and the first formal written complaint including photographic supporting evidence is sent to Aviva.

8th September 2015 – A Loss Adjuster from Cunningham Lindsey arrives at my property. His comments are that he’s seen nothing like this before and is unable to put a final figure of the loss due to what he calls “Collateral Damage”.

7th October 2015 – A 2nd repair Contractor starts work with no agreed schedule/programme of works. This Contractor, again, isn’t registered with any recognised building trade associations. The workmen are again poorly supervised and disorganised. Ongoing problems with their work start again.

5th December 2015 – I change the locks on my house to stop the work from proceeding until a more organised way to repair the house is agreed. The workmen drill my front door locks to gain unauthorised access to enter my house to take their tools. I report the incident to the Police and get a crime reference number.

5th December 2015 - Aviva then cut all contact/communication with me and I’m forced to approach the Financial Ombudsman Service for help. I have ongoing problems with the alternative accommodation Aviva have provided for me. There is zero customer service from the Insurer (Aviva) or my Bank (First Direct).

Aviva have now threatened to stop paying for my alternative accommodation at the end of June 2016, thereby making me potentially homeless. I have produced a YouTube video which explains the story in more detail and has associated photographs, to publicize my case.

Please click the link below if you're interested in seeing this, go to YouTube and type in the search
"My Banking and Insurance Horror Story - Battle with First Direct Bank and Aviva Insurance UK"


I'd be interested to hear other peoples experiences of Aviva, good or bad, and especially their claim management company Asprea. I had no idea my policy with First Direct was actually with Aviva. If I'd have know, I wouldn't have bought it. Is this type of practice common in banking between Banks and Insurance companies?

Thanks for reading,

David

[Deleted User]

davidoko wrote: »

Hi,
I had no idea my policy with First Direct was actually with Aviva. If I'd have know, I wouldn't have bought it.

It's shown on their website, in the KFIs and policy documents.

rs65

davidoko wrote: »

5th December 2015 - Aviva then cut all contact/communication with me and I’m forced to approach the Financial Ombudsman Service for help.

What was the outcome?

davidoko wrote: »

I had no idea my policy with First Direct was actually with Aviva. If I'd have know, I wouldn't have bought it. Is this type of practice common in banking between Banks and Insurance companies?

Who did you think was insuring you? Banks aren't insurers. Did your documents not make it clear?