Home insurance excess demanded before work carried out?

lel44

I have recently made an insurance claim for a carpet, having unsuccessfully had it professionally cleaned to remove a stain. An independent inspector came and after some deliberation said he would arrange to have it cleaned again and asked for my £200 excess.
I have 2 questions Why did the INDEPENDENT inspector know my excess? Why would I pay the inspector and not the insurance company?
I requested a breakdown of the bill and was told by the inspecting company that I couldn't have that as it was for the insurance company only. I am quite happy to pay a bill but would like to know what I am paying for as I have been told the would exceed £200 The carpet is 12 ft sq and cost £50 to originally be cleaned.
As its my money am i not entitled to know what i'm paying for? I'm sure i've heard somewhere about not paying until your happy with a job being done? Can i have the work done by who I choose?

kingstreet

I made a contents claim.

A third party provided some of the replacement items. I paid my excess to them, not to the insurer.

rs65

lel44 wrote: »

I have 2 questions Why did the INDEPENDENT inspector know my excess? Why would I pay the inspector and not the insurance company?

Presumably your insurance company appointed them to deal with the claim and your excess.

molerat

When I had my car repaired I paid my £100 to the garage who had it on their paperwork from the insurer, same idea here. Even if it costs £200.01p to clean you will still have to pay the £200. I doubt he is just an independent inspector but a cleaning agent appointed by the insurer.

TSx

This is correct - if you want to make a claim, you just need to pay £200 to the carpet company, the carpet company will then invoice the insurer less the £200. You will need to pay it upfront, and if you are not happy with the work, you can complain to the insurer

Also, ask the insurer to include the cost you have already spent on trying to clean the carpet included in your claim

FutureGirl

As TSx said, if you have the invoice for the carpet cleaning attempt - get the insurer to include this in the claim. You'll need to send them the invoice, but they should pay out for that.

You will find it's in the T&C's of the policy that the insurers can appoint suppliers to collect the excess on their behalf. The excess is also the first part of the claim to be paid.

You will also find that the insurance policy is repair before replace. They will always try to clean a carpet before agreeing to replace it. If they can clean it, you will pay them directly the cost of cleaning it, or the £200 excess, whichever is less.

You can have the work done by who you choose, but the insurer will only pay you what it would have cost their supplier to do the same work, less any excess. If the carpet needs to be replaced, and costs their suppler £400, and yours £600, they will only pay you £400 - your excess, so you'd receive £200.