Insurance claim

FrustrationFull

Hi all,

Our house flooded in June this year. Since then we have been living with my partners dad and step mom. We are now at the point where building repair work has begun, and probably about 4-5 weeks away from being able to move back in. That side of the claim is going very well and i am really impressed with the insurance company. However, its the contents side of things that are causing a lot of stress.

As carpets are classed as contents we were asked to provide quotes for the replacements of these (insurance company removed and got rid of carpets without noting what carpets we had, and we don't know what they were as we only bought the house in january so no way of knowing what is like for like on that one). We provided two quotes (one for 2336 and one for 2338). We then provided the direct internet links to all of the contents that were deemed BER and a breakdown of receipts for things such as emergency plumbing, dry cleaning of items the insurance company left in the house throughout drying process such as clothes and curtains, frames that were water damaged and broken etc.

In total the amount that the contents (including carpets) came to was £3613. That is without the cost of dry cleaning our curtains and repairing my laptop which was damaged in the flood as i haven't had it priced up yet (will be doing this the weekend!) However today we have received an email from someone at the loss adjustors office stating they are proposing a settlement of £1000 for all of our contents. This wouldn't even cover the cost of our carpets and we really don't have the money to cover this ourselves, let alone the cost of all of our contents again. I sent an email back to query how they had reached that figure when we had provided a like for like quote to replace all items except for items that cannot be replaced such as a samsung tv that is no longer stocked and my dressin table which was a charity shop find but i did note that to replace this like for like is around £150 on eBay without collection costs. I have since received the below email from my loss adjustor:


''Good afternoon,

Further to my colleagues earlier email, I would suggest that, with your agreement, we report to insurers requesting that they make payment to you at £1,000 for the damaged contents.
Please confirm your agreement, so that we can arrange for Insurers to issue payment to you at £1,000.''


Where do we stand with this? I feel we've been more than reasonable, we haven't chosen nicer things and tried to pull a fast one. Everything is like for like. We are staying with family so are only costing them a relocation allowance of £10 pp per day in comparison to what rent would have been. We have been extremely patient with delays to the drying of our property and always polite. Im upset and angry, we won't be able to replace our items with that amount, never mind the carpets.

The insurance company's website states:

The Basis of Settling Contents Claims

1) For any item of contents that is lost or damaged we will at our option:
a) replace or repair the item or part; or
b) pay the cost of replacing or repairing the item or part; or
c) if we can repair or replace the item or part but agree to make a cash payment instead it will not be more than the amount it would have cost us to replace or repair the item using our own suppliers; or
d) if no equivalent part or replacement item is available, pay the full cost of the item without any deduction, providing the sum insured is adequate.


Can anyone advise?

Mungo76

Put them on the back foot and ask for a breakdown of their figures, if they come out and suggest it is a rough settlement remind them of your figures and let them know that you will accept this or the replacement if they feel they can source and provide cheaper.

Some adjusters have a habit of going gung-ho getting all the repairs and dirty work out of the way and when it comes to the boring bit like making comparison lists, they take the easy option.

paddyandstumpy

Who is the insurer? I'll try and help if I can.

They must have a reason for coming up with this figure, so as previously suggested ask them for a breakdown of how they came to this figure.

On a side note, I presume a very small flood if carpets were £2.3k and you only claimed for £3k total?

FutureGirl

Are you sure that isn't an interim payment? The email is vague.

I would ask them if that is total settlement, or an interim payment.

I would speak with the loss adjuster and ask them to appoint a flooring supplier to replace the carpets. That way they get replaced, and you won't need to pay for it. They should also be able to appoint a company to replace the TV with something like for like as well. If they don't budge, then go to the insurer and they should then appoint a company to replace them.

FrustrationFull

paddyandstumpy wrote: »

Who is the insurer? I'll try and help if I can.

They must have a reason for coming up with this figure, so as previously suggested ask them for a breakdown of how they came to this figure.

On a side note, I presume a very small flood if carpets were £2.3k and you only claimed for £3k total?

The insurer is Churchill. Ive emailed to ask for a breakdown of how they came to that figure so ill be intrigued to find out what the response is.

I keep saying flood, it was an escape of water. The downstairs sink pipe burst while we were on a weekend away. Downstairs was under a few inches of water but it was hot water so the condensation damaged upstairs. They've managed to repair quite a bit, mainly written off the cheaper ikea stuff like wardrobes which just warped in the heat. Downstairs is all tiled or laminate so carpets are for the stairs and all upstairs.

FutureGirl

Churchill definitely have a flooring supplier, and electrical supplier. So ask the loss adjuster to appoint them to replace things like TV, and carpets etc.

£2.3K is a LOT of money for carpets for that area - don't forget they'll only replace what is damaged, not undamaged.

FrustrationFull

FutureGirl wrote: »

Are you sure that isn't an interim payment? The email is vague.

I would ask them if that is total settlement, or an interim payment.

I would speak with the loss adjuster and ask them to appoint a flooring supplier to replace the carpets. That way they get replaced, and you won't need to pay for it. They should also be able to appoint a company to replace the TV with something like for like as well. If they don't budge, then go to the insurer and they should then appoint a company to replace them.

The original email said 'We have reviewed the below costs and we are willing to propose a cash settlement of £1000 for the contents.' so i assume its a total settlement.

FrustrationFull

FutureGirl wrote: »

Churchill definitely have a flooring supplier, and electrical supplier. So ask the loss adjuster to appoint them to replace things like TV, and carpets etc.

£2.3K is a LOT of money for carpets for that area - don't forget they'll only replace what is damaged, not undamaged.

Its quite a large space, and both quotes came within £2 of each other. But even so, the amount that they have quoted wouldn't cover the cost of items BER. They were the ones who have assessed the items and provided us with a list BER. My understanding is that they were expected to replace like for like.

FutureGirl

They will replace like for like, but if they have a supplier (which they do) that can replace items then they will only pay you what it would have paid the supplier to replace them. As all suppliers get a discount.

Hence why you should ask the loss adjuster to appoint the flooring supplier to actually replace the carpets, that way you won't have to pay any shortfall or deal with it. Same for the TV, they have a supplier that can deal with that also.

The drying company would have done the BER list and sent it to the loss adjuster, the loss adjuster then looks at the list and prices it up. You will need to provide quotes of what it will cost to replace the items (to evident your claim).

Also I'd ring the loss adjuster and ask them to email you the breakdown as this will be quicker than waiting on an email reply as their timescales to reply is within 5 working days.

(I work for churchill).