Hiscox Photographic Insurance Claim

Flappersmkip

Hi, a couple of months ago I was waiting on a cab to take me to a beauty spot to take some photographs. The cab pulled up, I put my bag in the back, the cab pulled away before i could get in making off with twenty thousand pounds worth of kit. Now I'm stood on the kerb in shock, as the taxi I acctually booked pulls up ... I put my claim in and from the start the service from Hiscox has been shocking, I was the victim of a mugging about 3 years ago and had about eight thousand pounds worth of gear stolen at that time. One of the first questions from the advisor on the phone was what had i spent my last settlement on ... I was thrown by this questioning and stumbling for words, made to feel like I was in the wrong. So from that start I was sent out a loss adjuster whom said we should have this all settled within 6 six week frame. He asked about the crime, the gear lost, photographed the boxes for the equipment lost and asked about my income. 8 weeks later and after I had made multiple attempts to talk to the Loss Adjuster with either no reply, a busy line or his inability to return my calls

I had an Email. The email was from a higher ranking senior Loss adjuster, well, I just saw red. Nobody had said i needed to see another loss adjuster, as far as i was concerned I had given everything I could give to Hiscox and they were now just trying wo wriggle out of paying me.I put in a complaint as advised to by one of the cus service team, and "now was the right time to do it", complaining of the questioning by the rep at the start of my claim, the dire service from the initial loss adjuster and amoung other things, the reasoning behind the need for a second loss adjuster .... So another month later, days before there deadline and with only a weekly email stating there getting "happier" with there progress I called. They said nothing would move forward untill I agreed to meeting the senior loss adjuster, so I agreed to an appointment. The complaint was "finalised" the following day showing zero shortcummings on there part !

I met the loss adjuster, he befrended me making conversation about the car we both drove, trying to impress a gentle approch but that soon changed. I sat through 3 solid hours of what i can only describe as interigation. The first hour was all the nice stuff then, it became very unpleasant. I was grilled about how the taxi managed to get away, my calls prior & after the event, what I DRANK after the theft ... The list goes on, then, after me telling the man I had littraly 15 mins befor I had to pick my kids up, he had his "Collumbo" moment up his sleave and produced a photo, shot in the same room 3 yrs ago of the claim back from the mugging. Now, i bought all my replacement gear privatley, luckily it was all boxed, but the loss adjuster shows me this image and tells me the boxes are the same boxes used for the claim 3 years ago. I say no your wrong, they are the same boxes because ive replaced like for like at my own discression, but diffrent boxes, if you understand me .. So, I now really have to go and hes questioning me as I walk out the house, holding his recorder up to track my every word as I rush out to the car to get my girls.... He put his dictaphone in his pocket and without looking back said "we'll be in touch" and walked off down the street... I was left feeling like i just ecaped a police cell !!

He has now written to me asking for profit and loss statments for the last 3 years and all the boxes to be sent via there courier. I dont have the old boxes, allthough I thought I did, we threw them a couple of years ago during a move. And profit and loss, I really dont feel i should have to supply that, and to be honest, I cant because I dont have them. I have been trying to build a buisness over tha last 5 years but have been blighted with ill health. I said the best year I had was about 45k, that was many years ago and not a reflection of the money i made lasst yr, more like 4k .... But in the trasnscript of the interview it reads as if i said 45 k over the last three years .... Anyway, sorry for the wall of text. I just need some advice please. I do feel ive been treated badly by Hiscox and there team. Im not sure why they need profit and loss & do they need to Proove* the boxes are diffrent boxes or just show that they could be. They were shot in simmlar lighting in the same room on the same table 3 years apart. I just dont know what to do next, please help.

Quentin

Insurers are entitled to investigate all claims before paying out.


The bigger the claim the bigger the investigation.


Either comply with their requests now or expect this to remain at the present stage until you do.


(You say you already complained about the way this has processed, so if you have had their reply to your complaint (or it as more than 8 weeks ago) you can escalate to the FOS for their adjudication at no cost to you.)

marlot

Look at it from their perspective - there is a lot of fraud around. You claim to run a business, but cannot produce accounts [so how did you pay your taxes?]. You can't produce the boxes to show that you did replace the kit. Do you have any other way of showing that the kit exists? Receipts? eBay records? Names and addresses of the sellers?

If I were the loss adjuster I'd be wanting to ask a lot of questions too! I'm sure its not personal - they are just doing their job.

dacouch

The three hour interview is a common technique used by virtually all Insurers. It's called a "Cognitive Interview" and is also used by the Police.

https://www.google.co.uk/#q=cognitive+interview

It involves asking detailed questions about the incident and the times around the incident along with asking seemingly unconnected question such as what were you drinking.

They will then repeat the questions but in a different order and different questions but about the same thing.

The theory is that someone who is telling lies will have thought up a story to cover the situation but will not have thought up a story to cover random unconnected things. Also repeating the questions exposes differences in the story.

Someone who is telling the truth will have no problem answering these questions correctly and any genuine mistakes are fairly obvious and can be discounted.

The question on your accounts is a fair question as a) You should have these if you're a business b) they may point to a fraudulent claim if your business is struggling c) If you replaced the last lot of stolen items your accounts will show the payment for the replacement items or you withdrawing the cash to replace the items.

Did you get the registration number of the fake taxi?

If Hiscox suspect a fraudulent claim, official complaints won't affect how they deal with the claim although they are duty bound to investigate and respond to your complaint.

Do you have proof of purchasing the replacement items eg receipts, screen shots of gumtree, ebay purchasing history etc etc

Flappersmkip wrote: »

Hi, a couple of months ago I was waiting on a cab to take me to a beauty spot to take some photographs. The cab pulled up, I put my bag in the back, the cab pulled away before i could get in making off with twenty thousand pounds worth of kit. Now I'm stood on the kerb in shock, as the taxi I acctually booked pulls up ... I put my claim in and from the start the service from Hiscox has been shocking, I was the victim of a mugging about 3 years ago and had about eight thousand pounds worth of gear stolen at that time. One of the first questions from the advisor on the phone was what had i spent my last settlement on ... I was thrown by this questioning and stumbling for words, made to feel like I was in the wrong. So from that start I was sent out a loss adjuster whom said we should have this all settled within 6 six week frame. He asked about the crime, the gear lost, photographed the boxes for the equipment lost and asked about my income. 8 weeks later and after I had made multiple attempts to talk to the Loss Adjuster with either no reply, a busy line or his inability to return my calls

I had an Email. The email was from a higher ranking senior Loss adjuster, well, I just saw red. Nobody had said i needed to see another loss adjuster, as far as i was concerned I had given everything I could give to Hiscox and they were now just trying wo wriggle out of paying me.I put in a complaint as advised to by one of the cus service team, and "now was the right time to do it", complaining of the questioning by the rep at the start of my claim, the dire service from the initial loss adjuster and amoung other things, the reasoning behind the need for a second loss adjuster .... So another month later, days before there deadline and with only a weekly email stating there getting "happier" with there progress I called. They said nothing would move forward untill I agreed to meeting the senior loss adjuster, so I agreed to an appointment. The complaint was "finalised" the following day showing zero shortcummings on there part !

I met the loss adjuster, he befrended me making conversation about the car we both drove, trying to impress a gentle approch but that soon changed. I sat through 3 solid hours of what i can only describe as interigation. The first hour was all the nice stuff then, it became very unpleasant. I was grilled about how the taxi managed to get away, my calls prior & after the event, what I DRANK after the theft ... The list goes on, then, after me telling the man I had littraly 15 mins befor I had to pick my kids up, he had his "Collumbo" moment up his sleave and produced a photo, shot in the same room 3 yrs ago of the claim back from the mugging. Now, i bought all my replacement gear privatley, luckily it was all boxed, but the loss adjuster shows me this image and tells me the boxes are the same boxes used for the claim 3 years ago. I say no your wrong, they are the same boxes because ive replaced like for like at my own discression, but diffrent boxes, if you understand me .. So, I now really have to go and hes questioning me as I walk out the house, holding his recorder up to track my every word as I rush out to the car to get my girls.... He put his dictaphone in his pocket and without looking back said "we'll be in touch" and walked off down the street... I was left feeling like i just ecaped a police cell !!

He has now written to me asking for profit and loss statments for the last 3 years and all the boxes to be sent via there courier. I dont have the old boxes, allthough I thought I did, we threw them a couple of years ago during a move. And profit and loss, I really dont feel i should have to supply that, and to be honest, I cant because I dont have them. I have been trying to build a buisness over tha last 5 years but have been blighted with ill health. I said the best year I had was about 45k, that was many years ago and not a reflection of the money i made lasst yr, more like 4k .... But in the trasnscript of the interview it reads as if i said 45 k over the last three years .... Anyway, sorry for the wall of text. I just need some advice please. I do feel ive been treated badly by Hiscox and there team. Im not sure why they need profit and loss & do they need to Proove* the boxes are diffrent boxes or just show that they could be. They were shot in simmlar lighting in the same room on the same table 3 years apart. I just dont know what to do next, please help.

Flappersmkip wrote: »

Hi, a couple of months ago I was waiting on a cab to take me to a beauty spot to take some photographs. The cab pulled up, I put my bag in the back, the cab pulled away before i could get in making off with twenty thousand pounds worth of kit. Now I'm stood on the kerb in shock, as the taxi I acctually booked pulls up ... I put my claim in and from the start the service from Hiscox has been shocking, I was the victim of a mugging about 3 years ago and had about eight thousand pounds worth of gear stolen at that time. One of the first questions from the advisor on the phone was what had i spent my last settlement on ... I was thrown by this questioning and stumbling for words, made to feel like I was in the wrong. So from that start I was sent out a loss adjuster whom said we should have this all settled within 6 six week frame. He asked about the crime, the gear lost, photographed the boxes for the equipment lost and asked about my income. 8 weeks later and after I had made multiple attempts to talk to the Loss Adjuster with either no reply, a busy line or his inability to return my calls

I had an Email. The email was from a higher ranking senior Loss adjuster, well, I just saw red. Nobody had said i needed to see another loss adjuster, as far as i was concerned I had given everything I could give to Hiscox and they were now just trying wo wriggle out of paying me.I put in a complaint as advised to by one of the cus service team, and "now was the right time to do it", complaining of the questioning by the rep at the start of my claim, the dire service from the initial loss adjuster and amoung other things, the reasoning behind the need for a second loss adjuster .... So another month later, days before there deadline and with only a weekly email stating there getting "happier" with there progress I called. They said nothing would move forward untill I agreed to meeting the senior loss adjuster, so I agreed to an appointment. The complaint was "finalised" the following day showing zero shortcummings on there part !

I met the loss adjuster, he befrended me making conversation about the car we both drove, trying to impress a gentle approch but that soon changed. I sat through 3 solid hours of what i can only describe as interigation. The first hour was all the nice stuff then, it became very unpleasant. I was grilled about how the taxi managed to get away, my calls prior & after the event, what I DRANK after the theft ... The list goes on, then, after me telling the man I had littraly 15 mins befor I had to pick my kids up, he had his "Collumbo" moment up his sleave and produced a photo, shot in the same room 3 yrs ago of the claim back from the mugging. Now, i bought all my replacement gear privatley, luckily it was all boxed, but the loss adjuster shows me this image and tells me the boxes are the same boxes used for the claim 3 years ago. I say no your wrong, they are the same boxes because ive replaced like for like at my own discression, but diffrent boxes, if you understand me .. So, I now really have to go and hes questioning me as I walk out the house, holding his recorder up to track my every word as I rush out to the car to get my girls.... He put his dictaphone in his pocket and without looking back said "we'll be in touch" and walked off down the street... I was left feeling like i just ecaped a police cell !!

He has now written to me asking for profit and loss statments for the last 3 years and all the boxes to be sent via there courier. I dont have the old boxes, allthough I thought I did, we threw them a couple of years ago during a move. And profit and loss, I really dont feel i should have to supply that, and to be honest, I cant because I dont have them. I have been trying to build a buisness over tha last 5 years but have been blighted with ill health. I said the best year I had was about 45k, that was many years ago and not a reflection of the money i made lasst yr, more like 4k .... But in the trasnscript of the interview it reads as if i said 45 k over the last three years .... Anyway, sorry for the wall of text. I just need some advice please. I do feel ive been treated badly by Hiscox and there team. Im not sure why they need profit and loss & do they need to Proove* the boxes are diffrent boxes or just show that they could be. They were shot in simmlar lighting in the same room on the same table 3 years apart. I just dont know what to do next, please help.

takman

For twenty thousand pounds of kit surely you have some proof of buying them such as bank statements, receipts, emails (if bought online) etc. If the only proof you can provide is empty boxes then I'm not surprised they are questioning the claim considering you had a similar claim a few years ago.

gycraig_2

Can see why they would be wary if you have no proof of purchase and identical boxes to when you made your last claim.

FlameCloud

You will have had to had caused serious concern with an insurer as lenient as Hiscox for it to have gotten this far.

Is it a commercial policy? If so, a failure to provide accounts is a huge red flag - £4k a year turnover points to a failing enterprise and your loss is five times the value of it - can you not see why they would be a little sceptical? This is even before the issue about proof of ownership - can't your accountant help you out as presumbly it went through them.