Asprea + Norwich Union Buildings Insurance

dacouch

I agree missile and cognito, they have dealt with Asprea for years and before that they dealt with Mowlems who are owned by the same company (Carillion). They were bad when they were mowlems but not as bad as Asprea.

Its very easy to say you are proactive (In my experience companies that use the word proactive, generally aren't) and saying you listen to customers but its another thing to actually implement what you say. Its a shame NU / Aviva don't do what they reckon they do in their new adverts eg you are not a number blah blah proactive blah

Any one that reads this please avoid Asprea and use your own local as a builder if you have a claim with NU / Asprea and sham on NU / Aviva until they do the decent thing and ditch Asprea. Everyone (Including Beccus) knows they need to be kicked into touch

gwen80

Hi

My Mum had a house fire earlier this year. Her insurance was underwritten by Norwich Union, who appointed Cunningham and Lindsay as loss adjustors and Asprea as contractors. Luckily, another contractor ended up doing to work as Asprea had sent in a quote of approx 3k more than C&I had estimated. I think we had a lucky escape. They certainly weren't v.fast about doing anything, including the quote.

Having said that, C&I have been truly horrific to deal with aswell though. My Mum was abroad when the fire happened. They wouldn't allow me to arrange alternative accomodation for her for when she arrived back in the UK, so she landed here effectively homeless. When I asked if I could go out and buy her a couple of things to wear (it was January, temp's around freezing here and she was coming back from a country which reached 42C the day before she left), they told me to get her something out of the house. They didn't seem to believe me when I told them that the cleaners they'd appointed had removed every item of clothing from the house!

The long and the short of it - neither me nor my mother will ever purchase home insurance by anybody underwritten by Norwich Union or who uses C&I as loss adjustors. I'm told Halifax insurance are v.good (I have just got my home and contents with them). A friend of a friend was flooded recently and they were told to go out and find somewhere of a similar size to their own place to rent. They have pets too and now they're in a 3-bed terraced house with their dog and cat. No hassle, just go out and get yourself sorted - we will pay. That's more like it.

beccus - I really think that they should be providing somewhere 'suitable' for you to live. Clearly having your animals in kennels isn't suitable. If you're anything like my Mum you're probably sick to the back teeth of making phone calls, but I would absolutely insist on it. I'm not sure how much help there is out there, but have you sought advice from the Citizen's advice? Or looked into making a complaint with the Insurance ombudsman?

Gwenx

dacouch

Gwen80 sorry to hear of your problems with NU, I've had a fire in my home a long time ago, so I know who upsetting it is. I'm an Insurance Broker so fortunately I know how to handle Insurers and Loss Adjusters so my claim was "reasonably" easy to sort out. However I deal with a lot of fire and flood claims for clients so know how Insurers / Loss Adjusters can be difficult to deal with.

Beccus actually works for NU / Aviva hence why she is making excuses for them and saying the same thing about Asprea that NU / Aviva have been saying since they started dealing with them eg we are listening to you and things will get better blah blah bleeding edge blah blah blue sky thinking...

I would suggest you or your mother send a letter in to NU / Aviva explaining about the problems you had, the more of these types of letters they get they will eventually pull their finger out

sozzza

Beccus, Thanks for the reply and I hope you are feeling better.

I am afraid I do not really understand parts of your reply - for instance what constitutes a "complicated" case? My case and most of those I am aware of with problems and actually very straightforward initially; they only become difficult because Aviva and its contractors fail to meet their obligations in a prompt and fair fashion and then are difficult to contact effectively to rectify the situation.

Generally regarding "the Asprea stuff" as you put it. If you are no longer close to the detail of this, who is? Who at an operational level takes responsibility for sorting out the problems? To put it another way - when you come across evidence of serious failings in the operation of the contract on this and other forums who do you contact to make aware of the problems? Or do you take no further action?

Commiserations to those others who have recently had to join the forum ........

dacouch

Sozzza they file them in "File 13"

gwen80

dacouch wrote: »

Gwen80 sorry to hear of your problems with NU, I've had a fire in my home a long time ago, so I know who upsetting it is. I'm an Insurance Broker so fortunately I know how to handle Insurers and Loss Adjusters so my claim was "reasonably" easy to sort out. However I deal with a lot of fire and flood claims for clients so know how Insurers / Loss Adjusters can be difficult to deal with.

Beccus actually works for NU / Aviva hence why she is making excuses for them and saying the same thing about Asprea that NU / Aviva have been saying since they started dealing with them eg we are listening to you and things will get better blah blah bleeding edge blah blah blue sky thinking...

I would suggest you or your mother send a letter in to NU / Aviva explaining about the problems you had, the more of these types of letters they get they will eventually pull their finger out

Sorry it seems I have gotten people mixed up. I didn't mean Beccus, I meant sozzza.

My Mum and I did start to document the problems as they occurred, but it has gone on for so long and there have been sooo many, it's kind of become impossible. Maybe though if we put our heads together we can write an effective letter with the main points on, although I'm not sure my Mum has the energy any more. We're still claiming for clothes and other items which have 'disappeared' after the fire. As my Mum was abroad and I live and work an hour and a half away, nobody could be there to supervise the cleaners (also Rainbow). They removed everything, but never provided us with a list and now we're finding things missing and NU are talking about closing the case?!

gwen80

Duh, I'll get it right in the end. Jessstigs was the poster I was replying to. I don't think it's acceptable to have your animals kennelled for so long and you living with your friend. I think they should be offering you accomodation similar to that which you were living in.

[Deleted User]

Ok before I try to answer the points, gwen80 I wonder, I know you've had problems, but if I could have some details of your mum's case I can try to see what I can do for you?

My email address is rebecca.sibley@aviva.co.uk

sozzza

Beccus - I am having horrible deja vu of appalling Aviva customer services. A promise of action and then radio-silence that I have to chase up; in my experience next stage with Aviva usually would be either a brush off with noone taking responsibility or a "mistake" by someone at Aviva that it takes me considerable effort/a number of phone calls and letters and emails to rectify.

Show me I am wrong by dealing with an issue pro-actively and constructively!

dacouch

Sozza, don't take it personally, they do the same to everyone.

A tip I find useful is to ask the persons name at the start of the call and make a note of it. Use their name as much as possible in the call and then at the end of the call summarise the call and what the person has agreed to do. Then state that I expect a call back at the time you have stated.

If your polite, friendly and concise this normally works.