powerplay direct

Sniper349

FlameCloud wrote: »

Are you aware that the hard disk becomes their property if you want to claim for the laptop?

Powerplay are never that bad to get through to. I dont believe you spent nearly two hours on hold to a company.

YES it is true I did spend 1 hour 47 mins and 32 secs on hold to them and still didn't get through.

However an Update:
Direct line managed to contact them and transfer me through to them, they offered me a NON similar replacement, which I refused. Direct line are now offering me a cash settlement for me to purchase my choice of laptop.
AND... Direct line have FINISHED their contract with Power Play and now only deal with their managment.
What a suprise...
Seems as though I was right in assuming that Power Play are not that good after all.
Case resolved with thanks to Direct Line.

TechWolf

I have been unfortunate enough to have dealings with this company twice now, and both times have been an absolute nightmare.

Just over a year ago my PC gaming rig died, we contacted Direct Line Insurance and they said we were covered. This was the last bit of good news we would hear for some time.

3 Weeks passed. We contacted Direct Line again and they said our details had been passed to Powerplay who were assessing the damage and would inform us if the machine would be repaired or replaced.. a small miracle in itself as at that point the machine was still sat under my desk untouched since the day it died.

2 more weeks passed before Powerplay finally collected the machine and another 2 weeks again before they assessed the damage as unrepairable and offered a replacement.

At this point I should probably tell you that I am an I.T. engineer, and a quick review of the suggested replacement told me all I needed to know about Powerplay.. it was a catalogue of aging components and budget brands.. wherever a few quid could be saved by using third rate components it had been.

Naturally we complained to Direct Line and asked if we could replace the machine ourselves and get them to cover the cost. After much deliberation they agreed and assigned a cash value of around £1200 minus their usual excess.

At this point I was amazed.. even if I purchased retail parts I would have been hard pushed to spend more than £750 building the rig Powerplay had offered! Unless they are in the habit of charging almost £500 for labour I really can't see how they justify this!

Anyway, from begining to end it took almost 9 months to get a replacement, and the experience with Powerplay was traumatic enough to make me switch insurers.. I thought my woes were over.

Alas no! A few weeks back my laptop ground to a halt.. knowing that my new policy with Saga covered repairs I put in a claim and in just under a week a company called I-val collected it. Once again this was the last bit of good news I was going to hear.

I-val offered a replacement that was far below the original in terms of both quality and performance. I asked why it was being replaced instead of repaired and was told that it "wasn't economically repairable".

Now my insurance policy doesn't cover software, and as a lot of the software on my laptop is older versions or I have lost the install disks it's pretty much irreplaceable without a great deal of expense. A replacement laptop would mean all that would be lost. I really needed to get it repaired.

As an engineer I know exactly what the cost of repairs would have been and it was certainly less than a replacement laptop. So I asked if they (or I) could repair it and pass the bill to Saga. At this point I was told that my laptop had been water-damaged by themselves and was now totally beyond repair!

To add insult to injury, I-vals replacement cost was based on the basic specification of my laptop. I pointed out that it had been upgraded with extra memory, OS, network card etc and asked for a re-evaluation. It took them two weeks and they arrived at exactly the same figure!

In all my dealings with I-val/Powerpay (who are one and the same company) I have found them to be rude, inneficient and generally unhelpful.

I would strongly advise anyone making an insurance claim that involves this company to imediately ask for a loss adjuster to be appointed.. or better yet, try and find an insurer that uses a more reputable and reliable company for their valuations.

FlameCloud

TechWolf wrote: »

I would strongly advise anyone making an insurance claim that involves this company to imediately ask for a loss adjuster to be appointed.. or better yet, try and find an insurer that uses a more reputable and reliable company for their valuations.

You actually believe that an insurance company would send out a valuable and expensive loss adjustor for a mere computer???

Even if they did, what good would they be able to do?

TechWolf

FlameCloud wrote: »

You actually believe that an insurance company would send out a valuable and expensive loss adjustor for a mere computer???

Even if they did, what good would they be able to do?

Thanks for asking, FlameCloud.

Insurance companies are required to provide a loss adjuster on request under FSA regulations. As such most Insurers keep a loss adjuster on a contract or retainer, so it doesn't cost them anything extra to provide one.

A loss adjuster can help because they provide an independant valuation of the situation, using a different valuation company so as to avoid conflict of interest.

This offers an unbiased "second opinion" in the case of an unfair valuation. In the case of a firm known for its innacurate or unfair valuations this can make a good deal of difference to the final settlement and also highlight the problem to the Insurer who in turn may review their valuation contract.

Sniper349

Just a quick update, ... as I mentioned in a earlier post. Power Play are no longer the appointed repairers for direct line.
They are now using "Home Serve". I am still waiting to see if they are any better and if they can either offer a like for like replacement, or a monetary settlement so I can purchase similar to what I had.
So far a Laptop that cost me £652 14 months ago is apparantly now only worth £170 as a settlement. Direct line are doing their best to assist, but I am not holding my breath.
Power Play have been nothing more than a very bad experience to deal with. Here's hoping that Home serve are some what better.
I await......

sillyvixen

Sniper349 wrote: »

Just a quick update, ... as I mentioned in a earlier post. Power Play are no longer the appointed repairers for direct line.

good to see at least one insurer has pulled out from powerplay ... i wonder why??

FlameCloud

TechWolf wrote: »

Thanks for asking, FlameCloud.

Insurance companies are required to provide a loss adjuster on request under FSA regulations. As such most Insurers keep a loss adjuster on a contract or retainer, so it doesn't cost them anything extra to provide one.

A loss adjuster can help because they provide an independant valuation of the situation, using a different valuation company so as to avoid conflict of interest.

This offers an unbiased "second opinion" in the case of an unfair valuation. In the case of a firm known for its innacurate or unfair valuations this can make a good deal of difference to the final settlement and also highlight the problem to the Insurer who in turn may review their valuation contract.

They are? What part of the Disp or icob regulations is that?

TechWolf

FlameCloud wrote: »

They are? What part of the Disp or icob regulations is that?

Hope this helps

http://www.cila.co.uk/files/ABICILAProtocolrev.pdf

I know that in the case of my laptop claim I requested a loss adjuster and one has been provided within 48 hours.

TechWolf

Just a quick update.

Having spoken to the loss adjuster regarding my laptop claim, he is in agreement that the initial valuation offered by Ival of £425 is too low and that the replacement laptop offered is not "like for like".

He has now returned an amended valuation of £549.

It's the squeeky wheel that gets the oil!

kaz2721

Power Play collected my computer tower on Thursday last week and called me on Friday to advise that it was beyond economical repair and I will be receiving my new lap top today!! :j (They were going to replace it with another tower unit but it wasn't an issue when I asked if they could replace it with a laptop ... great customer service for me)

This is the second time that I have dealt with Power Play through Zurich and they have been faultless in my personal experience.