Large house insurance claim, are my expectations t

candycow

Is there anyone here with experience of large claims on house insurance?

We had a major house fire in January. We feel that our insurers have let us down during the process, but wanted to check what we should actually be expecting of them. We are considering making a complaint about the communication and amount of time everything has taken.

January Day 1, devastating house fire, 13 year old son was in the house at the time, rescued by fire brigade, fortunately ok. Claim reported about 10.30 that morning, told Loss Adjuster would make contact and someone would come and secure the house. Loss adjuster made contact about 2pm, house wasn’t secured until 6.30pm. We were sat outside of the house all of that time as some of our valuables were not damaged by the fire and the house could not be closed up (it was bloody freezing and if it hadn’t been for family several towns away coming to pick up our children, the would have been there too). Loss Adjuster could not attend, but arranged for us to be housed in a Travelodge. We were left with the clothes we were wearing and nothing more.
Day 2 loss adjuster attended, explained the process, agreed £15 per person per day for food (children too as both adult sized, 11 and 13, 11 year old is 5’5”) told us that forensics would be out soon to ensure that there was no liability to be passed on to a third party like in the case of tumble dryer fires and that there would be an interim payment for food and clothing, likely start of the following week as it was now Thursday.
Then communication pretty much stopped from them, the relocation company gave me details of 4 houses they would arrange for us to be housed in for the duration of the repairs (at least 6 months) on the Friday, but they were not suitable for varying reasons and the told me that they could no longer work with me. I had to call the loss adjuster who told me to send them details of houses and they would look to agree one of them. I sent them on the Monday, and chased them regularly about whether we could move on them, to be fobbed off at every call. Wednesday I called them and was told it was waiting on sign off from the insurers, the insurers said it was going to the major loss office. After several days of chasing, I finally got a date for forensics to attend, 2 weeks after the fire.
Initial forensics report received 2 days after the visit, but despite chasing, we had NO movement for a further week.
Day 22, after much chasing and upset from comments made by insurance staff, we finally got a payment to cover 6 months rent and £5k to furnish the house, to include the displacement allowance without prejudice as investigation still ongoing. We have had to find the deposit on the house ourselves, and between furniture, some basic clothing, kitchen goods etc, we have spend more than £5k, so are back in the position of having had no displacement allowance.
Week 5 they agreed to take on the claim and arranged for a surveyor to attend the house.
Week 6, surveyor attends, I had to take 3 house off work to be there with him, if I can’t make that up as TOIL soon, that will be unpaid.
Week 7, contents assessor makes contact says they will call back to arrange to attend the house, we are now at the end of the week and still have no date for that. We do not know what we should replace in case they say they are salvageable, and so we only have very limited clothing etc, we very much feel in limbo at the end of week 7.

In the meantime we are struggling as a family, I am trying to get CAMHS involvement for my children to support them, my husband and I are mentally and physically exhausted, not sleeping well etc

I just wondered about the timings. I appreciate that the investigation had to be completed, but there just seem to have been a lot of unnecessary delays and so much seems to have been reliant on me calling and chasing everything, no mean feat when working full time and supporting 2 children who are struggling. Had it not been for family and friends , we wouldn’t have been able to feed our children in the early days as it took so long for any payment. This is just half of the notes we have made regarding phone calls I made to try and get any sort of news or movement from the insurers/loss adjusters.

Is this unusual, or is it the norm of a claim this sort of size (could be heading towards £100k by the time all the building works are completed and contents assessed)

paddyandstumpy

What more are you expecting?

Just responding to your first part;
The loss adjuster contacted you within 4 hours of being appointed, and the house was secured within 4 hours of that.

You don't say what day of the week this happened, was it a bank holiday or a Sunday?

Regardless, those timescales seem decent.

Given the fact it's a large(ish) loss, the insurer is well within their rights to have forensics appointed. These things don't happen overnight normally, and any cases where they do are the exception not the norm.

At the end of the claim if your not happy with everything then will be the time to complain, the procedure for which will be set out in your policy document.

candycow

I was expecting an interim payment in time to actually feed my family, rather than 3 weeks later. Forensics to be commissioned to come in before 2 weeks passed, bearing in mind his report takes 2 weeks on top, all the while they hadn’t decided if they would take on the claim. For them to communicate with me rather than me having to call them for ever update. To not be left out in the cold outside our home on the first day. For this stressful experience to not be made more stressful by lack of money, communication or answers.

EdGasketTheSecond

We had a less major fire than yours and we able to continue living in the burnt house. Repairs did not start for about 3 months and took a further 21 months to complete. It was very frustrating as all the time the 'claims management company' would not do anything and left the builders and insurers in the dark so nothing happened unless I rang round all three on a daily basis! Good luck; sorry but it won't be easy.

candycow

Wow, 21 months! Was that just because you were living in it still? The Surveyor seemed pretty confident that we won!!!8217;t Go much past the end of the tenancy on this house. Once it starts moving it should be fairly easy as they are taking most of the house back to brick, so a blank canvas. I know it!!!8217;s not going to be easy, but I!!!8217;d like to be able to actually buy a few more clothes, or be given back our clothes cleaned, things like that.

EdGasketTheSecond

No it took that long because the claims management company just didn't do their job; in fact they just got in the way. Didn't pass information between builder and insurer and vice-versa. So each new set of builders e.g. roofers, plasterers, electricians decorators were unco-ordinated with each other and they just went on to other jobs instead of doing ours so we went to the back of the queue each time. The scafolders took ages too as it dragged on into winter and they couldn't work much in the cold. Us living in the house made no difference, in fact it might have helped as I knew what was actually happening that day; usually nothing!

candycow

That’s where not being in the house is probably an advantage, for every month we aren’t living there it’s going to cost the insurance company an extra £1500+, so they will be keen to keep things moving.

ValiantSon

candycow wrote: »

In the meantime we are struggling as a family, I am trying to get CAMHS involvement for my children to support them, my husband and I are mentally and physically exhausted, not sleeping well etc

Don't bother with CAMHS. In most areas they have an 18 months to two year waiting list for referrals and I very much doubt that any trauma your children have suffered will be considered significant enough. If you do genuinely feel that there is a need for psychiatric support then you would be better off accessing private services.

candycow

That is my worry. I work in the education system and know just how hard it is to get in with them. I do know the type of things that will trigger referrals too though, so hope that I have emphasised those parts enough. We shall see. The problem with private is the cost though of course. We are going to come out of this situation in a financially negative position I think, due to higher living costs and fee other factors, putting 2 children, and potentially 2 adults who are also struggling through the private system is going to the crippling. We certainly can’t do it until we have further money from the insurance company for the contents. I have had to take a pay cut because of the whole situation too, as well as emergency unpaid leave for various things.

Bobstephen

Hi candycow, we are currently going through a large fire claim and yes we had big difficultys at start but settled now in a nice rented house from the insurance. We are with AXA who so far have been OK but we are in process of maki g out our contents claim. Have you submitted yours yet?

Marvel1

Bobstephen wrote: »

Hi candycow, we are currently going through a large fire claim and yes we had big difficultys at start but settled now in a nice rented house from the insurance. We are with AXA who so far have been OK but we are in process of maki g out our contents claim. Have you submitted yours yet?

They last logged in 13-10-2018, I doubt you are going to get a reply.