Oil leak, work started but now we may not be covered help!

chevalier

Sorry if this is a bit long but here goes

Was asked by my neighbour in June if our oil tank was leaking. No we thought but looked anyway. No obvious leak from seams etc, but when I looked underneath there was fuel oil (kerosene) leaking out of the bottom of the tank. Cue total panic of course, trying to find something to catch the drips with etc.

Then the fun starts
Because the oil had leaked into next doors cellar (and therefore across 30 ft of garden) our insurance company appointed a loss adjuster to come and see the problem and then manage the work. Leak was discovered on the 19th but no one showed up from the loss adjuster till a week later, and we had to pay to get the tank emptied (but they paid the company for that so that was ok). But there was a weeks delay there.

Then another week and the loss adjuster sub contracts the work to a specialist environmental management company. They take two weeks to come out to test the ground and take the tank away so no more drips.

(by this point we are out of pocket £90 for 3 jerry cans to put the kerosene we caught into, ie so that is didn't continue to pollute next door).

Was told that the test report would take 5 working days to process, well it took nearly 4 and in all that time the loss adjusters did not chase the environemental people for the report, so more time wasted.

But finally we are told that there is the report, there is a go ahead to get the work done, and that the ground treatment and reinstatement will take 10 weeks:mad: :mad: :mad: . Through out all of this period I had been asking for some way to heat the house, and get hot water and had been told that they were sure something could be managed. Well by now we are pretty much into September and am getting worried.

Still gets a bit better as a 10 week process gets compressed into 4 weeks as they do a treatment a week and no testing ? Then I get told that they will reinstate the ground without testing the surrounding ground first? Does this seem illogical to you, did to me.

So we get worried and decide to call the loss asjusters AGAIN (no joy left voice mail, they have NEVER phone back when asked we have always had to do the chasing). So then we call the insurance company.

Now bearing in mind that this has been going on since June, that people have been working on site since July (off and on) and next door, we have now been told that the underwriter is questioning whether we are covered:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: .

We are absolutely devastated. How ON EARTH could they have appointed a loss adjuster, who then sub contracts the work, does the report, which is agreed, so that they can start the remediation, and then 6 months down the line start querying if they are going to pay? I (I'm the one who has in the main been dealing with it as I have been at home) have been repeatedly told that though we wouldn't be covered to replace the oil tank (fair enough), we would be covered for the remediation (both sides of the fence) and for the loss of the oil.

It wouldn't be so bad if it was just our side, our costs are about 11k. But the other side of the fence, they have had to put in another sump, put in pumps, remediate the soil and the building. Has been a far more complicated procedure, and we have no idea what the cost is.

So does anyone know what we should be doing now? We took out insurance to cover us and now they are saying that the seam on the tank gave way so not their problem. But it wasn't the seam, it was the bottom of the tank that gave way, which you can only see if you get down on your hands and knee and put your face on the pavement.

If we are liable, we won't even be able to sell our house to pay for it because you need a certificate to say that the ground has been successfully remediated. And if the work doesn't continue we don't get the certificate.

Any help appreciated.
chev

FlameCloud

I can't see how they can even hope to go with this.

Firstly- by approving the initial quote, whether they like it or not they have accepted liability for the incident

Secondly- I'd be shocked if the policy had an exclusion for any form of damage from wear and tear for the peril Escape of Water (which is what this should come under)

Thirdly- I assume they are trying to say you didnt take all reasonable steps to prevent further damage? The FOS defines this as you being reckless, so they would have to prove it.

I'd get started with the complaints procedure straight away.

chevalier

Thanks for the reassurance. I could just about understand where they were coming from regarding our side of the fence and the claim, but to say that they might not accept the claim from the third party (next door) is beyond belief. That surely is the whole point of insurance like this?

Anyway I agree I will be looking at their website tonight to see how to go about doing the complaint
chev

FlameCloud

Put simply, they are not directly responsibly for their costs.

Its not like car insurance- the 3rd party will have to claim of their own insurance, get the work fixed and then the 3rd party insurer would seek a recovery from your insuers

chevalier

yes that is what we have been told has happened. I just wonder if it has all got a bit muddy though because the remediation people are being used by both sets of loss adjusters.
thanks for your reply
chev