Business Insurers (loss adjusters) simply ignoring our claim

Aubrey_Thicket

Hi all

Apologies for naivety in advance. I am a small business owner of our family business. We have run this company for over 30 years and never made an insurance claim. Or business policies are in excess of £10K per annum. The story goes...

In September a power cut at our premises caused us to be without power for a week. Electricity North West the national utility provider came out and dug a huge hole in the road outside. The found the fault was under our building. They couldn't fix it (because it was on our premises) and we had to call out a commercial electrician company. The cost was £6,000 + VAT. We followed all instructions from our insurance brokers and they then sent out a loss adjuster company. The loss adjusters came down, took photos, statements etc and went away. I have since heard nothing from them other than to reply to my Emails with comments like 'We're still reviewing if there is liability' etc. Whilst I won't go into detail with regards to liability etc I would just like some sort of idea how long these things take.
This happened in September and I received an email from the loss adjusters in November telling me that they would have some information 'by the end of next week'. Since then I have emailed them 5 times and have received no response whatsoever. I suppose I am disappointed with our broker who when he was selling us the policy made it sound like making a claim was so straight forward. I am worried at the length of time that has passed and that's before we even discuss the cost implications of business interruption. I know these things can take time but in my limited knowledge there can be no question of liability. The fault with the cable is underneath the building. We have all our fixed wiring certificates in place. The initial loss adjuster inspector actually witnessed the replacement cable being installed and even took photos of the hole in the road.

I would be grateful of some advice what to do here. Should I keep chasing the loss adjusters? If I do am I likely to annoy them? Should I chase my broker? Should I chase the insurance company? As it stands we have now had to pay the electrical company the £6,000 we owed them.

Any advice please?
I know I shouldn't really be asking for such advice on here but our brokers seem to be quiet on the subject too.

Thanks all

stator

Have you put in a formal letter of complaint ?

pramsay13

Go back to the insurance company and make a complaint about the length of time the loss adjuster is taking.
I was in this exact situation with a house insurance claim and it got resolved fairly quickly when the original insurer became involved as any contract you have is with them.

Aubrey_Thicket

Thanks Stator & Pramsay. I rang the broker yesterday and told them I didn't want to rock the boat but I think I had waited long enough. They said they agreed with me and actually said the loss adjuster was rude for simply ignoring my contact. The broker said they would now call the loss adjusters. Amazingly, within 15 minutes of me making the call to my broker I had an email direct from the loss adjusters accepting liability.

Thanks all. Matter now closed.