Problem with bodger tradesman and MyBuilder Plus Insurance

HappyFish2021

I hired a tradesman through MyBuilder website to do some painting and decorating as I needed to get my house onto the market. (I wanted to take advantage of the buoyant market before Christmas and the Stamp duty holiday). He had a number of good references on MyBuilder and also on Checkatrade and purported to be a professional with photos on there of his decorating certificates. He had Public Liability Insurance. He seemed decent when I met him - quiet and polite, no red flags. I took as much care as I could when hiring, interviewing a number of tradesman, as I am a disabled woman living on my own, and unfortunately where I live, it seems to be open season with a long succession of tradespeople from other sites ripping me off and running away with my money. But the work had to be done so I hired this guy, trusting in MyBuilder's vetting system, believing their vetting system would check out his qualifications and weed out pretenders.

However, given previous experiences, and feeling very vulnerable too as I'd already been delayed for a few months by a bodger who I'd had to call police on because of his threats, theft and attempts at extortion, and unable to afford being out of pocket yet again, I decided to get MyBuilder Plus Insurance to cover this job just in case, little dreaming I would actually need it. This insurance is supposed to cover if  work goes wrong with the insurer paying up to three times of what is contracted for in the contract of works. Before I took out the insurance, I even went so far as to contact MyBuilder Plus asking what the wording in the contract of works between he and I needed to say and how best to word it in order to cover myself in the event of any claim as the contract was a little too vague and unclear for my liking (I understood this was because of the MyBuilder site foibles.) It didn't help that his first language is not English. Even though my inclination was to be persnickety and state every single thing we had verbally agreed to bit by bit (the job was for several rooms and misc. bits and pieces here and there), I was assured by MyBuilder Plus I did not need to do that, what we had was fine. I stupidly trusted the insurer (big mistake) and I also stupidly trusted the decorator (bigger mistake).

So he started and though he seemed to start well, things soon deteriorated with him becoming slap happy. (I realise now he’d other jobs on the go at the same time he was trying to get all done before Christmas and so was rushing). I also realise he was a yes man saying he’d do one thing to me, but behind my back cutting lots of corners, hoping he’d get away with it. I was NOT watching him every second as I was staying out of his way in another room due to covid. Plus I should not have to babysit a professional anyway. 

He took advantage of the situation and my trust and didn't do the prep he was supposed to we’d explicitly discussed beforehand to stop historic damp stains coming back, Therefore the stains came back and his work started bubbling and flaking badly after just one day. He didn't allow proper time for things to dry. Our quote included all materials but it was clear he was skimping on quality of materials and quantity, spreading paint too thinly, just doing one coat etc.  He’d said that he was happy to go buy stuff  but said if he used any of my stuff he would deduct it from the total price at the end. I have a receipt of things I purchased from B & Q that I supplied to the job (paint, stain block, brushes etc) the total of which comes to over £200.

As well as doing stuff badly, he left large areas and even whole rooms undone. He was supposed to fill, sand and varnish my wooden floor to fill gaps and remove scratches and it is evident he only hand sanded small areas as the scratches and other marks remain and he did not varnish it at all, only cleaned it so it looked filled and shiny until the wet actually dried! He actually made the floor look worse in the cold light of day. Everything he did (literally) in every room needs redone and that is no exaggeration. Other areas he did not do at all. He used hazardous fire material foam not wood when boxing in my utility metres so in some cases, it is a priority to UNDO his work. Furthermore, he damaged a load of my items by putting them out in the garden to get wet for a couple of nights while he was decorating, even though I understood he had put them in the dry outbuilding. I was devastated when I found them out there, and just his lack of care and attitude about it. He also damaged my back door by whacking furniture against the lock so it does not close properly now, and he stuffed wet wipes down my toilet blocking my drain. To say I have been devastated is an understatement, particularly after the guy before him.

Though there was lots needing done still when he proclaimed he was finished and wanted paid, my first and foremost concern was in covering over the historic damp stains. I had had the damp treated already but did not want to frighten any prospective buyers off buying my house, so was focused on getting this sorted first and foremost. The other areas could come after, they were not really necessary to market the house, just cosmetic improvements to make it look nice. I contacted MyBuilder Plus and told them of my experiences including the damage, and we agreed to give him a chance to remedy things. Well he came back acting like a sulky child and rushed the prep only half doing it and though the job looks better than it did, stains are still there and he only did one room not all the other stuff needing done. It is still really bad. I refused to give him another chance to come back given his poor workmanship and attitude, it was wasting even more time for me (I want to move house, for God's sake) and I was finding more and more damage to my property. He was a liability to let him in my house.

Were it not for MyBuilder Plus Insurance, given his terrible and incomplete work, I would have just not paid him and that probably would be the end of it, as everything needs redone and his work is not worth a penny. I regret the price of paint etc supplied let alone anything else. I know I could sue him for damage to my property (I estimate damage totals over £600) but the likelihood is I would just let it go as who wants legal battles. So anyway, here now involves the MyBuilder Plus insurance bit--

Their refusal to cover parts of work I believe was contracted for

They agree the work is terrible and/or incomplete and it all needs redone. Luckily it was so bad there is no argument there, but the problem is, they have started to welch here and there on elements of the job. At first it was just a few things that I was prepared to let go but as these bits increase, I am left thinking 'hang on, this is not right.' They are resorting to semantics. So for example, though the contract of works specifies prepping and doing all the woodwork in a room, they disagree 'woodwork' involves glossing the window-sill even though it obviously needs doing. They are splitting hairs about what is woodwork and what is carpentry when referring to the boxing in of the utility metres so won't cover that including its undoing. I find this all the more distasteful as I, a disabled lay person, had specifically asked them before taking out the insurance cover how to best protect myself re wording etc and had told them he's first language was not English. If I had not taken their advice and insisted on getting the sort of detailed contract I wanted specifying each and every thing, then it is clear they would not be able to split hairs with me now. In total we are talking about a few hundred pounds of decorating work in total they say are not covering. So that is the first thing I have issues with. Next--

Their refusal to cover damage to home contents

The MyBuilder Plus insurance policy is very clear what it does not cover. The usual delays due to whatever, plus communicable diseases, damage to buildings, garden and outbuilding etc. However there is nothing in the policy about not covering damage to home contents. Though they admit it does not say anywhere they do not include damage to contents, they say because they use the word 'damage' in the exclusions therefore damage to everything else is also included in this exclusion. I can't think this can possibly hold up in court and have told them this. Especially as they have not used such modifying words as 'damage to buildings, garden and outbuildings etc' or 'including but not limited to damage to buildings, garden and outbuildings'. As every insured and insurer knows there is a big difference between buildings and contents insurance. It is over £600 of damage maybe more they are weedling out of.

They refuse to pay out on materials and supplies

The policy document says Materials and supplies provided by you unless included in the amount insured are not covered. In my case, the materials and supplies were clearly part of the sum insured as the quote was inclusive of ALL materials including paint. MyBuilderPlus are saying because I bought the items days before I hired him, therefore they will not cover them. At no point does their policy restrict or exclude based on WHEN the materials were purchased. It says ‘materials and supplies provided by you.’ I provided them. This is £200 they are weedling out of.

Re: paying for the new work

MyBuilder Plus have acknowledged from the start of the dispute I have every right not to pay this tradesman. However, their policy says I must pay the amount originally contracted for to someone. So if not paid to him, I must pay it to the new tradesman rectifying his work. They will pay any amount over and above. Fair enough. BUT… They will not accept that he has been part paid already £200 odd in materials. Furthermore, they do not accept that he has been part paid already for the damaged items. Were I to pay him (just pretending for one moment the job was all finished OK) then both these things would reasonably be deducted from the total due. This amounts to over £800 so is no small amount. Yet My Builder Plus are insisting I have not paid him a penny yet (as they see it) so I must pay either him or a new tradesman again the whole total amount. I do not think this fair.

Obviously, ethically I have a huge issue with paying him anything, let alone in full. It is like rewarding him for his fraud and allowing him to get away with it. Plus like I say he owes me for damage to my home and contents. Even if I took him to court and sued him successfully, there’s no guarantee I would get it back from him and people can hide cash and not payout despite court orders. And he is foreign so could just skip the country. I would much rather pay the new tradesman and not him out of principle. But bearing in mind he is currently demanding he gets paid, saying he will get his solicitor on me if I do not ( I suspect he’s bluffing, but can’t be sure. Even though I don’t think he has a leg to stand on in court because of ample evidence in my favour, we all hear about miscarriages of justice, judges not liking your face on the day etc. So what if, worst case scenario, the judge doesn’t like my face, refuses my counterclaim for damages, and believes ahis lies and the court decides I have to pay him some or all of the total? I asked My Builder Plus what would happen then and asked if they would refund me the money I would have paid their second tradesman as I would then be paying out for the same job twice (a worse situation than if I did not have insurance!) and My Builder Plus said no, they would not! I even asked them about putting the amount in some kind of escrow pending any legal action by either party and no, they said I could not do that. So we are in the ridiculous situation of me paying him in order to protect myself from potentially paying out twice for the same job. This cannot be right?? 

Even though it left a bitter taste in my mouth, I offered to pay him the total amount if he paid me for the materials and damaged items to settle this (he would still walk away with a plus amount) and he has refused.

Any advice please re the insurer or anything else?? I have contacted his Public Liability insurer and they say he is the one who has to make a claim which he won’t. I do not want to claim on my home contents policy for damage as it will sky rocket.

If I do take him to court, does anyone know if in addition to claiming for the damage to my stuff whether I can get compensation for extra expenses caused by the delays of not being able to sell my house yet, particularly as I have now definitely lost out on the stamp duty deadline so that has cost me many thousands. I will be lucky at this rate to even have the work done by March. 

Thanks in advance.

Sandtree

Ok, long post, though nice to read one thats been well written and someone who knows how to use paragraphs etc... does inevitably mean that bits will be missed though.

If you litigate against him the judge will consider the evidence you submit in substantiating your loss and also test the level of remoteness.  The classic example that I used to have to deal with as a claims handler was someone had been injured and take time off work so we paid them for their injury and loss of earnings but then we'd receive a claim from the claimant's employers wanting us to cover the cost of the temp they had to bring in to cover the claimant but that was rejected as too remote.

Whilst as a result of the delays you have missed the opportunity to attempt to sell it during the stamp duty holiday you cannot prove either that it definitely would have sold or how much a difference to the price it would have made. In theory it could have sold subject to contract and the chain fallen apart and the buyer pulled out meaning you've saved yourself those legal costs that'd been wasted.

Public Liability insurance is there to protect him not you and generally speaking you cannot force him to call on his PL provider - this is different to Motor and Employers Liability insurance where claims can be made directly. That said, were you to submit a claim against them in writing it may trigger a process that results in him getting them into action but it equally could simply result in a letter saying they've no claim set up to contact their insured.

With the claim against the MyBuilder Plus policy, who are you dealing with? Is it with Hiscox or someone else?

I've not read the whole policy but just the header strongly suggests this is going to have been written on a insured perils basis rather than all risks. IE it only covers what it says it covers and doesnt have to exclude anything explicitly for it to be excluded. I would therefore agree that contents he damaged isnt covered by this policy.

Your first step should be to put in a complaint to Hiscox, the process for doing so is in the policy. If you arent happy with their response you then have the right to take the matter up to the Financial Ombudsman (or can automatically do so if they dont give a final response within 8 weeks)

HappyFish2021

Thank you your response.
With the claim against the MyBuilder Plus policy, who are you dealing with? Is it with Hiscox or someone else?
My Builder Plus Insurance is underwritten by Hiscox, yes.

HappyFish2021

ps I have written a complaint to the insurer detailing my reasons and await their final response.

Sandtree

HappyFish2021 said:

Thank you your response.
With the claim against the MyBuilder Plus policy, who are you dealing with? Is it with Hiscox or someone else?
My Builder Plus Insurance is underwritten by Hiscox, yes.

My question was if you were actually dealing with Hiscox or someone else... a lot of insurers delegate their authority to intermediaries (such as MyBuilder Plus Ltd or 3 Dimensional Insurance Ltd who deal with the sale) or a host of third party administrators who do claims only for insurers.

Standards/processes etc can materially deviate when you are dealing with those other than the insurer themselves.

Jumblebumble

HappyFish2021 said:

I hired a tradesman through MyBuilder website to do some painting and decorating as I needed to get my house onto the market. (I wanted to take advantage of the buoyant market before Christmas and the Stamp duty holiday). He had a number of good references on MyBuilder and also on Checkatrade and purported to be a professional with photos on there of his decorating certificates. He had Public Liability Insurance. He seemed decent when I met him - quiet and polite, no red flags. I took as much care as I could when hiring, interviewing a number of tradesman, as I am a disabled woman living on my own, and unfortunately where I live, it seems to be open season with a long succession of tradespeople from other sites ripping me off and running away with my money. But the work had to be done so I hired this guy, trusting in MyBuilder's vetting system, believing their vetting system would check out his qualifications and weed out pretenders.

However, given previous experiences, and feeling very vulnerable too as I'd already been delayed for a few months by a bodger who I'd had to call police on because of his threats, theft and attempts at extortion, and unable to afford being out of pocket yet again, I decided to get MyBuilder Plus Insurance to cover this job just in case, little dreaming I would actually need it. This insurance is supposed to cover if  work goes wrong with the insurer paying up to three times of what is contracted for in the contract of works. Before I took out the insurance, I even went so far as to contact MyBuilder Plus asking what the wording in the contract of works between he and I needed to say and how best to word it in order to cover myself in the event of any claim as the contract was a little too vague and unclear for my liking (I understood this was because of the MyBuilder site foibles.) It didn't help that his first language is not English. Even though my inclination was to be persnickety and state every single thing we had verbally agreed to bit by bit (the job was for several rooms and misc. bits and pieces here and there), I was assured by MyBuilder Plus I did not need to do that, what we had was fine. I stupidly trusted the insurer (big mistake) and I also stupidly trusted the decorator (bigger mistake).

So he started and though he seemed to start well, things soon deteriorated with him becoming slap happy. (I realise now he’d other jobs on the go at the same time he was trying to get all done before Christmas and so was rushing). I also realise he was a yes man saying he’d do one thing to me, but behind my back cutting lots of corners, hoping he’d get away with it. I was NOT watching him every second as I was staying out of his way in another room due to covid. Plus I should not have to babysit a professional anyway. 

He took advantage of the situation and my trust and didn't do the prep he was supposed to we’d explicitly discussed beforehand to stop historic damp stains coming back, Therefore the stains came back and his work started bubbling and flaking badly after just one day. He didn't allow proper time for things to dry. Our quote included all materials but it was clear he was skimping on quality of materials and quantity, spreading paint too thinly, just doing one coat etc.  He’d said that he was happy to go buy stuff  but said if he used any of my stuff he would deduct it from the total price at the end. I have a receipt of things I purchased from B & Q that I supplied to the job (paint, stain block, brushes etc) the total of which comes to over £200.

As well as doing stuff badly, he left large areas and even whole rooms undone. He was supposed to fill, sand and varnish my wooden floor to fill gaps and remove scratches and it is evident he only hand sanded small areas as the scratches and other marks remain and he did not varnish it at all, only cleaned it so it looked filled and shiny until the wet actually dried! He actually made the floor look worse in the cold light of day. Everything he did (literally) in every room needs redone and that is no exaggeration. Other areas he did not do at all. He used hazardous fire material foam not wood when boxing in my utility metres so in some cases, it is a priority to UNDO his work. Furthermore, he damaged a load of my items by putting them out in the garden to get wet for a couple of nights while he was decorating, even though I understood he had put them in the dry outbuilding. I was devastated when I found them out there, and just his lack of care and attitude about it. He also damaged my back door by whacking furniture against the lock so it does not close properly now, and he stuffed wet wipes down my toilet blocking my drain. To say I have been devastated is an understatement, particularly after the guy before him.

Though there was lots needing done still when he proclaimed he was finished and wanted paid, my first and foremost concern was in covering over the historic damp stains. I had had the damp treated already but did not want to frighten any prospective buyers off buying my house, so was focused on getting this sorted first and foremost. The other areas could come after, they were not really necessary to market the house, just cosmetic improvements to make it look nice. I contacted MyBuilder Plus and told them of my experiences including the damage, and we agreed to give him a chance to remedy things. Well he came back acting like a sulky child and rushed the prep only half doing it and though the job looks better than it did, stains are still there and he only did one room not all the other stuff needing done. It is still really bad. I refused to give him another chance to come back given his poor workmanship and attitude, it was wasting even more time for me (I want to move house, for God's sake) and I was finding more and more damage to my property. He was a liability to let him in my house.

Were it not for MyBuilder Plus Insurance, given his terrible and incomplete work, I would have just not paid him and that probably would be the end of it, as everything needs redone and his work is not worth a penny. I regret the price of paint etc supplied let alone anything else. I know I could sue him for damage to my property (I estimate damage totals over £600) but the likelihood is I would just let it go as who wants legal battles. So anyway, here now involves the MyBuilder Plus insurance bit--

Their refusal to cover parts of work I believe was contracted for

They agree the work is terrible and/or incomplete and it all needs redone. Luckily it was so bad there is no argument there, but the problem is, they have started to welch here and there on elements of the job. At first it was just a few things that I was prepared to let go but as these bits increase, I am left thinking 'hang on, this is not right.' They are resorting to semantics. So for example, though the contract of works specifies prepping and doing all the woodwork in a room, they disagree 'woodwork' involves glossing the window-sill even though it obviously needs doing. They are splitting hairs about what is woodwork and what is carpentry when referring to the boxing in of the utility metres so won't cover that including its undoing. I find this all the more distasteful as I, a disabled lay person, had specifically asked them before taking out the insurance cover how to best protect myself re wording etc and had told them he's first language was not English. If I had not taken their advice and insisted on getting the sort of detailed contract I wanted specifying each and every thing, then it is clear they would not be able to split hairs with me now. In total we are talking about a few hundred pounds of decorating work in total they say are not covering. So that is the first thing I have issues with. Next--

Their refusal to cover damage to home contents

The MyBuilder Plus insurance policy is very clear what it does not cover. The usual delays due to whatever, plus communicable diseases, damage to buildings, garden and outbuilding etc. However there is nothing in the policy about not covering damage to home contents. Though they admit it does not say anywhere they do not include damage to contents, they say because they use the word 'damage' in the exclusions therefore damage to everything else is also included in this exclusion. I can't think this can possibly hold up in court and have told them this. Especially as they have not used such modifying words as 'damage to buildings, garden and outbuildings etc' or 'including but not limited to damage to buildings, garden and outbuildings'. As every insured and insurer knows there is a big difference between buildings and contents insurance. It is over £600 of damage maybe more they are weedling out of.

They refuse to pay out on materials and supplies

The policy document says Materials and supplies provided by you unless included in the amount insured are not covered. In my case, the materials and supplies were clearly part of the sum insured as the quote was inclusive of ALL materials including paint. MyBuilderPlus are saying because I bought the items days before I hired him, therefore they will not cover them. At no point does their policy restrict or exclude based on WHEN the materials were purchased. It says ‘materials and supplies provided by you.’ I provided them. This is £200 they are weedling out of.

Re: paying for the new work

MyBuilder Plus have acknowledged from the start of the dispute I have every right not to pay this tradesman. However, their policy says I must pay the amount originally contracted for to someone. So if not paid to him, I must pay it to the new tradesman rectifying his work. They will pay any amount over and above. Fair enough. BUT… They will not accept that he has been part paid already £200 odd in materials. Furthermore, they do not accept that he has been part paid already for the damaged items. Were I to pay him (just pretending for one moment the job was all finished OK) then both these things would reasonably be deducted from the total due. This amounts to over £800 so is no small amount. Yet My Builder Plus are insisting I have not paid him a penny yet (as they see it) so I must pay either him or a new tradesman again the whole total amount. I do not think this fair.

Obviously, ethically I have a huge issue with paying him anything, let alone in full. It is like rewarding him for his fraud and allowing him to get away with it. Plus like I say he owes me for damage to my home and contents. Even if I took him to court and sued him successfully, there’s no guarantee I would get it back from him and people can hide cash and not payout despite court orders. And he is foreign so could just skip the country. I would much rather pay the new tradesman and not him out of principle. But bearing in mind he is currently demanding he gets paid, saying he will get his solicitor on me if I do not ( I suspect he’s bluffing, but can’t be sure. Even though I don’t think he has a leg to stand on in court because of ample evidence in my favour, we all hear about miscarriages of justice, judges not liking your face on the day etc. So what if, worst case scenario, the judge doesn’t like my face, refuses my counterclaim for damages, and believes ahis lies and the court decides I have to pay him some or all of the total? I asked My Builder Plus what would happen then and asked if they would refund me the money I would have paid their second tradesman as I would then be paying out for the same job twice (a worse situation than if I did not have insurance!) and My Builder Plus said no, they would not! I even asked them about putting the amount in some kind of escrow pending any legal action by either party and no, they said I could not do that. So we are in the ridiculous situation of me paying him in order to protect myself from potentially paying out twice for the same job. This cannot be right?? 

Even though it left a bitter taste in my mouth, I offered to pay him the total amount if he paid me for the materials and damaged items to settle this (he would still walk away with a plus amount) and he has refused.

Any advice please re the insurer or anything else?? I have contacted his Public Liability insurer and they say he is the one who has to make a claim which he won’t. I do not want to claim on my home contents policy for damage as it will sky rocket.

If I do take him to court, does anyone know if in addition to claiming for the damage to my stuff whether I can get compensation for extra expenses caused by the delays of not being able to sell my house yet, particularly as I have now definitely lost out on the stamp duty deadline so that has cost me many thousands. I will be lucky at this rate to even have the work done by March. 

Thanks in advance.

Can we ask a few Questions
Were the Materials you provided specified in the contract of works and schedule as if they were not they would be excluded ?
Do you have contents insurance  as if you do they would be excluded in any case ?
Anyway you can always complain to the ombudsman 

HappyFish2021

Sandtree said:

HappyFish2021 said:

Thank you your response.
With the claim against the MyBuilder Plus policy, who are you dealing with? Is it with Hiscox or someone else?
My Builder Plus Insurance is underwritten by Hiscox, yes.

My question was if you were actually dealing with Hiscox or someone else... a lot of insurers delegate their authority to intermediaries (such as MyBuilder Plus Ltd or 3 Dimensional Insurance Ltd who deal with the sale) or a host of third party administrators who do claims only for insurers.

Standards/processes etc can materially deviate when you are dealing with those other than the insurer themselves.

I was only dealing with MyBuilder Plus who I understood was the insurer.

HappyFish2021

Jumblebumble said:

Were the Materials you provided specified in the contract of works and schedule as if they were not they would be excluded ?
Do you have contents insurance  as if you do they would be excluded in any case ?
Anyway you can always complain to the ombudsman 

The contract of works stated that the total price included ALL materials. The tradesman said if I supplied anything he would deduct from the total.
Yes I have contents insurance including accidental damage but do not wish to claim unless as a last resort as my insurance would skyrocket.
And thanks I know about the Ombudsman

Sandtree

HappyFish2021 said:
I was only dealing with MyBuilder Plus who I understood was the insurer.

According to the footer MyBuilder Plus is a company in its own right, it itself isnt a regulated entity and so its an appointed representative of 3 Dimensional Insurance Ltd but as they are only regulated by the FCA they cannot be an insurance company but instead are some form of intermediary (like a broker). The insurer is Hiscox and you can tell they can be an insurer because they are authorised by the PRA and regulated by the PRA and FCA.

The branding at the top of emails/letters are not always helpful in tell you which company you are actually dealing with as whilst MyBuilder Plus is a company in its own right under the agreement with Hiscox it could well be that Hiscox has agreed to use their branding rather than their own on comms however it can also be that Hiscox has agreed that the company can settle claims on its behalf up to certain limits etc. 

Insurance supply chain can be complex and thats before you add outsourcing into the equation. Its little wonder that people call brokers insurers and look at you oddly if you mention MGAs etc

HappyFish2021

I just wanted to update about MyBuilder Plus's response to my letter of complaint. In their favour, they are VERY quick to respond so I cannot fault them on that - a full response in under 48 hours. I can also say all along they have been very quick getting back to me, and it is the same person each time which is nice for consistency - so although we have not always seen eye to eye and I have had to argue the toss with them which I should not have had to, I cannot fault them for speed of responses or other elements of customer service. So credit where it is due.

MyBuilder Plus have agreed 'on this occasion' to consider the tradesman already part paid £216 with the materials I supplied. They have also agreed to cover a lot of the work they initially refused and were being semantic about, such as when they first said the woodwork did not include glossing the window sill, batoning etc. So by them agreeing to cover that, that's another few hundred quid saved in labour plus the hassle of having to get another decorator in. Finally, they have agreed to look at/consider the damaged property/contents so I can contra them against the amount considered paid. I will keep this post update as to what happens on that as obviously I need to send them evidence.

Good result (so far) but it is a shame I had to argue about this to get it but at least they got there in the end without me having to involve the ombudsman.

The only negative is there are still a couple of things they have said they will not cover, despite in my mind, it being stated clearly stated on the contract. Decorating one room and undoing the dangerous boxing in of the utility metres and then redoing them. The latter I can accept there was not a paper trail for (it was more verbal), but the former there was. However, I don't really have the stomach for more arguing and may just quit while I am ahead.

Thanks for everyone's advice so far.

HappyFish2021

HappyFish2021 said:

Sandtree said:

HappyFish2021 said:

Thank you your response.
With the claim against the MyBuilder Plus policy, who are you dealing with? Is it with Hiscox or someone else?
My Builder Plus Insurance is underwritten by Hiscox, yes.

My question was if you were actually dealing with Hiscox or someone else... a lot of insurers delegate their authority to intermediaries (such as MyBuilder Plus Ltd or 3 Dimensional Insurance Ltd who deal with the sale) or a host of third party administrators who do claims only for insurers.

Standards/processes etc can materially deviate when you are dealing with those other than the insurer themselves.

I was only dealing with MyBuilder Plus who I understood was the insurer.

I meant that I did not understand about intermediaries and so forth, just thinking it was different trading names, but think I understand what you mean now about them only? being an intermediary and not the insurer per se.