Davies Group Loss adjusters 7 September 2022 at 7:35PM in Insurance & life assurance 5 replies 98 views

danleeeds

Hi, I thought I’d turn to this page for some help and advice. We are exhausted by the whole process with Davies Group and the loss adjusters. Our home insurance is with RAC and I’ve been told underwritten but Lloyds. We had a main bathroom toilet leak and had it fixed by an independent Plummer. We contacted RAC our home insurance company who advised a loss adjuster called Davies Group would be in touch. So they came out and a company fitted drying equipment and took up carpets and flooring etc taking the house to over 37c for 3-4 weeks. Davies group agreed to put us up in a local hotel, we have two girls under the age of seven and one has breathing issues. Long story short, the hotel doesn’t have a fridge or means for us to cook, we have had no disturbance allowance as they state the underwriter Lloyds don’t do this all while we have a disabled daughter and we have been telling them of her breathing issues they don’t listen. Are we being lied to as I feel they try to wear us down. As it stands now we are 24 days in and nothing to help with evening meals. We have racked up a big credit card bill, and now they want us to rent a house for 6 months even though the house now just needs to have walls rebuilt and skirting boards , flooring, carpets and decoration. We are covered for 75k for comparable alternative accommodation yet they have now said it’s rent this house and you pay all the bills apart from rent and council tax, keep in mind it’s unfurnished. Or we take a cash settlement of just over 5k for alternative accommodation and that settles it. We don’t want either of these options, just a comparable place to stay with money for evening meals. It’s ruining me and my wife with the hours of calls and even been told our home is the same as a travel lodge. So if anyone can provide any advice to help us understand this a bit more that would be amazing. Our story is a long one with our youngest who is now 4 being born extremely premature and has chronic lung disease, we have not asked for anything extra other than what we are covered for but I feel there trying to lie to us and my family are exhausted from it all. As it stands our hotel stay which isn’t comparable to home runs out next week and we have to rent this house or take a cash payment and we still have no money to help with food. We’ve taken so much time out of work with phone calls and emails we’ve got really behind and it’s effected us. Thank sun Advance.

Smithcom

Sounds pretty awful to me.  A complaint of some description may be required.  I would recommend that you consider speaking to a manager at RAC claims, or possibly writing to the Chief Executive if you feel appropriate.

Can your furniture not be moved (as part of the £75,000 AA costs) to the new home?

What timescale would be reasonable for the works to be completed?

You could appoint your own Loss Adjuster/Assessor to deal with the insurer, but comes at a cost. Alternatively, I have used Aspray (Building Repair Managers) in the past to manage repair projects.   I am not recommending them, but possibly worth a discussion?

There's a few choices to consider

Really hope you get it sorted.  My thoughts are with you.

SC

danleeeds

Thank you for your comments and advice.

I’ve raised an official complaint with RAC But they keep saying the complaint is not with them but Davies, so I keep going back to the RAC to complain more. I’ve found out the underwriter is Lloyds so I’ve raised an official complaint to them too and also have 3 official complaints with Davies group. 

It feels like there trying to get us to settle for this home or a cash settlement as the minimum cost to the insurers without taking anything into consideration about our family or situation. We are very fact driven and only want what we pay each month for to be delivered on, I.E comparable accommodation and payments for the food we are having to buy. Yellow sticker petrol station sandwiches is most nights for the last few days due to our credit card now being maxed out.   

We would say 4 weeks is a reasonable amount of time to get the work finished on the house but I guess that depends on trades people etc. 

Thank you for your advice and help, it’s exhausting speaking with them , it’s almost like your having to battle for something your policy says your clearly covered for.

ILoveSittingDown

When I had to move into alternative accommodation due to a flood, the loss adjusters sent me a couple of houses we could rent for 6 months. None of them were suitable so I found a suitable house myself and sent it to the loss adjusters, it was unfurnished so they arranged for a company to provide temporary furniture and kitchen utensils etc for the period we were there. I would suggest you should push for this.

You will still need to pay bills at the alternative accommodation because you won’t be paying them at home. Any electricity used by the drying equipment should be monitored and reimbursed by the insurance company. They should also reimburse your council tax as you’ll still need to pay this at home, although you can apply to the council for a discount if the home isn’t currently habitable. I also had my broadband reimbursed as my home security code was controlled by WiFi. 

[Deleted User]

danleeeds said:

it’s almost like your having to battle for something your policy says your clearly covered for.

What you think your policy says you're clearly covered for and what you are actually covered for are often very different things.

An insurance company isn't supposed to put you in a better position than you were in before the insured peril occurred.  So in this case, you were paying one set of council tax, rent/mortgage, fuel bills, food bills etc..  That means that you should still be paying one set of the same things.  The insurer can't just start paying for your food.

You say you had no disturbance allowance because Lloyds don't do it - that means it wasn't something that your policy covered you for and, therefore, they can't pay it regardless of the circumstances.  Insurance isn't compensation.

Regarding the project duration, that's probably come because they don't want to risk saying "you can move back in 4 weeks" and then a couple of weeks later saying "sorry it isn't ready yet, you need to move into a different rental".  And for reference, 4 weeks is a tiny length of time for insurance repairs to be completed - I rarely see one less than three months. 

DullGreyGuy

Lloyds Bank don't sell insurance via brokers and Lloyds of London isnt an insurance company... I suspect you mean its a syndicate at Lloyds.

I'd suggest that you look at https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/businesses/complaints-deal/insurance/home-buildings-insurance/settling-home-insurance-claims and in particular the section on Alternative Accommodation which has a section on disturbance. You will note that they typically will expect an insurer to cover the increased cost of food/laundry etc under AA even if the policy doesn't explicitly state it will cover it as part of good practice. It is however only the increased cost so if you normally spend £100 a week on food but due to not having cooking facilities have spent £150 the claim would be for the £50 delta. 

Note however that they only state this where the contract of insurance doesn't mention anything about it. If you've decided to buy a policy that explicitly excludes it they may take a different approach and it would be more a case of you having bought something that wasn't suitable for your needs.