Insurance Claim - Help with wording

max5445

Hi, have just had my claim rejected by insurance company, am now sending a letter to them challenging their rejection on the basis of the wording of their policy. 
So basically, they are refusing to compensate for the damage removal company caused, due to the furniture being flat packed! The furniture was not flat packed during transit/storage.  (Initially when I purchased the furniture a couple years ago it was flatpacked furniture).  Their policy word for word only states the following:  Excluded Items: flat pack furniture!
Grateful for help on how to challenge this wording in the policy.  many thanks

Alderbank

That's not how contracts work. Once a contract is agreed between two parties, neither can unilaterally change the contract terms. 

Was the term Excluded Items: flat pack furniture in the contract when you agreed to it?

Is the company your home insurance or the removers' third party insurance?

DullGreyGuy

max5445 said:

Hi, have just had my claim rejected by insurance company, am now sending a letter to them challenging their rejection on the basis of the wording of their policy. 
So basically, they are refusing to compensate for the damage removal company caused, due to the furniture being flat packed! The furniture was not flat packed during transit/storage.  (Initially when I purchased the furniture a couple years ago it was flatpacked furniture).  Their policy word for word only states the following:  Excluded Items: flat pack furniture!
Grateful for help on how to challenge this wording in the policy.  many thanks

So is this your home insurance you are claiming against or are you claiming from the removal firm's insurance?

The importance in the terms is the absence of the "ed"... "flat pack furniture" remains as such irrespective if its in its built or disassembled state. A quick check on the Ombudsman website unfortunately only shows one case in relation to flat pack furniture but the ombudsman does use the term to describe some furniture in its assembled state. 

I am guessing you are claiming against some removal firm in which case any exclusion in their insurance doesnt necessarily exclude a claim against the company itself, that will depend on their own T&Cs and not that of their insurance (unless the terms stated liability was limited to what their insurance covers)

max5445

DullGreyGuy said:

max5445 said:

Hi, have just had my claim rejected by insurance company, am now sending a letter to them challenging their rejection on the basis of the wording of their policy. 
So basically, they are refusing to compensate for the damage removal company caused, due to the furniture being flat packed! The furniture was not flat packed during transit/storage.  (Initially when I purchased the furniture a couple years ago it was flatpacked furniture).  Their policy word for word only states the following:  Excluded Items: flat pack furniture!
Grateful for help on how to challenge this wording in the policy.  many thanks

So is this your home insurance you are claiming against or are you claiming from the removal firm's insurance?

The importance in the terms is the absence of the "ed"... "flat pack furniture" remains as such irrespective if its in its built or disassembled state. A quick check on the Ombudsman website unfortunately only shows one case in relation to flat pack furniture but the ombudsman does use the term to describe some furniture in its assembled state. 

I am guessing you are claiming against some removal firm in which case any exclusion in their insurance doesnt necessarily exclude a claim against the company itself, that will depend on their own T&Cs and not that of their insurance (unless the terms stated liability was limited to what their insurance covers)

I had insurance through the removal company, there policy quotes:


Excluded items:

Flat Pack Furniture

To me the wording in this policy is literally for flat packed furniture, my furniture was not flat packed at the time of the move.  Therefore I need to put into words somehow that I don't agree with their wording within the policy due to the furniture being fully assembled and not flat packed at the time of the move.

user1977

max5445 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

max5445 said:

Hi, have just had my claim rejected by insurance company, am now sending a letter to them challenging their rejection on the basis of the wording of their policy. 
So basically, they are refusing to compensate for the damage removal company caused, due to the furniture being flat packed! The furniture was not flat packed during transit/storage.  (Initially when I purchased the furniture a couple years ago it was flatpacked furniture).  Their policy word for word only states the following:  Excluded Items: flat pack furniture!
Grateful for help on how to challenge this wording in the policy.  many thanks

So is this your home insurance you are claiming against or are you claiming from the removal firm's insurance?

The importance in the terms is the absence of the "ed"... "flat pack furniture" remains as such irrespective if its in its built or disassembled state. A quick check on the Ombudsman website unfortunately only shows one case in relation to flat pack furniture but the ombudsman does use the term to describe some furniture in its assembled state. 

I am guessing you are claiming against some removal firm in which case any exclusion in their insurance doesnt necessarily exclude a claim against the company itself, that will depend on their own T&Cs and not that of their insurance (unless the terms stated liability was limited to what their insurance covers)

I had insurance through the removal company, there policy quotes:


Excluded items:

Flat Pack Furniture

To me the wording in this policy is literally for flat packed furniture, my furniture was not flat packed at the time of the move.  Therefore I need to put into words somehow that I don't agree with their wording within the policy due to the furniture being fully assembled and not flat packed at the time of the move.

Those words seem fine to me. Might not work though.

DullGreyGuy

max5445 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

max5445 said:

Hi, have just had my claim rejected by insurance company, am now sending a letter to them challenging their rejection on the basis of the wording of their policy. 
So basically, they are refusing to compensate for the damage removal company caused, due to the furniture being flat packed! The furniture was not flat packed during transit/storage.  (Initially when I purchased the furniture a couple years ago it was flatpacked furniture).  Their policy word for word only states the following:  Excluded Items: flat pack furniture!
Grateful for help on how to challenge this wording in the policy.  many thanks

So is this your home insurance you are claiming against or are you claiming from the removal firm's insurance?

The importance in the terms is the absence of the "ed"... "flat pack furniture" remains as such irrespective if its in its built or disassembled state. A quick check on the Ombudsman website unfortunately only shows one case in relation to flat pack furniture but the ombudsman does use the term to describe some furniture in its assembled state. 

I am guessing you are claiming against some removal firm in which case any exclusion in their insurance doesnt necessarily exclude a claim against the company itself, that will depend on their own T&Cs and not that of their insurance (unless the terms stated liability was limited to what their insurance covers)

I had insurance through the removal company, there policy quotes:


Excluded items:

Flat Pack Furniture

To me the wording in this policy is literally for flat packed furniture, my furniture was not flat packed at the time of the move.  Therefore I need to put into words somehow that I don't agree with their wording within the policy due to the furniture being fully assembled and not flat packed at the time of the move.

You cannot say much other than you understand that "flat pack furniture" means furniture that has been disassembled for the purposes of transportation whereas your furniture was fully assembled at the time and therefore you feel is outside of their exclusion. 

This is clutching at straws thought as "flat pack furniture" is things that are sold flat packed for the customer to assemble and doesnt reflect their current state. If the exclusion was for "flat packed furniture" then that wouldn't apply as that would be for things that were in their packed in their flat state at the time of the incident. 

tightauldgit

DullGreyGuy said:

max5445 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

max5445 said:

Hi, have just had my claim rejected by insurance company, am now sending a letter to them challenging their rejection on the basis of the wording of their policy. 
So basically, they are refusing to compensate for the damage removal company caused, due to the furniture being flat packed! The furniture was not flat packed during transit/storage.  (Initially when I purchased the furniture a couple years ago it was flatpacked furniture).  Their policy word for word only states the following:  Excluded Items: flat pack furniture!
Grateful for help on how to challenge this wording in the policy.  many thanks

So is this your home insurance you are claiming against or are you claiming from the removal firm's insurance?

The importance in the terms is the absence of the "ed"... "flat pack furniture" remains as such irrespective if its in its built or disassembled state. A quick check on the Ombudsman website unfortunately only shows one case in relation to flat pack furniture but the ombudsman does use the term to describe some furniture in its assembled state. 

I am guessing you are claiming against some removal firm in which case any exclusion in their insurance doesnt necessarily exclude a claim against the company itself, that will depend on their own T&Cs and not that of their insurance (unless the terms stated liability was limited to what their insurance covers)

I had insurance through the removal company, there policy quotes:


Excluded items:

Flat Pack Furniture

To me the wording in this policy is literally for flat packed furniture, my furniture was not flat packed at the time of the move.  Therefore I need to put into words somehow that I don't agree with their wording within the policy due to the furniture being fully assembled and not flat packed at the time of the move.

You cannot say much other than you understand that "flat pack furniture" means furniture that has been disassembled for the purposes of transportation whereas your furniture was fully assembled at the time and therefore you feel is outside of their exclusion. 

This is clutching at straws thought as "flat pack furniture" is things that are sold flat packed for the customer to assemble and doesnt reflect their current state. If the exclusion was for "flat packed furniture" then that wouldn't apply as that would be for things that were in their packed in their flat state at the time of the incident. 

Surely at best (worst?) that term is ambiguous and should be interpreted in the consumer's favour?

I can't really think of many good reasons why the state of the furniture at some point in the past should be a reason to exclude it from coverage. I can see why they might want to exclude stuff that's still in a box and never been unpacked. 

Ksw3

I imagine that flat-pack furniture is less durable than other kinds of furniture. Most of the flat pack furniture I have has been damaged when moving as they were made of chipboard type stuff whereas the solid walnut dresser we have is going strong after 60 years. 

lincroft1710

To me the term "flat pack furniture" means furniture that was sold in flat packs. Assembled it is still "flat pack furniture". If the exclusion had said "flat packed furniture", that would imply the furniture has yet to be assembled and is still in the flat packs.


Whether the insurance company meant "packed" rather than "pack" when it drafted its Ts and Cs is open to question. They would probably argue "pack" is what was written and "pack" is what was meant.

user1977

I agree it shouldn't be carte blanche for the movers to be careless - at most it should just flag up that flatpack items are likely to be less solidly-built. Though I'm not sure even that is a particularly sound assumption.

Alderbank

@max5445, can you give us some context?

I think you contracted a removals firm to move house and an item of furniture was damaged in the move. You complained and they said something like 'Here's a form to claim from our insurer.' You submitted a claim perhaps with photographs and they refused the claim because the item is flat pack which they say they don't insure.

Is that correct?

If so and the removers did not carry out the task with the level of care and skill you would expect from a professional removals firm, I think your claim is directly against the removals firm. Whether they can offset any of the costs of the claim against their insurance is a matter for them.

Here is a summary of your legal rights if the above is true:
http://templelegalsolutions.co.uk/types-claim/removal-companies-liability-goods