Argos TV repair - Accidental Damage Cover Experiences

DullGreyGuy

PHK said:

There’s plenty of FOS decisions if anyone wants to look at how this is interpreted. 

Do you have any links to an unsupervised young child not being deemed accidental damage?

Malthusian

PHK said:

There’s plenty of FOS decisions if anyone wants to look at how this is interpreted. 

Can you quote the DRN reference of a case where the Financial Ombudsman decided an insurer was not liable to pay out for accidental damage caused by a very young child because leaving them alone with the device was considered "neglect" rather than "an accident"? (Neglect is the only term used in the Argos policy conditions that could possibly get them out of paying for an accident caused by a child.)

The only relevant source I managed to find on the FOS website was a case study in which someone claimed for accidental damage to a carpet after they tripped over a ladder and kicked a can of paint onto it. The insurer tried to claim they should have foreseen that the paint might spill. The customer pointed out that they'd taken steps to protect against the obvious risk by putting dust sheets down, but did not foresee that they might trip and kick the can across the room. The FOS upheld the complaint and ordered the insurer to pay up. 

Argos' policy conditions are what matter here, and if the one I linked above is the right one, the word "unforeseen" doesn't appear anywhere. They define accidental damage as "physical damage as a result of a sudden cause that means that the product is no longer in good working order". The only possible get-out is the word "neglect" in the list of exclusions; none of the others ("theft, attempted theft, deliberate damage or damage caused by animals, plants or trees") can apply. Unless you're going to argue that small children should be considered animals.

Leaving a very small child unsupervised it’s foreseeable that damage will occur. 

It's a possibility, not a certainty. 

You're also ignoring that the OP didn't consciously leave anyone to do anything, they were asleep. I'd love to see the insurer try to argue that going to sleep constituted neglect. 

born_again

black_hawk84 said:

I am a very busy parent as kids are mostly playing indoors. I bought a new TV few months ago and added accidental damage cover paind upfront.

Today I woke up and went downstairs and kids informed me TV is broken as they were playing soft ball games and accidently hit TV.

Please can you guide will this be covered under accidental damage and anyone have had a good/bad experience. 

Thanks

Strange question.
Why not simply put a claim in, given they are paying for the cover?

I could understand if they had & been rejected. 

Malthusian

born_again said:

Why not simply put a claim in, given they are paying for the cover?

Because if the forum had said "no chance" (which it hasn't) it would have saved them weeks of stress and waiting on hold. 

Whether a payout is likely or unlikely may also affect how much they spend on a new TV. 

And they may have received some useful guidance in how to word the claim. For example, if the OP said to the insurer "my kid smashed the TV with a baseball bat" it is likely to be rejected as deliberate damage is excluded (again I'm going off an Argos policy document I found via Google, which is not certain to be the correct one), but "my kid accidentally broke the TV while playing softball indoors" has a higher chance of success (I'm not saying it's 100%). 

Occasionally people on the Internet can be useful.

DullGreyGuy

Malthusian said:

Whether a payout is likely or unlikely may also affect how much they spend on a new TV. 

They shouldn't be spending on a TV at all, a problem learnt by another forum member in another thread on here today who pre-empted a claim by buying the replacement. 

In most cases these types of claims will be handed by the warranty provider supplying the replacement set or repairing the original set if economical. A cash settlement is normally made at the cost to the provider of replacing the set not the retail price for such if the customer demands it rather than accepting the replacement.