Entire contents of house lost through fire in storage unit

leafymeadow

Looking for advice

After the purchase of the house we were moving to in Suffolk fell through, we decided to continue with the sale of our house and put the majority of our belongings in storage whilst we lived at a friend’s house in the area.

We chose a reputable Suffolk company to move our items into storage and then transfer to our new home when the time came.

A couple of days ago there was a fire at their warehouse and all our belongings are gone, needless to say it’s devastating.

It’s not all about the money as so many things are irreplaceable and we fortunately did tick the box and pay  for their  ‘extended Insurance option’  but this will no way cover everything. In my mind this was for items damaged in transit or in storage (not for every item) However, we have to accept this and are more fortunate than others.

This is the only money we will receive and  the company seems not to have to take any responsibility for our items or owe us compensation.

My questions are…

If they are found to be negligent with regards to the fire starting will this give us a way to claim for compensation?

They agreed to remove items from our house, put them into storage and deliver them once we had found a house. They have not fulfilled their contract. They have said they do not reimburse these costs. Is that correct?

Any help advice would be appreciated.

Ayr_Rage

The devil will be in the detail of the contract you have signed with the company and the additional insurance purchased though them.

That's where you need to look, not whatever you might think is covered.

Did you have separate home insurance and were they advised that your belongings were going into storage?

leafymeadow

No we didn't inform our current contents insurers.
We have read through all terms and conditions but it's a minefield and my assumption is they would have covered themselves for every eventuality.
Thank you for your reply

itsthelittlethings

Have they told you their insurance does not cover your possessions?

DullGreyGuy

leafymeadow said:

Looking for advice

After the purchase of the house we were moving to in Suffolk fell through, we decided to continue with the sale of our house and put the majority of our belongings in storage whilst we lived at a friend’s house in the area.

We chose a reputable Suffolk company to move our items into storage and then transfer to our new home when the time came.

A couple of days ago there was a fire at their warehouse and all our belongings are gone, needless to say it’s devastating.

It’s not all about the money as so many things are irreplaceable and we fortunately did tick the box and pay  for their  ‘extended Insurance option’  but this will no way cover everything. In my mind this was for items damaged in transit or in storage (not for every item) However, we have to accept this and are more fortunate than others.

This is the only money we will receive and  the company seems not to have to take any responsibility for our items or owe us compensation.

My questions are…

If they are found to be negligent with regards to the fire starting will this give us a way to claim for compensation?

They agreed to remove items from our house, put them into storage and deliver them once we had found a house. They have not fulfilled their contract. They have said they do not reimburse these costs. Is that correct?

Any help advice would be appreciated

Assuming it can be proven they were negligent then you would be entitled to be indemnified by them; ie be paid the market value of the goods in storage. If any thing is recovered from the insurance however you cannot then also recover from them, in fact the insurer would likely recover their outlay from them and so all you are looking at is any shortfall from the recovery from the insurance and the actual indemnity value. 

Unfortunately thats it, you won't be entitled to extra because a photo album has been destroyed and you'll never get the photos back etc

dunstonh

A couple of days ago there was a fire at their warehouse and all our belongings are gone, needless to say it’s devastating.

We could smell the smoke even though it was over 10 miles away.

Alan Cook has been around for donkeys years and is reputable. The fact that Britannia continued to use Alan Cook's name in addition to theirs confirms that.  Britannia usually drop the names of the firms they buy.

However, it will all depend on the level of insurance you purchased.

Home insurance often covers your possessions whilst moving home, but that is based on A to B being a joined-up move.     Some home insurers offer coverage for items in storage but its normally very limited and restricted.  Maybe only £2k to £5k.     However, it may not apply in your case if you have sold your home and didn't have the contents insurance changed to your temporary accommodation (if you had moved out already)

Almost certainly you are going to mostly reliant on the storage insurance.

leafymeadow

Have they told you their insurance does not cover your possessions?

They said if we hadn't taken out their 'extended insurance' option we would not have received anything.

dunstonh

They said if we hadn't taken out their 'extended insurance' option we would not have received anything.

The fire is being investigated for arson.  Along with another fire the same weekend at Cucumber Lane.

So, if there isn't insurance, then its likely that Alan Cook won't be responsible. 

DullGreyGuy

dunstonh said:

They said if we hadn't taken out their 'extended insurance' option we would not have received anything.

The fire is being investigated for arson.  Along with another fire the same weekend at Cucumber Lane.

Unless they had claimed to have some form of fire detection/prevention etc and those were out of service or such and then there is some possibility. 

leafymeadow

Ayr_Rage said:

The devil will be in the detail of the contract you have signed with the company and the additional insurance purchased though them.

That's where you need to look, not whatever you might think is covered.

Did you have separate home insurance and were they advised that your belongings were going into storage?

Thank you. We ended our home insurance the day we sold the house.

leafymeadow

DullGreyGuy said:

dunstonh said:

They said if we hadn't taken out their 'extended insurance' option we would not have received anything.

The fire is being investigated for arson.  Along with another fire the same weekend at Cucumber Lane.

Unless they had claimed to have some form of fire detection/prevention etc and those were out of service or such and then there is some possibility. 

DullGreyGuy said:

dunstonh said:

They said if we hadn't taken out their 'extended insurance' option we would not have received anything.

The fire is being investigated for arson.  Along with another fire the same weekend at Cucumber Lane.

Unless they had claimed to have some form of fire detection/prevention etc and those were out of service or such and then there is some possibility. 

dunstonh said:

They said if we hadn't taken out their 'extended insurance' option we would not have received anything.

The fire is being investigated for arson.  Along with another fire the same weekend at Cucumber Lane.

So, if there isn't insurance, then its likely that Alan Cook won't be responsible. 

dunstonh said:

They said if we hadn't taken out their 'extended insurance' option we would not have received anything.

The fire is being investigated for arson.  Along with another fire the same weekend at Cucumber Lane.

So, if there isn't insurance, then its likely that Alan Cook won't be responsible. 

Thank you both for your comments - the exterior metal self storage containers make a point of saying they are fire proof. Our five crates were in a general storage warehouse in wooden crates, however they do promote 24 hour security.