TRINITY CLAIMS COMPANY HOLDING US HOSTAGE

DaveCornwall66

HELP We are being cheated by our insurance company and its perfectly legal

We are a couple aged 75 and 72 living in a Grade 2 listed house in Cornwall.

We expected our insurance company to treat us fairly and honestly when we made a claim. What we discovered was that they were bullies and determined to grind us down.

In January 2026 storm Goretti damaged our roof, the following storms, Ingrid and Chandra did more damage. Our Chimney moved and two rows of bricks in the loft area fell inside the chimney. The chimney twisted and a crack appeared on a bedroom wall.

On inspection there was a risk the whole chimney would collapse into the house.

THE BELOW COST OFFER

On 8th April a Trinity Claims inspector visited.

On 9th April Trinity Claims made us an offer, either

1 Appoint them to do the repair

2 take the offer and arrange for your own choice of builder to do the work.

The offer was for £9868.44 less £200 excess.

The only quote we had from a reputable builder capable of doing the job was for £23,100. Plus, we owed the scaffolding company £2400.

We were made an insulting offer which would mean we would lose a minimum of

£15, 831 by using a local skilled tradesman.

WE WERE FINANCIALLY BULLIED INTO USING TRINITYS BUILDER

6 months after the incident and no progress.

No schedule of works to be done, no timescale for a start date

On 15th July we were asked to clear the spare room of everything including carpets and put all the contents into storage so work could commence on 6th August.

Since that date nothing has happened.

On 11th August Trinity Claims made us an offer.

1 Appoint them to do the repair

2 take an undisclosed offer to arrange our own choice of builder to do the work.

THEY HAVE NEVER SUPPLIED A DATE TO START THE REPAIR WORK.

THEY HAVE NEVER SUPPLIED A WORK SCHEDULE, SHOWING THE REPAIR WORK TO BE DONE.

NOW THEY ARE TRYING TO BULLY US INTO ACCEPTING AN UNDISCLOSED AND PROBABLY IMPOSSIBLY LOW OFFER JUST TO GO AWAY

We are back at the beginning, Trinity Claims have dragged this process on in order to grind us down and make us so desperate, that we will have to accept any offer just to get the job done.

Today is 21st August and no progress has been made.

IS ANYONE ELSE HAVING THIS TYPE OF EXPERIENCE WITH TRINITY CLAIMS?

THEY DON'T CARE

Isthisforreal99

Have you formally complained?

Have you escalated to FOS?

ps stop with bold and capitals, no need and makes it harder to read.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6680506/trinity-claims-company-holding-us-hostage

Guess your home insurance is with Policy Expert?

You need to read the terms of your policy, ideally you do this before you buy it but we are where we are and better late than never. It is highly likely there will be a section called something like "how we settle claims" and it most likely states that they will appoint someone to do the repairs for you however if you would rather a cash settlement then the settlement would be based on how much it would cost them to have the repairs done rather than what its going to cost you.

Building works tends to be a bit different but for other claims when replacing kitchens etc you can probably guess at the scale of discount a company can get when its buying thousands of kitchens every year. Many years ago the ombudsman didnt used to like this kind of term but these days they do accept it as long as the supplier can provide a suitable replacement. It may be worth some time on the Ombudsman website looking at previous cases on if the ombudsman considers the timeliness that the preferred supplier can do things in as a potential reason why a cash settlement shouldnt be based on the suppliers price.

Follow the complaints process in your policy book, its likely that the complaint should go to the insurer rather than trinity but check. If you arent happy with the response to the complaint you can go to the ombudsman

DaveCornwall66

thanks for your contribution.

I have complained through their official route. My complaint was upheld on 1st June. they have not moved tis project forward. Instead they have gone back to the beginning in the hope they can bully us into accepting a very low settlement amount.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82110476#Comment_82110476

So what was the agreed resolution when the complaint was upheld?

DaveCornwall66

No promise of better performance or anything positive, just recognition that they could have performed better.

Their customer promise statement when you claim is a long way from how they perform.

They just don't have the skilled sub contractors and have no idea where they can find them. And they won't pay for skilled local people to do the work.

MyRealNameToo

Then sounds like that you need to go back to the complaint and be clearer on what resolution you require… which isnt just an acknowledgement that they are slow.

Its not a company I have ever dealt with but I have dealt with a few of their peers… its unlikely that they dont have anyone but it can be difficult to find people that tick all of the boxes including being willing to work at the stated rate and being available to start work in a reasonable timeframe. If you do a reasonable job and are cheap, you are rarely ever short of work!