after holiday 2 appliances dead, can i claim on contents?

cypher007 · 17 August 2019 at 6:56PM

ok been away on holiday for nearly 4 weeks. came home turned on Miele W5740 washing machine and it came on started its program, with an empty drum to give it a clean, then the whole thing went dead. so waited turned on started then same thing dead no error no lights. so unplugged left for about 4 hrs then tried again. this time it may have done a full cycle as we went out and on return there was no water inside. so tried again with clothes the next day few minutes in dead again.

the missus then hand washed the clothes and tried to use the spin program, there was a knock and then apparently a whizzing sound and technical fault in the display. sounds like the belt has broken. ive phoned Miele as we have a 10 year warranty on it and they say they cant send an engineer until the 27th. this has !!!!ed me off big time, basically 12 days to have an engineers visit.

anyway thought that would be the end of the weirdness. we then tried to dry some clothes in our Siemens Heat Pump dryer, and yep same problem with it working for a while then cutting out. I put a watt meter on it and it seems the supply is constant so not an issue with a breaker not quite tripping. again I have to turn off the appliance for a while then try again but it will not run a full drying cycle.

now im pretty smart when it comes to electronic and electrical devices as ive been an electrical engineer and it tech. so to me it seems like while we were away there has been a lightening hit or spike that's raosted the appliances pcb's?

can I claim through my house contents? as one appliance I could put down to bad luck but 2?

Carrot007 · 17 August 2019 at 7:17PM

Do you have appropriate cover is the only question.

cypher007 · 17 August 2019 at 7:50PM

I have full contents cover with accidental damage.

DCFC79 · 17 August 2019 at 8:04PM

Why not ask the insurers ?

coffeehound · 17 August 2019 at 8:07PM

There have been thunderstorms recently -- perhaps worth asking neighbours if you had a nearby strike which could have zapped electronics. I guess if so, this would be covered under insurance.

cypher007 · 18 August 2019 at 4:35PM

asked a few neighbours and nothing similar, but one did have a trip go while he was away. he put it down to his old outside lights, though he then realised it wasn't that circuit the tripped.

cypher007 · 19 August 2019 at 10:58AM

insurance company are asking me to get an electricians report to say what happened. at my cost. is this right?

Quentin · 19 August 2019 at 11:14AM

Ask them to pay the costs you are put to as part of your claim if it's successful

Chickenlips · 19 August 2019 at 11:15AM

Yes, the requirement of an electrical report at your own cost is correct. Under a standard perils policy you need to evidence that the damage to the items resulted from on of the specified events in your policy.

Your policy doesn't cover "I think this happened" or unexplained damage. The FOS do often rule in favour of an insurer where there is a perils based policy and a decline to cover the claim by the insurer as the policyholder has not proven their loss.

It was poor advice to tell you to claim before you had something to show you had suffered an insured loss. Now that your insurer is aware of the possible claim, it will be om your file so I'd suggest getting the report and progressing matters.

I trust the replacements far exceed the policy excess?

cypher007 · 19 August 2019 at 12:00PM

one machine is about £900 the other about £800 so yeah defo as excess is £100.

cypher007 · 19 August 2019 at 9:40PM

So how do I go about this now?

Phoned a few electricians and they seem somewhat confused.

Anyone else had to do this sort of thing and know the best way forward?

after holiday 2 appliances dead, can i claim on contents?

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free