To think the insurance company shouldn’t be causing me this much stress after a fire?

@MandyMotherOfBrian

How many people lose out because of treatment like that though? People have other things in their lives to contend with at the same time too. It's awful.

You could always go straight to the top if you're not having any luck:

[email protected]
[email protected]

Excellent suggestion to employ a loss adjuster and add it to your claim because of the poor service.

This sounds very poor. My parents garage (separate to house thankfully) burnt to the ground last year. Insurers asked my parents to list everything in there. They had a lot of building tools, golf equipment, tumble dryer, electric bikes, kayaks etc. Nothing left, completely ashes. They had to list everything they could remember, a few of the expensive items they were asked for purchase evidence. They took their word for everything else. Had a loss adjuster around to look at the rebuild costs for the garage but my Dad was very impressed with how easy it all was. It did take several months but they definitely did not act like yours. I'd be putting in a complaint to their CEO

They are bastards, I had an electrical fire many years ago now and it was a nightmare. I don't know if it's possible or not, but I would investigate the possibility of appointing your own loss assessor to speak to the insurance company's one and negotiate your claim for you and make sure you get everything you're entitled to do. Their fees can be added to the claim hopefully as your insurance company are dragging their feet.

unless you've had the misfortune to go through this, I don't think people realise just how hard your insurance company make it.

I had an appalling time dealing with Aviva (policy sold by M and S) and their loss adjuster Sedgewick, to pay out for storm damage to a chimney and roof. It went on for absolutely months on end - so long that a bird built a nest and raised a family in the open chimney - which they then tried to claim meant they didn't have to pay out as it was classed as vermin and not covered. Seriously, they tried everything to avoid paying - I won't bore you with the details but I spoke to so many different people, over the course of months (thankfully I took notes of every single name and phone call, and followed them up with emails to outline what had been said to me). Basically, I knew I was right and they were wrong and I was not backing down, and if someone said they would call me back at a certain time/day, and didn't, I called them immediately. I think they were really pissed off I wasn't backing down and just giving in to what they were saying, so at some point Sedgewick got some guy higher up to deal with me, he was really aggressive and rude. I was always calm and polite, but I wasn't going away. I think my calm politeness really riled him and after a lot of toing and froing and reiterating of what happened, time lines, what was covered, weather reports, site reports from an expert etc he really lost it and called me a liar (my 'story' had never differed in any way from the very beginning because it was the truth, and I don't think he really thought for one minute I was lying or else it wouldn't have got as far as it did - I'd have been investigated for insurance fraud I assume).
I never bothered to find out, and never bothered to complain. But I can only imagine (and assumed at the time) that calling a claimant a liar is quite serious, because he suddenly went absolutely silent and when he did speak, his whole demeanour had changed. He was polite and conciliatory and though he didn't go back over all of the things they had said were right/wrong to explain why he was suddenly changing his mind, he simply told me the claim would be paid and the total amount that would be sent to my account....
Anyway, good luck OP, I hope it all gets resolved satisfactorily. And after what a PP said, I'm off to look at a Hiscox policy for when renewal comes round!

Aviva are awful. I had my car insurance with them and we had a dreadful time when the car was broken into and several windows needed replaced.

Their Perth office was flooded on Monday when a month's worth of rain fell in an hour and they are treating the staff really badly. No doubt they will use the fact that the office is closed as an excuse for delaying claims.

OP, i think tweeting them or doing a scathing Trustpilot review might be an idea.
Reach out to a local paper.
Your video will be most useful there.
People read stories like this and pay attention.

Cause noise.
Good to know that Aviva are so shite.
Will avoid them in future.

@Justthistime1234 I don’t think Sainsbury Bank is the underwriter. In fact they say they are not. They are just the sales vehicle and administrator. Always look at the small print. Although that doesn’t always help as the big names are not always helpful either! RSA are dreadful.

We had a house fire some years ago, initially they tried to say that we were underinsured but we'd been very careful to add everything up before we took it out and still had the list. Once I'd produced a spreadsheet they agreed pretty quickly.

I've no idea why you don't have a loss adjuster appointed (ours was obstructive to start with but eventually helpful) but I'm guessing because it was a garden fire they didn't expect it to have such a high value.
Also if it was the neighbours' fault they won't be paying anyway, maybe it is the neighbours' insurers who are being difficult with your insurers?
They may want to provide you with the goods as opposed to the money, they can probably get a discounted price for most of it. You just have to be careful that they don't provide products that are not really equivalent. You may also have to choose from quotes they obtain to replace the fences or whatever, we had to use a decorator suggested by them who wasn't great.

I work for Hiscox. We are bloody expensive for premiums but we don't fuck about with claims. Unfortunately with insurance, you only realise it's value once you need to use it.

If I qualified for their cover I would absolutely have it. Unfortunately I am too poor!

We had a loss adjuster appointed for our summerhouse - to check our property as a whole wasn’t under insured! She thought my kitchen tiles were limestone. They are ceramic. We were not under insured.
@FireAdvice You probably will have to negotiate. They won’t just pay up on your valuation. You will need to get their offer increased! I guarantee it!

Considering the cost of all items,I’m shocked a loss adjuster hasn’t been appointed. Are your bikes specified? Because if not you might not get much for them. Also, check what your outbuilding limit is as that is the max they will pay up to.

My parents’ house burnt down four years ago - they were fine, an electrical fault. It was interesting - they were with Hiscox for contents who were incredibly good. Interim payments, believed them, proper payout old for new. However they had Sainbury’s for the house and I’ve never seen anything like it. It was so bad their local MP wrote to the Chief Exec and threatened a question in Parliament. Two years and the offer was delayed, refused, derisory. They were left hanging, imaginary tiny valuations. I’m not sure what to suggest - try your MP if need be, write to the CEO and CFO, write on Insta etc. Make as much fuss as you possibly can and more, and keep going on and on and on. They’re simply trying to wear you down and then offer you nothing. And the guys coming and clearing - same. I think Sainsburys would have argued there were never any beds or furniture whatsoever in a five bed house because everything was conveniently left off the list. Such an eye-opener and you’re not alone. X

Sometimes the cheapest way to pay is with money! When you think about the time,energy and stress you've put in it might well be worth it...

Loss adjusters are specialists in insurance contracts, as in they know the extent of cover and effectively mediate the contract. Given your claim is so stuck, they would be useful not least because they would get it moving (and facilitate any subrogation with the neighbours insurers). The disaster recovery people are in no way a substitute for a loss adjuster.

I just knew this was going to be Aviva. I wouldn't think that.

Aviva is a darling of the stock market at the moment because Dame Amanda Blanc (Chief Executive and utter cunt) has overseen a massive turnaround in profitability. Much of it is from cost-cutting, which means they don't have the staff to respond in a timely fashion, and they hold on to your £40k for an extra month or two - which benefits them, not you.

I had a life insurance claim against them last year which should have paid out within days. Two months after I made the claim they were still asking for new information from me to process it, and cocking up virtually everything they did. They didn't even bother to respond to my formal complaint within the mandated timescales. In the end, I initiated court proceedings and they paid out within hours of that. Aviva have lost my custom forever.

I have had horrid experiences with insurers and even after formal complaints were made nothing improved and even the complaint was managed appallingly. All the Ombudsmen did when I contacted them was refer it back to the insurer. I did all I could to point out how things needed to change but it made not one jot of difference. The client is just not considered important. They are lazy, poorly trained and dangerously incompetent and I can only wish you well op.