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

[FireAdvice]

So had a massive garden fire in May. Thankfully the house was undamaged but we lost the garden office and sheds and all contents. I still have received no payment for the contents. The insurance have accepted the claim and say I’m fully covered, like for like, old for new, etc.

They sent a disaster firm out to clear the site. Apparently careful lists of stuff which was damaged beyond repair was taken before they removed it. Plus a list of stuff removed to see if it can be restored. The latter list was mainly electrical stuff like laptop, smart monitor.

and then things have gone very quiet. I have chased , emails go ignored. I’ve uploaded photos to the portal, etc. provided links of how much stuff will cost to replace.

so at the weekend I left a shitty review on TrustPilot that got things moving. Phone call today. Which to be honest stressed me out more. He wants me to provide receipts for my bikes. Well I can for one but not for the other. He tells me to go back to the shop and ask them to go through their records and find paperwork. Or me look through bank statements. It was years since I bought it, I can’t remember how many years. I have photos of the bike (with me sat on it) with the brand very obvious, they only make one model of bike (it’s expensive). I have a quote for a new bike. If I have old for new why do they need a receipt from when I bought it ten years ago? They could see the remains of the frame (with the make on it) in the ashes.

Then there is the multitude of stuff which you could see remnants of in the ashes, lawnmower, hedge trimmer, bbq, eglu chicken coop. Rather oddly the disaster company haven’t listed these…..well they removed them. So as far as the insurance company are concerned they didn’t exist! Thankfully I took a video of me raking through the ashes before the site was cleared so I should be able to prove the majority of it.

I’ve still no idea of whether my electrical stuff is retrievable. Been without a laptop for months now!

Haven’t been able to cut my grass for months! Haven’t been able to go on a bike ride in months and I used to be out 3 x a week. I cried on the phone to the insurance today. I’ve paid a lot of money and never claimed in 25 years of having insurance and never thought it would be this bad sorting it.

is this normal for insurance claims? The dawdling and the difficulty in proving stuff?

I haven’t even got onto the topic of stuff of which there was no sign of in the fire such as my surfboard or gortex jackets.

Just one email needed

I might also send a letter before action to the neighbours for your uninsured losses - stress etc if you have legal expenses cover

There is some legal firm on the case for that. They were put in touch with me via my insurers and will try and get any uninsured losses, so my excess.

i have a report from the fire brigade saying the fire started at my neighbours property and spread to mine. So hopefully should be straight forward.

Wtf! £40k.. no loss adjuster and no payment yet. Wow, just wow they are asking to be shafted. The onus is indeed on you to prove your loss on law. But there will be a lot of things you can't prove like the signed Buddy Holly book, the Stanley Matthews match worn shirt etc. (I exaggerate).but there is a huge scope for you to inflate the claim and to take advantage
You really need to write everything down you are not happy with and if you don't hear anything by Friday get back onto them asking for details of the complaints process.

I think you're too nice in accepting that they will deal with things. Set expectations by asking for firm dates re payment and rebuilding etc

Can I ask which insurance company?

OP, a loss adjuster more than pays for themselves when you have a good one.

My friends house was destroyed with smoke damage from electrics and she had a cheque within a couple of months.

So many things she never thought of that the loss adjuster added.

Money so well spent.

Make a detailed complaint and write you will be going to the Ombudsman about their treatment of your case.
Make noise.
Find your fury.

Some insurance companies are under handed.

Who are you with?

Aviva. So you’d think a good one 🤷🏻‍♀️

I remember your original thread and the damage, it was terrible! Sorry you're still struggling to put it all right when it was entirely the fault of your neighbour.

And this is where you are going to run into problems. You're thinking "new laptop" he's thinking "same spec". So if it's based on 5 year old specification, it's not going to be like a new one today. It will be smaller hd, slower chip etc. If they can't find the exact same spec, it will be absolutely current bog standard.

@FireAdvice Unfortunately insurers do have partner firms that don’t always sell what you have lost! A big issue and we’ve had to fight that twice.

The police are not interested in fires if everything is insured. They don’t care about arson. I know that from direct experience so you won’t see them again. You are insured.

Your excess is what you expect to lose. That’s standard. I’d not lose sleep over that.

Loss adjusters are appointed by insurers. You can haggle with their findings. So you don’t have one appointed by the insurance company? That’s odd. You can appoint your own to haggle for you but mostly people don’t. We’ve managed to haggle when our very old semi derelict summer house was the subject of arson. We didn’t rebuild - I got a new kitchen. The best advice is list what you had. Purchase price if special kit and details of spec. Then do your homework and come to a reasonable figure. We could not get pp to rebuild the summerhouse but I like my kitchen!

No that’s fine. And that’s what I’m expecting. So I have sent a link to a laptop with the exact same memory, i5, same graphics card, etc. but obviously a new one. I’m happy with that.

And I get the impression that Aviva used the Disaster Recovery company instead of a loss adjuster. I mentioned about them sending a loss adjuster and they said there was no need as the Disaster company would itemise everything and take photos.

Honestly it was like they sent Dumb and Dumber round. Good enough at clearing what looked like bomb site but I don't think anyone had an IQ higher than 80. And now we have an itemised list from them which appears to be missing 70% of what they took!

Thank God I made a video if me rootling through the ashes kicking at stuff and explaining what it was before they cleared the site.

@FireAdvice Your list should itemize everything you lost. Loss adjusters are not the same as raking over a fire people to salvage things. The loss adjusters look at your losses and what the company thinks should be paid out.

Thank you. I have made such a list and I uploaded that list to the portal about 2 months ago. I have resent it twice to various different people from the insurance company, most recently yesterday,

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.

My neighbour (not the fire starter, another one) had a loss adjuster come to his garden to look at the damage before a clear up. I kind of think having one now would be pointless as there's nothing for them to look at.

I am not wanting to "negotiate" with Aviva. I have a list of stuff, my policy says new for old. And I expect either a replacement item of the same spec to be provided or money given to me so I can buy such an item.

Am I being naïve that this will happen?

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.

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.

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...

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

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.

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!

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 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.

@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.