Buildings & contents insurance - who would you recommend / avoid?

[aufaniae]

We need both for our new house.

I'd be really pleased to hear any recommendations and companies to avoid.

TIA :)

We used to be with privilege and had to claim on the contents part after a burglary. They were brilliant and really helpful.

We're now with Axa and have had to claim for a water leak and they are a nightmare. The surveyor they've used was rude and patronising as well as refusing to listen to me when I told him we had floor boards not a concrete floor.

Look for reviews from people who've made a claim, beause that's when you need a good insurer.

We had a severe water leak, lived in hotel for 3 months. It cost over £1000 a week to be there. I'd recommend checking the limits on the cheaper policies. Ours is M&S who I would recommend, although they were underwritten by ariva who were appalling at the time of our claim, now by Axa I think.
Ours is not cheap. But it is unlimited.

Aviva were awful for a burglary claim claim items that had up to date professional valuations had no value!

Thanks this is very useful :)

Has anyone use Sainsbury's? (Not sure who underwrites them).

NFU Mutual.

Adore them. They are unfailingly courteous, helpful - and above all they communicate.

And they are good at dealing with stuff outside the normal - for example, we have xxx pounds of contents, but certain items are then named on the policy and not counted in this value although this naturally costs more!. And they will send someone out to talk to you, not just deal on the telephone.

Nationwide good

Or Legal & General?

Another vote for NFU Mutual. You phone a branch, and a real person answers!

Avoid Churchill. They royally fucked us over when we bought this house, saying we could take on the vendor's policy and then refusing to honour the agreement once we'd exchanged. Their service and communication were appalling, so rude and unhelpful.

How on earth did you afford that secondcoming!!!

I used to be with John Lewis (underwritten by AXA). They were very good when we had to claim for a cellar flooded with sewage. However, I'm no longer insured with them because the renewal after the claim was ridiculous.

Poor you!!

Barclays are shit. Don't use them.

We are with Co-op. no claims but IMO easiest website for a quote and I spoke to real people easily when I needed to clarify some points. Very competitive for us as we have an unusual house.

Why are they Ihatemytoes?

Thanks everyone this is so useful, I really appreciate it.

Am going to be buying it early afternoon I hope (time allowing!)

Hiscox. Fabulous & helpful. They will also cover non-standard houses (ours is timber-framed with a cellar, so most insurers won't touch us)

Try a broker - London and Country are very good - have used them lots of times.

Yet another vote for NFU. They can actually make decisions about things and deal with anything out of the ordinary.

I think they were recommended to me inherently when our previous insurer cancelled the policy without notice as we'd failed to install a burglar alarm within the 2 weeks they'd given us (we live in a listed building so have to have approval first which takes 8 weeks and this had been repeatedly explained.)

RedHelenB we were burgled a couple of years ago. Barclays made it so difficult to claim on the insurance. We were sent various "giftcards" to use in high street stores to replace the items that were stolen. Problem was, some of the stores didn't accept the cards. It was such a hassle, we ended up just giving up and buying replacements out of our own pocket. On top of that they were awful at answering the phone, and when they sent us a renewal price, it was much higher than the price quoted on comparison sites! Avoid.

We've had brilliant service from Barclays.
Had to make a claim that was both buildings and contents but they couldn't have made it simpler for us.
And our premiums haven't gone up horrendously since (despite our claim being several thousands).
They've got my loyalty (although always compare at renewal time, obv)

Glad they worked out for you what