Buildings insurance help needed! Leak under the floor.

[Insurancequery]

PIL have had a long running problem with pressure dropping on the combi boiler which, after 6 engineer visits, has been identified as due to a leaking pipe under the floor.
In order for the plumber to trace and repair the leak, the laminate flooring in three rooms has been lifted and ruined in the process. They tried to claim their insurance (under the attached clause) but the claim advisor said that since the damage to the floor wasn't caused directly by the leak, they are not covered.
I think their own policy wording says otherwise.
Can anyone advise as I am unsure how to help them further at this stage?

The insurer is taking the piss. Complain and escalate to a claims handler and get them to get their technical department to look at it, as well as emailing the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman will only intervene after internal procedures have been exhausted but it’s worth having them in the conversation.

Has been many years since I worked in insurance but if I remember correctly, we cover the cost of damage caused to walls/floors etc when tracing a leak that is related to the thing you're claiming for.

So, if you had a huge wet patch on downstairs ceiling and it had come through and also ruined the carpet, we would replace carpet and cover the cost of putting right any upstairs floors that we ripped up to find the leaking pipe.

I reckon the problem is that the claim is not for the boiler and so they won't pay to fix damage caused whilst looking for something not being claimed for (the boiler). The leak hasn't caused damage to the floor so why should they replace something that wasn't damaged will be their stance.

You can ask to speak to a manager. I always asked for advice when I was a bit iffy with the policy wording and what it actually meant. You may get more sense from them.

Because you're not actually claiming for escape of water. You're claiming for flooring

Thanks @upsidedownfrown. That's kind of what I feared.
So if the leak had caused floor damage, they would be covered but because it's the investigation that caused it, they're not. It's not very clear that is the case on the policy document. Not great on a policy aimed at older people!

Exactly. I'm not wording it very well cos I'm sleep deprived, but yeah. That paragraph relates to claiming for an escape of water. So if they had put a claim in saying they had a leak, the cost of finding the leak and making good afterwards would be covered. But there's no claim for escape of water and so unfortunately no claim to damage caused to trace.

My policy book was so well read when I worked there, I spent forever referring to it, but even after a couple of years I still needed clarification sometimes. Policy wording is so bloody complicated. They really should make it simpler