Is £600 compensation reasonable for delayed flood insurance repairs?

[Coinsfortheeyes]

My house flooded in October and we claimed on our insurance. Initially the insurance seemed very responsive, and the flooded area was stripped out in January, there has been no progress since. Long and short of it is I’ve been constantly chasing for updates from the loss assessor, escalating to his manager etc, with very little communication.

Eventually I put in a complaint with our insurer after being very open with loss assessor about the general stress and inconvenience we were experiencing. We’ve had a feedback on our complaint today and it has been upheld. We have been offered £600 in compensation.

Does this seem reasonable? For context, we have 2 small children, we have been provided alternative accommodation since March (included in our policy), but following the strip out works in January there has been absolutely no progress towards reinstatement. Our current short-term let ends at the end of the month and they can’t extend due to summer bookings. This should have all been done and dusted by now. All suitable alternative accommodation options (near nurseries etc) are now unavailable, and to be honest I’m really stressed about moving the children somewhere else because it’s actually quite confusing for them!

Should we accept the compensation offer or go to the ombudsman?

Hi. I’ve dealt with oversight of complaint handling for a number of years, albeit in pensions and savings rather then general insurance. I’d recommend you list out the timeline of events against the trouble and upset caused to you (list everything and explain how it has affected you not forgetting any consequential loss such as extra petrol each day to get to and from normal place of work/nursery etc).

Based on what you said and assuming none of the delays were due to you (maybe not replying etc) my view, is that it does seem low.

You may be better to ask them to hold over your complaint until the works have been concluded and have them instead focus on finding you somewhere else to live.

I should point out that it doesn’t matter if contractors have let them down; the onus is on them to resolve and keep you updated.

The FOS have a list of decisions - there is one for Mr & Mr S with LBGI and they got £600 in 2020 for delays that seem less severe than yours.

Good luck!

What do you actually think you deserve compensation for?? Why does £600 not seem enough?

Thank you for your advice.

Every step that has progressed any assessment, work or general progress on the house has taken many hours of chasing, via e-mail and telephone. This might not sound like much but I work full time and have 2 small children so it’s not as straightforward as it sounds.

We’ve struggled to make any plans for permanency, such as where we might be living in a couple of weeks time, due to their poor response and lack of understanding regarding the impact on our family.

We’ve also had to move an additional 10 miles away from nursery etc which adds to costs, plus going back to ‘check’ house at the weekends etc so it’s not totally abandoned whilst nothing happens.

There is just no plan and that’s incredibly stressful to live with.