Delay with Home Insurance claim

safetymanager

Any advice would be welcome here. I put in an insurance claim for a leak in my home in mid January of this year, through a private insurance assessor who we had used before. As of today the only progress made has been a visit from the Insurance Company Assessor (hired by them from some Insurance Assessor company) and a few phone calls between him and our assessor. Our guy says that the guy dealing with it is just slow and keeps fobbing me off with stories about people way worse off than me. He reckons the day will come when we will have to officially complain but it's early days for that yet, I mean it's May now, how long more should I wait?

Do I have any rights here? I'll be paying this private assessor 10% of the claim and I'm beginning to wonder what exactly I'm paying him for !!

foggy_lad

Write a letter of complainpt to the insurance company asking why it is taking so long and tell them you expect some movement or you will complain to the insurance regulatory body.

dudara

Moved to Banking & Insurance & Pensions

dudara

oldyouth

I think the fault lies with your own loss adjuster. After all, you're paying him to handle your affairs and he seems to letting the insurer's representitive away with unacceptable delays.

If your man knows his stuff, he would have put manners on the other chap long before now. The whole point of using a private loss adjuster is that he knows the route to a successful and prompt settlement

safetymanager

That's what I thought, he is getting a fair bit of money for doing very little as far as I can see. I'll have to get moving on this, it's realy frustrating living in a mess for so long. Thanks for the reply.

Otis Driftwood

The line you have been told ie that there are others worse off than you may not be that far from the truth.

I work in the industry and the amount of claims that came in on home insurance over the christmas period was frightening.Im talking on average between 400 and 500 new claims a day at the height and up until the end of January there still claims been registered that had happened in mid December.

The company I was with at the time prioritised them based on severity with things like a small burst pipe been bottom of the rung.

I can appreciate how frustrating it can be but what I would say is bide your time and maybe try and contact your insurer directly and cut out the middle men.

Also,whoever you get talking to on the phone,they likely cant do much for you at that point so try and not get annoyed with them,they are only doing their job!

filthymcnasty

OP i have had a very similar situation to yourself- I had a water leak in my home that caused several thousand euro worth of damage.
This was last November , I only received the payout last Friday :eek:.

for what its worth,my tale of woe-
An assesor came out from the insurance co. back in November and then.... nothing. (you seem two have two assessors?)
The assessor submits details/report back to the broker who provide it to the Insurance co.

(this is where you seem to be at, get onto that assesor to get finger out and hand in report!!)

If the insurance co. are happy they issue a cheque to the broker who then issues it to property management company (because I have an apartment property management co. is the name on policy). Then cheque issued to moi. Unbelievable.

(this is where i was delayed: the Ins. company issuing the fcuking cheque!!)

Constant emails/phone-calls/pulling hair out etc to harass them didn't do much- it allways seemed to be with another party no matter who I spoke too.
So there is a lengthy paper trail but you will what you are owed eventually.

Also bear in mind there is an insurance claimants code of conduct on Financial Ombudsman web-site insurers are supposed to adhere to, it was only when I started quoting this I felt I got some movement.

As stated above Xmas with the snow etc was a very busy period for these guys, will probably see premiums so up again methinks.
Good Luck

oldyouth

I agree that Insurance is like any other business in that there are busy periods that slow normal processes down. But January to now, nah, that can't be it. It's either laziness or they are investigating some aspect of the claim and keeping their cards close to their chest. I'd go with laziness.

safetymanager

Thanks for all the replies, I'll keep you updated here when there are any developtments. I do feel sorry for people worse off than myself ofcourse but I do think it's a very long time to be waiting and apparently the assessor is a slow mover which isn't helping matters. It seems that he is almost afraid to commit to a figure even though that's what he is being paid for by the insurance company. The second assessor mentioned is a guy I hired to liaise with the insurance company on my behalf, he is also taking his time I'd say, I'm fed up of the whole lot of them !!!

oldyouth

Tell your appointed adjuster that he is off the case and you'll take it from here. Mention that he has failed to fulfill his obligations and, as such, your agreement is null and void. Insurers are legally obliged to make any claim settlement out to the policyholder (you), so he can swing for his fee

If he is as slow at following that up as he is at settling your claim, you will never hear from him again. €10 from me to a charity of your choice that this will get him moving within 2 weeks

tippniall

I would not go directly to the broker. The Broker is not impartial and is an agent of the insurance company. The loss assessor is independent and works for you and you alone. He has no alliance with any insurance agency or their servants (the loss adjuster). For the best possible cash settlement get a loss assessor. There are many loopholes and traps that an unsuspecting person can fall into. A loss assessor speaks the same language as the insurance company, which is an advantage.

sallydan

safetymanager wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies, I'll keep you updated here when there are any developtments. I do feel sorry for people worse off than myself ofcourse but I do think it's a very long time to be waiting and apparently the assessor is a slow mover which isn't helping matters. It seems that he is almost afraid to commit to a figure even though that's what he is being paid for by the insurance company. The second assessor mentioned is a guy I hired to liaise with the insurance company on my behalf, he is also taking his time I'd say, I'm fed up of the whole lot of them !!!

I had a non contentious insurance claim that was settled about 6 weeks after the actual leak happened and I had hired a loss assessor. Timing does depend on the case itself but 6 months seems like a long time. I used www.proinsuranceclaims.ie who were very good.
Id take a look at your contract with your loss assessor and try and find someone else.

oldyouth

tippniall wrote: »

I would not go directly to the broker. The Broker is not impartial and is an agent of the insurance company./QUOTE]
Nonsense

safetymanager

tippniall wrote: »

I would not go directly to the broker. The Broker is not impartial and is an agent of the insurance company. The loss assessor is independent and works for you and you alone. He has no alliance with any insurance agency or their servants (the loss adjuster). For the best possible cash settlement get a loss assessor. There are many loopholes and traps that an unsuspecting person can fall into. A loss assessor speaks the same language as the insurance company, which is an advantage.

I have hired my own loss adjuster but I think he is just not doing his job. Obviously the better the settlement the more he gets so I do think hiring an adjuster privately is a good idea in principle but this guy just does not seem to be on the ball. I am constantly ringing him and while I understand that there are people a lot worse off than me I do think waiting since mid January is too long altogether. I intend to ring him this week and if there is no move I'll have to consider letting him go. Mind you I have to find out if I am tied to him having hired him in the first place and if it's going to cost me money to let him go. It's a minefield, I just wish it was all settled.

oldyouth

Private loss adjusters are a great idea. Basically, you need to pit an expert against an expert. However, you seem to have drawn a dud. I could be wrong, but I've been on the receiving end of these guys and I don't know how yours is fobbing you off. Get tough, and I don't mean to have a go at you over it

safetymanager

You are right, I do need to toughen up. I can't disagree with you on that. I'll post here on what happens next. Thanks.

oldyouth

Like I say, not having a go at you but the best private Loss Adjusters are like rottweilers and scare the **** out of claims staff in insurance companies

safetymanager

Unfortunately I don't seem to have gotten a rotweiller, my guy is behaving more like one of those tiny dogs the celebs go around with in their handbags !!!

tippniall

oldyouth wrote: »

tippniall wrote: »

I would not go directly to the broker. The Broker is not impartial and is an agent of the insurance company./QUOTE]
Nonsense

How is this nonsense? The broker is not impartial, he/she gets paid through the insurance company.

oldyouth

tippniall wrote: »

oldyouth wrote: »

How is this nonsense? The broker is not impartial, he/she gets paid through the insurance company.

Do your research. The broker acts on behalf of the client at all times