Help a friend: House fire caused by candle, insurance refuse to pay out?

rG-tom

rG-tom

rG-tom

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Hey,

A friend of mine had a house fire a week or so ago caused by a candle, he fell asleep with the candle ontop of a CD shelf which then caught fire. This has pretty much gutted his entire house.

His insurer have sent an investigator round and said that the candle wasn't made safe enough by my friend thus they are refusing to pay out completely. I cannot see how this can be legal, surely the point of home insurance is for accidents exactly like this?

Any thoughts? He is distraught at the moment as this will leave him tens of thousands of pounds out of pocket, which he does not have.

Thanks,

Tom.
 
rG-tom said:
I cannot see how this can be legal, surely the point of home insurance is for accidents exactly like this?
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give an insurance company a sniff of a reason to not pay out and they wont.

your friend will be very lucky to get a pay out on this imo.
 
Insurance Companies are a joke, if they spent less money on hiring out of work actors to front their expensive TV ads and actually paid some of that money out to people who took the time and responsibility to insure themselves they might get a better press.

They're quick to sign you up and take that direct debit but as soon as you put in a claim they'll go through every loophole they can to avoid paying out. It's as close to earning money for nothing as you can get.

Sorry we can't pay out it was 'an act of God' is the best one, when insurance companies can use a mythical supernatural being as excuses not to pay out you know they are a law unto themselves.
 
Leaving a candle on a CD shelf is not really classed as an 'accident'. They did not accidentally leave it on the shelf, they just did not bother to make sure it was burning in a safer place which is classed as negligence.

Sounds like they are screwed unfortunately.
 
Can you give more info as to what the candle was on? Was it directly on the shelf, or on a holder/plate or some other heat resistant surface?
 
Teledude said:
Ask them for a list of safe places to have a candle burning? I doubt they have one....
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I'm sure that on shelves or ontop of a TV wouldn't be on it if they did.

Was it a tea light style one?

It's quite well known, at least I think, that tea lights need to be placed on/in a container of some sort.

Hope your friend gets a pay out but I don't think it's likely.
 
I assume he has a mortgage, just let the mortgage company know he can't afford the repairs and he'll have to hand the keys back unless they sort it out between them.

I think the weight of a mortgage company against a insurance company might win.
 
insurance companies are scum

My mate got burgled and they refused to pay out due to his downstairs windows not
having locks on them ..... they didnt open the windows anyway they smashed one and opened to the door :(
 
One of the reasons I go nuts when Her Indoors starts some kinda wax fueled festival of light in our house. It's just not worth it.
 
Haggisman said:
Does he have accidental damage cover? If so, wouldn't it technically come under this?
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As has been said, it is not technically an accident. The cable was deliberately placed in an "unsafe" location.

This is the problem with insurance, if he had said that he had knocked over the cable, rather than it just burning through heat, he probably would have got paid. too late for that though.
 
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