House contents insurance question about claiming?

GSDog · 24 Oct 2008 at 19:16

My laptop died last week when I spilt a pint of water over it. I contacted my house insurance and they agreed to replace the laptop. I was expected them to just give me the cash for what the laptop is worth, but instead they said they were going to give me a voucher for £650 for a well-known highstreet store (purple shirts). I tried to persaude them to give me more choice or ideally cash instead, but they said I had to take the voucher.

I've been onto the website of the store to see which laptops I can get for £650 and they seem to be out of stock of most of their laptops! I only have a choice of about 3 laptops for £650 (none of which I really want) and I think all of them are out of stock in every store within a 30 mile radius...

Has anyone here claimed from their insurance for a laptop or similar item and if so, were you given a voucher or cash?

teulk · 24 Oct 2008 at 19:35

You will need to read the T&C of your insurance - I guess by giving you vouchers you are more likely to replace what you have broken. Lets face it there are a lot of dishonest people out there who would do it just for the money. We took out insurance for our washing machine from the store we got it from(not quite the same i know) and we got vouchers when it became unrepairable. I understand your frustration but i would have thought the vouchers would be for a shop of your choosing perhaps...........is it not wrong for them to tie you to a particular shop for a replacement ?

meghatronic · 24 Oct 2008 at 19:40

You could try and negotiate for more vouchers, but not cash.

GSDog · 24 Oct 2008 at 19:43

Yeah I don't mind being given vouchers and I can understand why they wouldn't just give out cash. But I don't like being limited to one store which has such little choice and seems to be out of stock of most laptops.

meghatronic · 24 Oct 2008 at 19:48

Zildjian said:
Yeah I don't mind being given vouchers and I can understand why they wouldn't just give out cash. But I don't like being limited to one store which has such little choice and seems to be out of stock of most laptops.

Well, ring them and tell them you understand vouchers, but you don't like being limited to the one store. And suggest an alternative.

Thing is, £650 in vouchers do NOT cost the insurer £650 - they have deals with companies.

GSDog · 24 Oct 2008 at 19:53

meghatronic said:
Well, ring them and tell them you understand vouchers, but you don't like being limited to the one store. And suggest an alternative.

Thing is, £650 in vouchers do NOT cost the insurer £650 - they have deals with companies.

I did tell them that when I phoned to claim but they wouldn't allow any other method or voucher for any other stores... :mad:

I will phone them again tomorrow.

I also had to pay £100 excess which has frustrated me even more.

digisatman · 24 Oct 2008 at 19:55

you should have been aware of any excess when you took out the policy.

SB118 · 24 Oct 2008 at 20:12

Zildjian said:
I did tell them that when I phoned to claim but they wouldn't allow any other method or voucher for any other stores...
I will phone them again tomorrow.

I also had to pay £100 excess which has frustrated me even more.

When we had an insurance payout on a couple of laptops a few years ago they just deducted the excess from the amount of the vouchers they sent us. Still stuck us buying from the purple shift group though