Problems with insurance company - Just wanted some opinions

drogon

drogon

drogon

Associate
Joined
10 Dec 2009
Posts
236
Location
Scotland, Edinburgh
Hi all,

I was looking to get some input for the wonderful people of OCUK :)

I had a leak in my upstairs bathroom in January which made its way to my living room and destroyed the ceiling downstairs. Luckily, I managed to catch it in time and stop the mains before the water could damage my tv etc. But it still managed to destroy the bathroom floor, living room floor and ceiling.

I had paid extra on my Tesco policy for emergency care. So, I could get someone out quickly to assess the problem. So, after I called Tesco, they appointed someone to do this. After 2 days waiting, and a day off work the plumber that came out could not find the source of the leak. So, he said I would need to employ a company that specialised in finding leaks. He had turned on the mains briefly and nothing came down, but I suspected it had a way to travel. So anyway, to cut a long story short he recommended we turn the mains back on and see how we go. I did, and he left after 10 minutes. The water started coming through the ceiling again and I had to turn off the water. So, I turned off the mains. I went up to the bathroom and checked the shower room and I could hear the leak behind the shower. The company refused to come back out. I called Tesco again and they recommended I get someone out and they would cover the cost. I was left 4 days without mains water.

I called a private plumber to trace and fix the problem. He also implemented a temporary fix. He had to remove several panels to cap the end of the pipe. So, we could get the mains back on. The leak was coming from a pipe behind the shower.

So, I called Tesco and the advisor recommended I did not use one of their providers as the lead time was terrible and suggested using mybuilder.com. With great difficulty I managed to get two quotes. The quotes came back around 11k > 14k and Tesco made a settlement offer of 4k. I went back to the contractors, and they said the work could not be done for that. They felt my quotes were inflated.

So, after 2 months of waiting. I said to Tesco, I will wait and get one of your guys to assess the job. 2 Contractors came out appointed by a company called Evolution (I think they might be strongly associated with Tesco insurance). After 2 weeks I had a company come out and the first thing the guy said to me was ignore the bad reviews. As they are mostly directed at the insurance company. Worrying but anyway I let him go ahead with working things out. This is the company they appointed, and the breakdown is from Tesco.



After 4 weeks and several prompts they came back with an offer of 6k (-500 pound excess). That was still short, and I asked for a breakdown of the costing. I wanted to know how they were able to do it so much cheaper than my quotes. I was also concerned since the guy that turned up to assess the work had mentioned that I would be covered for removal of my furniture (placed into storage) whilst the work took place. Well, when they sent me quote (I can upload this later). They reneged on that and said I would have to arrange for that, even though my policy is covered for that.

I spoke with Tesco again and said that I was not happy with the time this was all taking and that they were already changing things before the job had even started. I also mentioned that I was not happy about the bad reviews and feedback for the company. They said it comes with the territory and it was just customers unhappy with the insurance company and not the contractor. I said that most of the bad reviews were directed at the contractor and that they should look at them.

I said I felt I might need to involve the ombudsman as it was taking too long and that I was not getting extremely far with them. They made me what they call a final offer of £7.2k and that they could not give me that breakdown of costs as it was an industry secret (this is the case. I checked and they do not have to disclose that). But strangely the advisor said that it was normal for them to pay the contractor more than they would settle with me. I questioned this as it was ridiculous that they would pay their contractor more than they might pay my appointed one. Since they had complained about my quote being too much and inflated.

So, I went to the ombudsman, and they said to give them a final chance and to get it in writing so they could start a case looking into it. They also said that Tesco insurance are not allowed to pay their contractor more than what they settle with my own contractor.

So, is my best direction forward getting the ombudsman involved?

Many thanks guys.
 
You've been given the run-around by low-level flunkies who are hoping you'll give up and go away. It's time to write - as in a physical letter, sent recorded delivery - to someone very senior.
 
Quartz said:
You've been given the run-around by low-level flunkies who are hoping you'll give up and go away. It's time to write - as in a physical letter, sent recorded delivery - to someone very senior.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your reply. I thought as much. Do you have any recommendations of who I should write to? And do you think I should go to the insurance ombudsman first?
 
You have to exhaust their complaints procedure before going to the ombudsman (FOS). If they have not logged what you are saying as a complaint they are potentially causing themselves issues. They have a set amount of time to try and resolve a conplaint from the moment they are first told of it - when they are first told of it means when anyone there first learns of it, not when their complaints department do. There are regulatory requirements around handling complaints that are quite clear.

Ask them in writing for your complaint reference number, as well as who the complaint handler is, and in the request highlight when you first raised the complaint.

Also get them to confirm that what they have offered is final offer.

Given the final offer mentioned above sounds like it will not cover repairing the damage and putting you back in same position as before the loss, take all the information you have to the ombudsman to see what they can do. Make sure to include timelines as well as any additional costs you have incurred by them not fixing it as there may be remedies under the Insurance Act for them not fixing it in a timely fashion, thus causing further loss/damage.

I imagine there are some helpful websites around on this subject as well.
 
I had the same happen in my house to you @drogon last year, except it was from a damaged water reserve tank in my loft. Water went through my bedroom ceiling, creating a wide open hole of around 1-3rds of the plasterwork. You could see into the loft from the bedroom.

Insurance was with Santander, as in the high street bank.

The insurance claim was called "escape of water".

Santander said that it was my responsibility to have the damaged tank repaired myself. So called a plumber who fixed it the next day (and is still good now 1 year on), then I was able to turn the water mains back on. Everything after that was in Santander's hands, right down to the local level. They booked in S.A. Platt from Stoke-on-Trent and they did a pretty good job. I never saw any quotes as it was done directly between Santander and S.A. Platt, but I reckon it would have been around £4k like in the OP. I just had to pay the £350 excess, then job done.

So while £4k does seem like a reasonable offer from Tesco for the same problem that I had, the failing here is the inflated quotes of £11k and £14k. Was there an option for Tesco to liaise directly with the builders and they sort out the cash themselves?

Work needed doing:

- replace the sodden loft boards in the loft
- disconnect bedroom light, rip out rest of the ceiling plaster
- put up new ceiling, reconnect the light
- rip out entire bedroom laminate wooden floor (sodden)
- lay down new wooden floor (I was able to choose the laminate design)
- repaint existing bedroom walls + paint new ceiling (I picked the colour)
 
Thanks for your replies, guys. Yes, I feel the quotes I was getting for labour were irking on the high side. I am based in Edinburgh and for the moment it is so expensive to get work done. This is partly due to there being more work available than there are companies to do this work. Also, I feel companies might inflate their prices as it is insurance work.


I just want my home back to a point it was before the leak started. I was quoted £2.3k from a company just to remove the ceiling and replace, plaster, and fit a new cornice in the living room. Now I was happy to get the company provided by Evolution to do this work. But once I read the reviews and the extra delay and struggle with which to get a quote from them, I felt uncomfortable about more stress if they do a bad job.
 
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