burgulary vs. insurance in London
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- flashbender
So my flat was burgled about a month ago and I am still going around in circles with the insurance agency about the content insurance.
Basically I had an addendum to the policy to cover the laptop at a value of £1000. THe replacements offered by the insurance company have been £400 and £500... Clearly this is not acceptable.
Does anyone know of a service run by the city or a council (min is Hammersmith Fulham) that I could contact to see what my options are to get fair value from these people?
Thanks.
P.s. I know this is not design related - too fucking bad.
- lukus_W0
Maybe try Citizens Advice Bureau - they're usually very busy though.
Was the laptop actually worth £1000? I think insurance companies are only obliged to replace like-for-like.
Ultimately, if you have problems with any financial services company you complain to them in writing - they respond; if the response isn't satisfactory, you tell them you're contacting the Financial Ombudsman Service (http://www.financial-ombudsman... and copy both parties in on the communication. If the Financial Ombudsman Service thinks you've got a case, they take it from there and guide you.
- flashbender0
Thanks for the info, that just the type of thing I was looking for.
The laptop was bought 4 years ago for like 1200 euro - so when the policy for content insurance was taken out the guy recommended it have it's own coverage - added on to the whole flat content insurance - of £1000. So I'm paying a premium based on a value of £1000, so it just seems fair that amount would be the replacement amount. The policy was opened about 11 months ago.
thanks for the names of places to check, that helps a lot
- flashbender0
I've been dealing with the insurance adjuster, but based on what you said, it seems I should give the insurance company a call and have them explain why that £1000 policy was suggested in the first place and see where that goes.
Thanks again for the info.
- calculator0
should be a like for like replacement regardless of age. had a similer thing myself.
- Milan0
insurance = burglary
- Milan0
so, how did they break in?
- moth0
£400 would be a like-for-like replacement after 4 years.
- moth0
?
- mikotondria30
look at it like this...
If, the day you got your policy, the thing got stolen, you would have had 1000 pounds paid out.
Now, 4 years on, you have dutifully paid for 1000 pounds worth of cover, but only 'have' 400.
So they owe you the difference between the coverage you've paid for and that on which you have claimed... Your payments now are 1000/400 too much, and assuming a linear rate of decay of your item, you can reasonably demonstrate that you are owed a fair chunk of change by way of rebate on your policy payments which, it turns out, were overpriced more and more each time.None of this will make a blind bit of difference, and they'll only pay you what they decide they should, because they're a huge corporation with the law on their side, and you're just a little person who has to pay them.