Dispute over buildings insurance.
- From: "Dave (from the UK)" <see-my-signature@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2006 18:48:59 +0100
We have paid what was Woolwich Insurance (now taken over by Barclays) for buildings and contents insurance for about 15 years. A few years ago we made a claim as there was subsidence. We are rather getting fed up with the progress on this. There are numerous things that annoy us, but in particular.
1) We were thinking of having new PVC windows installed, but were unsure whether this should have been done before or after some repairs were made to the outside render. We asked the loss adjuster, who told us to get them done first. So we spent £12,500 on Windows. When the exterior of the house was rendered and painted with exterior masonry paint, the windows received specs of paint. We repeatedly asked for them to be cleaned and was told the paint could be removed with hot water. We found this rather implausible for a paint that is supposed to be waterproof, but who were we to argue. The company have now tried to remove the paint, but succeeded in scratching the windows, but the paint has still not been removed. The damage to the windows is not extensive, but annoying after you have just spent £12,500 having them installed on the advice of the loss adjuster.
I've contacted the company that installed the windows. They advised up the paint can't be removed without scratching the windows. I've contacted Dulux (whose paint was used), to get a response from them, but I doubt they will be able to suggest a method either.
2) A matching bathroom suite has one item damaged, but is no longer available, so we will end up with a non-matching set. I understand this is excluded from the insurance policy.
3) We were advised in 2003 that the loss adjuster estimated repairs to take 12-18 months. It is now 33 months, but still no sign of completion.
4) Some aspects of the work should be able to completed now - for example an inspection of the drainage system. Despite this being on the work schedule for more than a year and repeated requests that it is done, it has not.
5) Despite render repairs being made to all four sides of the detached property, the whole house was not rerendered. Patches where repairs were made are clearly viable in our opinion. In the opinion of the loss adjuster, they are acceptable.
We have now put in a formal complaint to Barclays insurance. They have offered us 25% of the cost of the bathroom suite, but given all the hassle, we feel they should do more.
The insurers want the company that rendered and painted the house to have a second attempt at cleaning the paint from the windows, since the confident it can be removed. But we feel their confidence is misplaced, since they were confident it could be removed with hot water, but it could not. There other attempts at cleaning have scratched windows that have only been installed a year or so earlier.
On their own, some of these things could be considered an annoying, but all things considered we are most unhappy.
Any advice? Should be let them have a second attempt to clean them, despite their earlier attempts caused further damage and the installers of the windows tell us the paint can't be removed? (I am waiting a response from Dulux).
--
Dave (from the UK)
Please note my email address changes periodically to avoid spam.
It is always of the form: month-year@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hitting reply will work for a few months only - later set it manually.
http://witm.sourceforge.net/ (Web based Mathematica front end)
.
- Follow-Ups:
- Re: Dispute over buildings insurance.
- From: Phil Anthropist
- Re: Dispute over buildings insurance.
- From: Phil Anthropist
- Re: Dispute over buildings insurance.
- From: Steve Robinson
- Re: Dispute over buildings insurance.
- Prev by Date: Re: Restaurant prices
- Next by Date: Issue with car dealership - advice appreciated
- Previous by thread: COnstruction work
- Next by thread: Re: Dispute over buildings insurance.
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
