Home Insurance claim delays.. Need advice

Hi all,
Looking for some advise my house was damaged over the Christmas period due to burst pipe. I discovered this upon returning home after two weeks over the Christmas period.

Once discovered I contacted insurance company etc, they really started to put me on the long finger. I decided to obtain a loss accessor hoping that they would speed up the workings for the claim and get my house back upto living condition as soon as possible.

It is now 3months later and still nothing. I have been given no alternative accommodation, no advance of any kind to survive!!! All my possessions in the house are damaged and now no good and the house itself is unlivable.

I have contacted my accessor on numerous accounts to ask whats the situation to which he advises that he has no idea why its taking so long...

My question is does it normally take this long? Should I cut across my accessor and go directly to the insurance company for an update? Is there an Insurance ombudsman I can complain to? Or since I have apointed an accessor is this option out the window?

Since putting in the claim (3months ago) I have received nothing from the insurance company. I am currently HOMELESS crashing in different relatives houses or forking out for Hotel accommodations. Surely they should of provided me a cash advance to replace possessions I need for work, and provided me alternative living accommodation right??

Loosing my mind here!!! So any advise would be much appreciated

Thanks

I had a small claim last year. I was told an accessor would be sent out in the next few days, 2 weeks later still nothing so i rang the insurance company back again, and low and behold she forgot to log the claim, needless to say i was on the phone constantly asking questions and eventually it was resolved, ring the insurance company directly. Why did you get your own accessor in? And why haven't you contacted the insurance company?

Thanks for the reply

Got an accessor as the damage to the house is excessive and I didn't have the time to obtain 3-4 different builder quotes in order to file a claim.

I assumed that getting an assessor in would not only speed up the claim but remove the stress in chasing the insurance company to completion. How wrong was I...

The assessor is getting a hefty percentage of whatever the settlement fee is, I do ring him on a weekly basis but I'm continously told that there's no reason for the delay and that he's at loss as to why its taking so long. Conversation on the phone finishes with "it should be sorted next week".

I understand the delays due to excessive number of claims due to the bad weather conditions the country has had over the past months, but surely the insurance company are obliged to provide me with an advance to replace any personal items/ business items I require to function in everyday life and provide me with alternative accommodation?! I did ask this question to my accessor to which he advised to keep receipts and all will be refunded in the end... But, we are in a recession and I personally cannot afford to keep forking out for a mortgage as well as alternative living accommodation.

What about the insurance company directly? Have you rang them?

Wouldn't this be the assessors job though? surely he should be doing the chasing for me?! I thought this is what he does in order to earn his commission?

From what I can see, and whats being advised is that the assessor pulls figures out of the air, submits them to the insurance company and sits back... I then either wait, or do his job for him and intervene requesting insurance company to get on with it.... Eventually the insurance company replies with recalculated figures.. My assessor communicates this back to me and states we should settle... Claim settled, money received and assessor receives a nice little earner for doing F.A?

I assumed the job of the assessor was to reassure the "victim" that he will look after all aspects of the disaster and make sure the house is returned to its state as quickly and easily as possible. That he/she would fight your corner against the insurance company and make sure that you receive all thats rightfully yours.. Including an advance in the claim in order for you to replace emergency items you require and aquire alternative accommodation..

I've got squat.. Any assessors out there willing to lend a helping hand? where/ WHAT can I do from here?!?!

Thanks for reading.

The assessor should be doing all of the chasing.

I will PM you and give you some ideas.

Well back again, insurance claim still not finalised.

I have had numerous meetings at the premises with the adjuster and accessor and yet still getting the run around.

I'm hoping someone can help answer my queries below arising from the claim.

1. Back in April the accessor advised he has seen all he needs to see and that the claim should be settled in a few weeks. I queried if I could give the green light for my builder to commence stripping out the house. He agreed. Now, the adjustor in question has since left the company and the company are saying that works should not of commenced. The insurance company are now in August telling me they want their builder to reinstate the works. Is this legal? Surely I have rights to appoint who I want?

2. The builder the insurance company wanted to bring in was giving half the quote of my builder. My accessor and I requested bill of quantities for the work, the adjustor/insurance company builder gave the quantity without the price. We noticed half the works were missing. He stated this was incorrect and some elements of the works need not doing. In order to resolve this, we had a meeting at the house (1st week Oct). He accepted he made a mistake and agreed to do the works continuing with his original price?! We thought this ludacris, he said he would reprice and provide a quote later on in the week. They also requested a invoice from my builder, I agreed to provide. As of now still heard nothing from insurance builder re quote..

3. Now after harrassing my accessor who in turn harrassed the adjustor we finally got word back. The adjustor now wants to speak to my builder directly? Is he allowed to do this??

Basically, if the adjustor is asking to speak to my builder directly what is the point of my accessor??? My accessor gave in a bill of quantities to reinstate the house but it seems this isn't worth anything as they wanted the invoice direct from my builder? Now, they are using my builders price as a go price and are looking to negotiate down from here?!?!

Is this correct? I am at a loss, why do I have an accessor? Surely both the accessor and adjustor should both draw up a bill of quantities, observe what needs to be done and agree a rate on a per item basis to reinstate the house? Am I missing something?

From what I can see, there seems to be alot of middle men, the adjustor is refusing to deal with my accessor on a quantity surveyor basis, and wants to use my builders quote as a means to settle the claim? he now again wants to speak to the builder directly?! Am I in my rights to refuse him speaking to my builder, and request he resolve with my accessor using what I can only assume are standard rates for bill of quantities?

Please help me.. Please... Its been 10months now, and not even a penny from the insurance company.

Thanks

Ps I have also spoken to senior management in the insurance company regarding the claim as per instructed by the Regulator.. At first they responded stating their disappointment on how I was treated etc and they would resolve. 6 weeks later nothing more, I tried to contact again, and now they're ignoring me...

My whole life has been destroyed due to this, I have been given no alternative accommodation so I have been sleeping on a couch since. I have no clothes, no possessions and no house. The house was due to be rented in the new year, but since the claim nothing has happened.

I was advised to mitigate my losses and I did so by instructing my builder to commence as advised by the adjustor, this costed me my life savings. Now I have nothing. House is partially stripped, no means of finding work as I cannot live in Dublin at present. No house to rent, no clothes no nothing.

House is verging repossession at this stage, and my credit rating is destroyed. Surely I am entitled to chase the insurance company for negligence if and whenever this thing gets resolved.

Any Solicitors willing to talk to me regarding this case? as I am desperately looking for a solicitor to take this on.

Most Insurance companies are within their rights to appoint a contractor to do the work. If, as most do, your policy provides the Insurance company with the option to indemnify you by reinstatement then that is what they can do. This position has recently been upheld by the Insurance ombudsman.

Why dont you obtain comparitive alternative accommodation? Rent a house and the Insurance company will pay this cost under the policy. They will make an interim payment to facilitate any payment to be made by you in renting this house. I cannot understand why you have not done this to date. Surely your assessor advised you of this entitlement?

Has the Insurance company made an offer of settlement on any or all aspects of your claim? Have the insurance company said they will have the builder do the work? If they have, why have you not taken them up on this? You are entitled to have the insurance companies builder's work supervised by your own Architect/Surveyor and the policy will cover you for the reasonable cost of their fee. This will provide you with the necessary peace of mind that the Insurers builder's work is done to an proper standard and in accordance with building regulations.

If the Insurance company have a builder who can do the job for a certain price, then there is no way that the insurers will pay more so you can use your own builder. As a matter of interest, why would you have an issue with insurers talking to your own builder?

Hi, thanks for the reply...

Firstly I am unable to rent alternative accommodation as I have been given no means of an advance to this date. I cannot unfortunately rent a house on nothing, and I have no means of renting when my cash-flow has ceased completely.

The adjustor advised me to get my builder to commence works in order to mitigate my losses, he also promised an advance in the next 14days and settlement soon after. On this news I instructed my builder to commence work and advanced him €10,000 to commence work (to which is basically now dead money). I did this on the wording from the adjustor that it would be settled in a number of weeks and an advance on the way to help me get alternative accommodation.

The insurance company than advised end of May that they will not be issuing an advance of any kind. They said here is the settlement, accept it and we will release all funds in full. Problem being both reinstatement and contents they were willing to pay were only a 1/3 of what was originally submitted. Contents I already depreciated accordingly, and house repaircosts are what they are.

The insurance company did say let their builder do the work (mind they already advised I could get my own builder in Jan, and advised I could commence work in March).. The reason I do not want their builder to do works is in two parts

(i) I have already signed an agreement with my builder, and I have already paid a €10,000 advance for this

(ii) the insurance builder came in with a quote which was missing half the bill of quantities, when confronted he said ah sure I can do it with the same price. I do not feel comfortable allowing a builder who has suddently had his workload doubled but can still do it for the original price, repair my house. It is not possible, unless he was originally over-quoting (doubtful) or just going to do a slap dash job.

The issue with the insurance company adjustor talking to my builder is simple. Why did I employ a accessor in the first place? Surely bill of quantities come into play? I am asking for my house to be repaired as new, and the bill of quantities are standard, so I am unsure of the issue. If your car was damaged, would you take it to your car dealer to have them repair it properly? or go to a back-alley repair garage the insurance company suggests? IT seems the insurance company is ignoring anything my accessor says, and I should of basically went the long "difficult" way and obtain 3 builders quotes and submitted myself. My accessor is basically getting a cut for nothing.