Kitchen fire not sorted after 11 months

[tobyspencer]

We had a small kitchen fire back in October which has yet to be sorted out. The damage caused by the actual fire wasn't that great, in fact the firemen caused most of the damage when they removed the oven (having identified it as a potential source of reignition) into the garden, (but they were only doing their job of course).

Zurich appointed a loss adjuster who spent several weeks coming to the conclusion that we needed a new kitchen. As we had no central heating and only half a kitchen they said they would put us up in a hotel until it was all sorted out, but as generous as the offer was, it was, alas, completely impractical. We asked instead for some money to buy a few oil-filled radiators and for a small electric oven. Not an unreasonable request and they agreed. However, the money for the radiators never materialised and after a few weeks a full sized oven/hob arrived which was not fit for purpose. It sat unopened in our hallway for about a month before it was collected.

Weeks passed without any contact from the insurance company or any other company involved in the claim. Nothing was being done. We had bought the radiators with our own money (keeping the reciepts of course) and had brought our old oven back inside, but we still only had half a kitchen, with the dining room doubling as a makeshift parlour. We wrote letters, emails and tried phoning the insurance company to try to move things forward, but all to no avail.

I think part of the problem was that there were at least five different companies involved in some way or another in our claim and that they were probably all over worked. After speaking to a couple of colleagues who are in the industry we were told that the problem lay with Improve Line (Homeserve?) and were advised to have them replaced. We wrote to the insurance company, explained all the grief we were having, pointed the finger at Improve Line and they agreed to take them off our case. Their replacement proved a lot more forthcoming and within days (December by this stage) we had central heating again.

Eventually, (around March of this year) we were told to get some quotes for a new kitchen. So we found a builder we trusted who made up some very nice designs and submitted them to the necessay bodies. Initially they argued that the quotes were too high (even though they were within the agreed limit) and sent round their own approved builder. I'm not exagerating when I say the man who came round was just like O'Reilly from Fawlty Towers. We said that under no circumstances was that man to have anything to do with our kitchen and they backed down and let us use our own builder. That was three months ago.

We are now at the stage where we have a building site when our kitchen should be. I will admit that some of the delays have been caused by a few last minute alterations to the design, but we are now on our second stoppage while we wait for the builders to be paid. To give credit where credit is due, our builder has come in on weekends to work, even dragging one of his co-workers with him, when he still hasn't been paid. Unfortunately neither he, nor his colleagues can afford to work any longer on a job where there's simply no money coming in. To make matters worse, after the first stoppage, the insurance company promised them their money would be sent out in the next few days, so they went back to work and disconnected the boiler and moved it to its new location. They needed to get a CORGI registered gas fitter to reconnect it, but until their money arrives it will remain disconnected. So we are now without central heating once again, just as the nights are getting pretty cold.

At this rate it will probably take more than a year to replace a kitchen. It's not even a big kitchen. We thought it would take a couple of months at most, but this is taking the ****.

My question to you is who can we complain to to get things moving again? We have complained to the insurance company who have admitted that they are over-stretched and apologised for the delays, but at the end of the day words don't mean anything when they're not followed by actions. What is the best course of action for us to take? Trying to talk to any of the companies involved is like talking to a brick wall. Is there a regulator who can intervene on our behalf?

I'm sorry for the long post and thank all of you who made it this far and would appreciate any advice you may have.

Regards

Toby

[miss muppet]

Hi Toby, sorry to hear of all your hassles, the Insurance Ombudsman is the one you want to complain to, this should get things moving sharpish, sorry don't know the address but maybe somewhere on the site or on Google?

[GoldyR]

Hi Toby

This sounds like an awful situation to be in. Why on earth are your insurers witholding money if they have agreed liability? They should have no qualms about issuing cheques made payable to your builders but sent to you! There are several things that you should point out to them here:

A) They are in breach of FSA ICOB (Insurance Conduct of Business) rules here, if they agree to issue any settlement to you, & fail to do so within 5 working days, it constitutes a regulatory breach - for which they can potentially be fined by the FSA.

B) Did they acknowledge your complaint within 5-days? Have they given you written details of their complaints handling procedure? If this has been going on for over 8-weeks, they should have given you details of how to escalate this matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service 0845 080 1800. If they have failed to do this, they are in breach of FSA complaint handling rules too. Approaching the Financial Ombudsman will cost your insurer several hundred pounds, it is free for you!

C) They are obliged to fullfil their commitments under the terms of your policy, this means that if they have accepted the claim & agreed costs, there is absolutely nothing stopping them from sending you a cheque in settlement of the claim to enable you to pay your builders & contractors.

D) The FOS will agree a compensation payment for delay, stress & inconvenience - I would suggest you advise your insurers that you will be asking the FOS to agree a sum.

E) And if being reasonable doesn't work (remember that the staff are restricted by red tape & the inability to look further than rigid procedures, so don't blame them!) it is also worth advising the insurer that you will approach the press if this is not resolved within a set time period, & it is always worth directing your complaint to the CEO, as this is likely to be picked up by a more senior individual.

I hope this helps you & good luck