home insurance claim dirictline

[ejmbon]

hi all

recently had an attempted burglary, noticed my patio door had been forced open but they didn’t get in attempted to put on another lock but broke glass rang direct line told them I broke glass told me not insured for accident to building but told them I was repairing from an attempted break in, they said that’s different and you are insured then I called police who were very good received crime number etc,
happened new years day directline offered to send someone around to make safe but it would cost £175, I didn’t have money just after Christmas so I declined, me and my neighbor made safe the next day with a sheet of plywood, directline gave claim to solaglas who gave me a call eight days later.
when solaglas man arrived said he could put on a push lock and repair glass I then explained to him they got door open buy lifting patio door fro the outside which easily broke the push type lock I already had on there,
Also told him that the scenes of crime police showed me how easy it was to break in with this type of old patio door, he opened it in less than 10 seconds (I WAS SHOCKED). I told solaglas I needed patio door changed for security reasons, but he wasn’t interested, I told him to leave and I would ring directline told the all this and offered to give them local police station number to verify this which they accepted, but my local police station wouldn’t give them info over the phone, it was suggested by directline that I go to the police and get a signed statement confirming what they said about patio door being old and easy to break into, but I was fed up by now waiting eight days and then going through all this, and told them to CANCEL CLAIM, which they did.
The day after this I canceled all insurances I had with directline and am now insured by other companies, got an advance on my mortgage which is to pay for new type door and make safe again.
Should I complain further and get photo graphic evidence and police statement what do you all think

Thanks ejmbon

[craigwalton]

Sorry, just seen this thread.

The Insurance Company are only required to put you back into the position you were in before you suffered the loss, so they have no legal responsibility to upgrade your property.

However, it might be best in this situation for you to submit an estimate for the door / security you want, and the Insurance Complany can contribute towards it.

[Darkangelsdelite]

Craig is spot on with this one, the fact that the lock on the patio door wasn't any good isn't down to the insurers, it would have still been left as it was whether you had got broke into or not, its just taken this event to show you how bad it was.
This being the case, its pretty much pointless trying to complain further.
I can see you've now replaced the door, presumably with one with a better lock. For reference, whilst you're upgrading your security, make sure you get locks conforming to BS3621 standard, its what most insurers look for.