Direct Line

[Duffers Mum]

Anybody offer me some advice, Direct Line don't seem to believe how we damaged our bath and sink, we know how it happened, but the assessor seems to disagree with us, I am worried now that they might take us to court - would this be likely to happen - I have sent off my signed statement etc to them, because we haven't done anything wrong, are they just trying to get out of paying and hope the scare tactics will make us withdraw our cliam. - Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks

[craigwalton]

They would only take you to court if they had inconclusive proof that the incident could not have happenned the way you said. They would be more likely to cancel your policy from the date of claim though.

[Duffers Mum]

So they would cancel the policy even though the accident happened as we said it did? I think I might get in first and cancel the policy myself as they appear to be using every trick going to get out of paying, whereas they could just say to us, we are not going to pay and we would say fine, we will pay for it ourselves and cancel our accidental damage as its obviously not worth having!

[craigwalton]

No, if they had conclusive proof that the incident could not have happenned in one incident they will cancel the policy.

As the incident happenned stick to your guns. Continue with the claim and they should pay.

This is a scaring tactic to make you withdraw the claim.

PS. Accidental Damage to Sanitaryware is covered under the main part of your buildings policy, not the extended accidental damage section

[Duffers Mum]

Well they can't have conclusive proof can they, because they weren't there! We have already caught out the assessor who was also assessing the loo which was cracked in a previous incident the month before, he called round, checked the loo bowl and then rocked the cistern back and forth before commenting, "the bowl is cracked bu the cistern is ok" we have now sprung a leak from the W.C pipe but when we complained that it could have been his fault he stated he never touched the loo and intimated I was a liar and told my husband "he would have to prove that he had touched the loo". We have asked for a copy of his report under the data protection act, because if he can blatently lie about that we wonder what other fibs he's put in his report. I must admit I don't care whether they pay out now or not we have the funds to replace the broken things, but it is now a matter of principle. I despise these insurance companies who are so quick to take your premiums, but do all they can to not pay out.

[craigwalton]

All I can say is look at the Insurance Companies side...

You have made a claim for accidental damage to the toilet. I presume in this claim you were told that the Insurance Policy only provides cover for the toilet only, and not for matching items. I do not know 1 policyholder who has been happy with this decision. 1 month later you are making a claim for the undamaged items, that have happenned in one incident, thus applying one more excess rather than 2. The circumstances, according to the adjuster who went out, have happenned in dubious circumstances.

Now, as a policyholder I would not be happy if the Insurance company paid every claim that was made, as the premiums would shoot up for everyone.

Bear with them. They have to investigate this claim. If I was the handler dealing with your claim I would thoroughly investigate.

Sorry if this sounds harsh, it is not meant to be. I am just letting you know why they are not blindly signing the cheque

[Duffers Mum]

How would they go about getting what they call, "conclusive proof"?

I don't blame them for looking into the matter, I would expect them to, it was actually 2 claims, one for the loo which cracked in December but which I did not report at the time as it was still functional and we were going away the same day. We then had a serious car accident, which wrote the car off (not surprised direct line don't like me the car was insured with them also!). In early January my hubby was doing some diy and the varnish remover fell from the vanity unit into the bath with the lid off, he was out of the room at the time. I reported this as soon as it was discovered and at the same time thought I might as well report the damaged loo. The hand basin also got splashed with the varnish remover and I rang back and reported this. My argument is that they are implying I am lying when I'm not, that we didn't see the varnish remover fall is one way of looking at it and assessor implied it could have been one of the cats, which I suppose is possible but as we weren't in the room we really do not know. that the assessor is now lying about rocking the loo cistern is another matter and one that has really got my back up, we have paid for the damage to be rectified ourselves and will also be paying for the new flooring as the old was ruined when the leak occured while we were out, we could rightfully claim that back if we wanted to be awkward. I can't believe they would go to all this trouble when they could just say we aren't going to pay out, which we would accept. However if we withdraw the claim now they are going to think we were lying in the first place and that isn't your case. I appreciate your advice though - thanks

[craigwalton]

Stick to your guns.

They will pay the claim

[Nelly75]

Don't worry.

They don't believe you but they can't do anything about it cause they don't have any proof (and because you're not at it). However their research shows that if they put on the pressure in claims they believe to be fraudulent then a certain percentage of people will withdraw them.

This is what they are trying to do to you. Stick to your guns (as has been said already) and don't get into petty squabbles with them about the assessor doing or saying this or that.

Stick to the facts and they will pay.

I have worked in insurance for 10 years and served a sentence in household claims several years ago (it is torture working in those departments). If you need any more advice I am happy to pass it on.

I'm very confident you will get your cash (comes with the usual disclaimer of course!)

Nelly

[Duffers Mum]

Well after a quick phone call to Direct Line on Friday I received confirmation to go ahead with the bathroom! Thanks to those who gave me some very good advice on this site - I'm looking forward to my nice new bathroom and hopefully not having to deal with Direct Line's rather unscrupulous assessor again!

[mooreda]

who's the loss adjusters? crawfords by any chance as they have a bit of a reputation

[Duffers Mum]

No the assessor was from UK Assistance, I hope I don't have to deal with them again!

[xrchris]

Originally Posted by Duffers Mum

No the assessor was from UK Assistance, I hope I don't have to deal with them again!

I am not 100% on this but I was under the impression that UK Assistance were part of the RBS group.

[Darkangelsdelite]

They are, we own Direct Line, along with Tesco and privellege and also all the churchill brands (lloyds/nationwide/pru/pearl etc) So UK assistance deal with the claims side for the majority of the claims for the group.

[xrchris]

I thought so.

Duffers mum will need to change insurer then if she doesnt want the hassle of dealing with UK Assistance again.

[Darkangelsdelite]

lol! that would scupper sir fred's plans for world domination if everyone did that!

[xrchris]

HA HA yes indeed. I believe this year is Direct Line's 20th anniversary and us brokers are still here. There is a place for both no matter what anyone says.

I have had dealings with UK Assistance via the NIG brand and wasn't greatly impressed but they are by no means the worst.

[Duffers Mum]

I do actually think that the RBS group are buying up the whole world! Hopefully I won't have any more claims in the near future so won't have to worry about UK Assistance again! The bloke really was very arrogant and I am very much looking forward to seeing a copy of his report, if there is anything derogatory (sp) in there god help him

We have our buildings and contents insurance with Direct Line along with our car insurance (2 claims in 2 months, first one car was a write off!) and our pet insurance, so they have paid us quite a bit in the past few months. However prior to that we hadn't claimed on any of our insurance (bar the pet insurance) for years, so I don't think they can really complain! If we wanted to change buildings/contents insurance companies who do you recomment, bearing in mind they must have offices in the UK to deal with any problems, I can't be doing with all these overseas call centres! Anybody who we deal with who has their call centre oveseas, we immediately cancel our policy/subscriptions etc and go somewhere else!

This is a great site with very helpful and informative people.