Hi there, wondered if anyone could advise me on the best course of action please. Bear with me as this is quite involved but I will keep it brief. I had my shower tray and cubicle replaced in 3 years ago through my insurance company. The builders did the work as specified by the loss adjusters. The builders have been out every 10 months approx since then as there work kept leaking when the shower was used, tiles coming of the wall and water coming through the cieling etc. Last year at their own expense they exchanged the shower tray. 10 months later (this July) the same thing happened again. Builders don't want to know nor do the loss adjusters. They keep saying that i should put a claim in with my new insurers. The problem with that is the shower tray and cubicle have been removed, and also when the builders came to see what the problem was in July they cut a chunk out of the plaster board and the flooring under the shower has been cut out. No insurer would touch it as they would only have my word for it that there was a tray and cubicle there prior to it leaking. They have really left me in the lurch. I made a lot of noise and the loss adjusters are sending out another independent inspector to look at it but they will only say the same thing because they won't be able to see what the cause of the orriginal damage was in the first place. The orriginal insurers are being helpful and are going to send out someone but my fingers aren't being crossed. They mentioned going thru my new insurers to legally go after the builders but I will wait to see what happens first. I'm really stuck. We're talking about at least 5K's worth of work as there has been a lot of damage caused. Would appreciate it if anyone had any advice or ideas about who else to complain to or so I can get something done.

If you havent done so already I would make a complaint to the insurer. This will enable you to go to the FOS. I personally think the last insurer was vicariously liable for the work.

It will be your best option and a court would probably expect it before it goes to them.

Thank you. I was thinking that all my interactions with the insurer has been over the phone. I'll ask them for an adress to write to and get that ball rolling. Thank you.

So if I have things right:

a) There is a problem with your shower. You claim from Insurer A.

b) Insurer A sends Builder 1 to repair the problem.

c) Shower continued to have a problem - Builder 1 attempted another repair.

d) You change from Insurer A to Insurer B

e) Shower continued again to have a problem - Builder 1 and Insurer A refuse to accept liability, both telling you to claim against Insurer B.

And you feel you can't claim against Insurer B because they would inspect your property, and find it not to be of 'good repair' with regard to the shower.

I can see your problem - if I was Insurer B I doubt I would accept it either. However the 'good' news is that you shouldn't need to ask Insurer B for anything.

When you made a claim against Insurer A originally, you accepted for them to undertake a Repair upon your property, to return the shower back to a state of good repair. Insurer A hired Builder 1 to do the work, and no doubt insstructed them to some extent. As far as I can see one of 3 things happened next:

i/ Insurer A did not instruct Builder 1 properly

ii/ Builder 1 did not carry out the work properly as instructed

iii/ Builder 1 carried out the instructions, but the work was of poor quality.

If i/ occurred (either through lack of expertise in not spotting something, or through an administrative error) then Insurer A has not repaired the shower to it's proper condition.

If ii/ or iii/ occurred then effectively the same thing hs happened, but this time it is the fault of the Builder and not the Insurer.

Either way the original insurer has failed to carry out their contractual obligation of returning the shower to it's proper condition. From your point of view the difference between i/ and ii/ or iii/ is moot (it just depends on whether the Insurer can get some money from the builder for shoddy work). Not only that but by failing to return the shower to it's proper condition they are liable for any subsequent damage caused through use of the shower (as they told you it was fit for use).

My advice is to get more demainding of Insurer A. Stat that the shower has had constant problems since the repair was undertaken, and give example of earlier work done to fix it as evidence the original work was not up to par. Demand that they give this their full attention, and state that they are now also liable for the additional damage caused by the escape of water. As gyzmo suggests put this in a complaint letter.

Good luck getting this sorted. Don't be rude but do be firm with them - let them know that you mean business!

Wulfyn, you have got it nearly spot on and have summarised it more eloquently than I did, except that builder A has returned yearly to put their work right. Thank you so much for your advice. I will draft a letter and send it of in the next couple of days. I've purposefully not lost it with the builder, the loss adjusters or the insurer and have to say that it has been hard not being rude or angry with them but they are in no doubt that I'm not going to let this go. I'll keep you updated as to what happens, the insurers are calling me mon or Tues so it will be interesting to hear what they have to say. Thanks again guys.

Wrote a letter of complaint to the insurers and sent of yesterday. When I spoke with them they said that I have to abide by what the loss adjusters say. What the loss adjusters are saying now is that the builders have to come back around and do another inspection! I can't see the point in that as they have already sent around an independent contractor who says yes there has been an escape of water and they can see the damage but they are unable to ascertain what the cause was as the shower cubicle isn't in situ and also the flooring has been cut out as has some of the plaster board. Does this sound right to any one? I've spoken with my current insurers who says that if needs be I could make a fresh claim retrospectively and have to pay excess, but I'm really not sure what to do for the best. No one is accepting liability and I can really see myself getting lumbered. I can't believe that the insurance company are bound by what the loss adjusters say.

They're being a bit naughty here. Loss adjusters do not have the final say in how much a claim is worth - only a court can do that if there remains a disagreement.

Whereas I'm thinking that it may be helpful to stay on side of the insurance company by agreeing to the request of the loss adjuster at this stage, I can see you being fobbed off and put back at square one. Clearly the old insurer is trying to get you to give up and just make a claim with the new insurer. Their argument will be that it makes no difference to you who pays you your money.

If you want to persevere with a claim against your old insurer (and personally I would want to) then I would reply saying that you want to know what the insurance company expects to learn from this new visit. State that since the original claim the original builders have been back to repair the unit in question on many occassions. It may be that they just want the builders to confirm that the shower tray was left in that condition (something I doubt they'd be keen on admitting) so that they can be ure that you didn't decide to rip the tray up and then have a shower

Personally I think this is stalling on their part, because it's not like you don't have the evidence of the builders doing the work over and over. But being proactive can never hurt - ask them what they want to know in order to process the claim, and then help them to get it. If you make them put it all down clearly in writing beforehand, then when they get all they have asked for they won't have room to wriggle out and stall more.

Thanks for your reply and advice, very much appreciated. The guy came this morning. he called to arrange the visit after I put up the last post. He said he is going back to look at all the paperwork but from what he was saying, he was anxious fior the job to get done. He said all the right things in that what ever the cost would be the builders should have brought the job up to the current standards. He did say that they might want to charge me for the extra tiling but I was clear that the very least that they could do was do it at their expense as a gesture of good will. He is going to call me either tomorrow or Monday with what the next step is which will be intresting. I'll let you know what happens.

No call from him and I also left a message on his answer phone last night. Guess what? he didn't return the call. Contacted the insurance company who put me through to the loss adjusters. They have received a report from him but will get someone to call me either this afternoon or tomorrow morning. Doesn't look good does it? Going to get back on to the insurrance company again now and get them to find out what's happening.

Just got call from one of the managers of the loss adjusters to tell me that the guy they sent concurred with me and that the builders were liable and tht they should rectify the situation. I am now waiting to hear their response. Let's see what happens.

So far, so good

At least things are moving now, and in your favour. Hopefully they'll be able to get the shower sorted quickly. Keep us informed as to the result - even if you don't need any more advice it's always nice to hear about a win

So far, so good

 

At least things are moving now, and in your favour. Hopefully they'll be able to get the shower sorted quickly. Keep us informed as to the result - even if you don't need any more advice it's always nice to hear about a win

Ok, thought it was too good to be true. Got a call from the builders umbrella organisation who say that the contractor is still disputing their responsibility and the cause of the damage being down to their work. They want to come around on Monday with the loss adjuster to look at a way forward. They are also saying that when the report was done they should have been involved, I think so that they could have influenced the Loss adjuster. They are annoyed also that the Loss adjuster has left the company now. I'll let you know what happens tomorrow. The loss adjusters did say (after I put pressure on him) that they do have to abide by the report and his decision. I asked for a copy of the report but they said that I'm not entitled to one, is that true?

Well the news is that the builder is going to contact me in Jan and arrange to put evrything right at no costs to me or me having to make a new claim. Thanks for your help guys especially wulfyn who gave me the big words to quote at them. Very pleased.

Awesome result