Had a leak from my radiator about 2 months ago now, my carpet was abosultely ruined. My insurance company's contractor had to remove and dispose of half the carpet.

All this time i am arguing with my insurance company because they wont pay the full amount. They offered me £894.99 for a replacement carpet thats after a £300 deduction for excess. This was in terms of a voucher for carpet right. I went to get a new carpet and carpet right said it will cost £1900 based on the sample i provided. According to me my liability is just the £300 excess.

My insurance company are refusing this despite me sending in 2 quotes from carpet right, they still believe their valuation is correct. What should i do because independent inspections valued it and they are adamant that the carpet is only worth the offered value, but this does not mean i can get a new one for that amount, its just the value!

Should i pay the extra £1000 or should i take it to the FOS as the complaints department have given their final decision.

You are correct to consider the FOS, however they can take sometime to complete an investigation.

Could you say which company you are insured with as someone with expertise might be able to advise another course of action.

Andy

Ask the insurance company for their reasons for why they have valued the carpet at only £1200, when your quotes have stated that it is more expensive. State that unless they provide a cheaper quote you will go ahead with the quote from carpetright, and seek to recover the costs plus legal expenses through litigation (fancy word where you go to court to get a judge to decide how much the insurer is liable to pay).

If you put this as a complaint then they will have to respond within 14 days.

Let us know what they say and get back to us here if they don't settle up!

Just to correct about the timescales above, the insurer will have 5 days to acknowledge your complaint and 8 weeks to respond. They must write to you to advise if they need more time. You must wait for their final response before you can go to the FOS unless they miss the deadlines.