Hi All

Back in September 2006 i was doing some maintenence on my PC and in the process of moving it to a more convinient place to work on it i accidently dropped it. I contacted Barclays and was delighted to find that it was covered for accidental damage.

They passed the claim to a third party called I-val who arranged to get the PC collected to go for inspection. After about 10 days they contacted me to say it was beyond economical repair and would be arrangeing for a new system to the same specification to be delivered to me.

The new system duely arrived in early October but to my horror i found that the spec was nowhere new that of the old machine. The graphics card was the lowest spec possible and was also obsolete, no TV card had been supplied, the mother board was cheap and nasty, the list goes on. After numerous calls to Barclays, I-Val, and the company that built the machine they all agreed that I had been short changed. 4 months have now gone by and despite numerous calls to all concerned no one has yet rectfied the problem. Barclays blame I-Val, and I-Val blame their supplier.

Any thoughts as to where to go next would be appreciated

Go straight to the Ombudsman. This will make them speed up a bit

Ombudsman or OFT?

I have lodged complaint with Barclays over the phone. They say they will write to me within 2 working days to follow up complaint.

If you are not happy go to the Financial Ombudsmans Service, not the OFT

Trucker, Barclays household is underwritten by Norwich Union who use i-val. If you go to the Ombudsman, they'll just refer you back to NU and it won't make the process any quicker (trust me, I should know! I handle NU Chief Exec travel complaints!) You need to follow the correct complaints procedure. FOS will only consider your complaint if you've received a final respond from NU. If you've logged a complaint with the claims dept they should issue a response within 10 days. If you're still unhappy, the next step is to escalate to the Chief Exec's Office as per the complaint leaflet you'll get. The final decision from the CEO will enclose a leaflet detailing your right to refer to FOS at that point.

If you'd like me to chase things up for you, just let me have your claim number and I'll see what's happening.

girlynutnut

Thanks for the info. I may well take you up on your offer to chase up for me, but will give Barclays the benefit of the doubt for the time being. I made a formal complaint last week to which they gave me written confirmation of on the 2nd. The letter says that they will ivestigate my complaint and write to me again no later than the 10th.

I thought Barclays was under written by Gresham insurance.Are they NU?

Yes my claim was passed to i-val who in turn passed it to spire computers. I-val have already agreed that what they supplied is below spec, but do not seem to be in any great hurry to put things right. Promised the earth but delivered nothing. Now they are blaming spire. I have contacted Barclays and told them to get it sorted and i don't want to speak to i-val again. Anyway lets see what the postman brings next week.

 

I suggest if you are unhappy that you complain direct to Head Office - contact details are as follows.

 

 

General Insurance Customer Relations PO Box 78 Surrey Street Norwich NR1 3EB

 

01603 682556 [email protected]

Can i go direct to NU being a Barclays customer?

Yes, Gresham is Norwich Union. It's Gresham to make people think it's not NU. I worked for NU up until October when I was made redundant. My laptop was stolen in the summer and I claimed on my father's home insurance with NU. They transferred the claim to i-val and they tried to fob me off with the cheapest laptop that they had in stock. As the policy is 'new for old' I refused the new laptop. The adviser then put me through to a 'technical expert' - this person was more computer savvy and clicked on that I knew my stuff about computers. I managed to get a £1200 laptop which was how much my old laptop was originally.

Back to you, as previously stated Customer Relations are your best bet. They normally sort out claims as it costs them when complaints are escalated to the FOS.

Thanks Kneale, I will wait for Barclays response then threaten them with the FOS. If it doesnt shake them into action then i will pass it to the FOS Not happy at all with this pc. My boy can't play any of his games as spec is too low.

Have today received a call from Barclay's. The PC is being upgraded, parts being couriered by the end of the week and have had the policy excess refunded. Amazing what a bit of fuss can do

Have today received a call from Barclay's. The PC is being upgraded, parts being couriered by the end of the week and have had the policy excess refunded. Amazing what a bit of fuss can do

Well done!

All sorted... pc running fine... though think i will have to invest in some more RAM.... should have thought about that last week, could have sneaked it through as well. Still, im more than happy with outcome. Thanks all for your help and advice

All sorted... pc running fine... though think i will have to invest in some more RAM.... should have thought about that last week, could have sneaked it through as well. Still, im more than happy with outcome. Thanks all for your help and advice

Hi Trucker

I am having problems with Barclays Insurance mine is a paint carpet claim theyve send me already 2 companies one taking photos etc and now they want me to see another company and they say that now my claim is with them and that they will deal with them. I complaint to Barclays but they refer me back to NU my problem is also that this new company want an appointment to do a report but only from 10-11 or 2-3 now I work hourly paid and for me that is loss of earnings buit they say if I want to resolve this i have to do it . I want to complaint to somebody I dont know now to whom. I will appreciate some advice:confused:

uummm - I had a similar experience last year with my PC. The insurer wanted to instruct IVAL to deal with my claim and I made it perfectly clear that I would not be using this company to replace my item as a) I hadn't heard of them b) bought my original item from a local supplier and c) would not be forced into using the insurers own supplier against my will because the FOS takes a dim view of insurers taking such action.

 

 

A woman called Nikki West - the Complaints Handler took details of my complaint and to be honest she did my head in. I felt she done nothing but try and patronise me and despite insisting on speaking to a Manager she refused to put me through claiming that either none were available to speak to or I had to put my complaint in writing. I therefore complained directly to Head Office by phoning the straight away.

 

Upon doing so, I was allowed to use my own specialist who provided a report and quote for a replacement that I was happy with. I faxed this to NU Head Office Customer Relations who agreed to issue a cheque. I also got my XS waived as a gesture of goodwill for the poor service.

 

I suggest if you are unhappy that you complain direct to Head Office - contact details are as follows.

 

General Insurance Customer Relations PO Box 78 Surrey Street Norwich NR1 3EB

 

Hi Trucker

I am having problems with Barclays Insurance mine is a paint carpet claim theyve send me already 2 companies one taking photos etc and now they want me to see another company and they say that now my claim is with them and that they will deal with them. I complaint to Barclays but they refer me back to NU my problem is also that this new company want an appointment to do a report but only from 10-11 or 2-3 now I work hourly paid and for me that is loss of earnings buit they say if I want to resolve this i have to do it . I want to complaint to somebody I dont know now to whom. I will appreciate some advice:confused:

You have to complain to NU as they underwrite the policy. Have you been in touch with Customer Relations yet? If it's any easier why don't you ask the claims department if you can arrange a company of your choice to come around and look at the carpets and replace them if necessary. They could then arrange payment to the company you choose. Normally NU goes through their preferred supplier but if you kick up a fuss they let you get estimates, etc.

If you want to ask any other questions, etc, fire away, I used to work for NU up until quite recently.

You have to complain to NU as they underwrite the policy. Have you been in touch with Customer Relations yet? If it's any easier why don't you ask the claims department if you can arrange a company of your choice to come around and look at the carpets and replace them if necessary. They could then arrange payment to the company you choose. Normally NU goes through their preferred supplier but if you kick up a fuss they let you get estimates, etc.

 

If you want to ask any other questions, etc, fire away, I used to work for NU up until quite recently.

Hi Kneale

Thank you, no I havent been in touch with Customer Relations , I will explain what has been happening

I put my claim on 10Feb for my carpet, banister and also a freezer claim as all of this happen with a power cut in my town.

They send me Chem dry to look at the carpet the guy say they cant clean it so he measure all the carpet the4n he will be reporting to the Insurer at that moment I didnt know the existance of NU then I was chasing them and they appoint another company (restoration) although the guy that came said to me that he was there to inspect not to restore so he took photos to everything even walls then he went and I had to chase again when i finally talk to Barclays number (NU I think) theyve told me that they have appointed another company Crawford Loss Adjusters but these had change my ref. twice and noiw they say if I want an appointment will have to be 10-11 or 2-3 when i am working so ive told them that i couldnt do those times and they said well if you want this sorting uyou have to. Talked to somebody else today in NU she said that Tracy Parker (Customer Care Manager will send me an email ) she did but saying that I have to see Crawfords at those times and thats that.

Ah Also theyve asked me to send photos and to ask a local guy for a quote to paint the banister and a letter from the Electric Board saying when and how long was the cut for and I have also send them that.

I really dont know what to do as for me to do that appointment mean loss of earnings some money.

Thank you for any advice;)

I am going through a similar process myself and am looking for some advice.

I recently claimed for a laptop that cost me £1400 two years ago. IVAL took on the claim, via Barclays, and seemed a very efficient and friendly company, they came back with some options for laptops of a similar spec, but not the same as I had, a Pentium 4 and they were offering Core Duo. They initially offered me something with half the RAM and not good enough which I questioned and they changed to a higher spec option. All to the good but the laptops they are offering are around the £750 mark online. I have been investigating and have found a couple of laptops that would suit at the £999 mark.

IVAL cam back and said that they could supply these but it would cost another £250 on top of their valuation.

I have declined this and gone back to Barclays who have offered me an £812 payout. This still does not seem right to me as the cheapest i have been able to find the same laptop as my old one is £999. Barclays tell me that they will only pay as much as IVAL can replace the laptop for, £812, even though IVAL did not offer me the same.

While I am tempted to take this offer and pay the difference myself, privately, I will still be paying the same difference as IVAL wanted to charge. None of the figures seem to match so now I am confused!!

Should I follow the above advice and call NU direct to complain or should I just accept this and pay the difference?

Any advice on how to approach this would be gratefully accepted.

ival have to supply a pc to the same spec as the one that you lost. unfortunately money doesn't come into it. Who were they getting to supply the new laptop? spire? Do you have the spec of the machine you lost?

P4 3.2 Ghz, 1024 RAM, 80GB HDD, Widescreen, Firewire, DVD-RW, 3 x USB...

Best I can remember off the top off my head, I do know the only one I could find for sale was here

Fujitsu Siemens D1840 Package 142100004 package discount notebook computer

where it is priced at £999.

While I do not want the same model again I do find it strange that they offered me a different, cheaper model, albeit dual core, as a replacement but will not match the price.

If they are within their rights then I will accept it, just wanted to check really.

Insurance payment aside a moment, i dont understand why you would want to stay with a P4 processor when a Core Duo is better especially if the insurer is offering it at no extra cost.

You misunderstand. I want the core 2 processor, I just want it in a model that is the same price as the P4. They are offering me something that is £200 less so if I take the money I will have to pay the difference. I do not mind doing this but am a little unhappy that IVAL have put such a low value on my old laptop and don't know if or how I can challenge it.

If I cannot then fair enough, the price is not too bad, if so then I will not have the pee taken.

OK thats fair enough.

I was under the impression from your posts that IVAL were replacing the machine rather than you receiving a cash in lieu settlement. Is this correct?

I think you are a little too fixated on the cost of the replacement machine - the insurance exists to place you back in the position you were in before the insured event took place. If it only costs £750 to replace (with the correct specification) a machine that originally cost £1000 then that is correct.

Fair one. I have the choice of the cash settlement or the new machine. I would rather take the cash and spend a little extra on the machine I want rather than the cheapest one they can find is all.

Thanks for the help though, I will take the money I think.