Contact the network and see if they can provide proof of usage with the IMEI number - this should match up to the box and should be enough.

I deal with contents insurance, and you are expected to be able to evidence some things - mobile phone claims are one of the biggest areas for fraud which is why insurers often place a higher burden of proof on claims for them.

I would suggest though that you do a full inventory of your property (particularly the high value items), with photos in the event you need to make a claim.

There is a £500 limit on the money taken.

Were any of the electricals computers? As they would also fall into the high risk definition.

Was any of the jewellery gifts for Christmas? I only ask because they will increase the contents sum insured by 10% for 30 days either side of religious festivals, which possibly helps reduce the underinsurance (in 5 years of handling household claims I've never actually seen this section used)

Interestingly, I've looked through the booklet loads and cannot find a section on underinsurance anywhere - maybe someone else can double check. Usually it would come under the claims settlement section but I can't see it.

42" LCD LG TV's are available - e.g this one at Play.com.

That said, it will most likely depend if they have any old stock available or not. Co-op electrical don't list any on their website so they're probably going to replace it with an LED TV - e.g ebuyer.com

You're also likely to find your premiums rise by more than the cost of the claim over the 5 years you'll need to declare it.

Bankruptcy often indicates someone is poor at managing their money. People who are poor at managing their money often have financial difficulties (even after going bankrupt). People who are in financial difficulties are more likely to commit insurance fraud. I work for an insurer, and we've started loading premiums for people with poor credit history.

You're probably thinking 'how outrageous to say I'm likely to commit fraud just because I'm bankrupt' - insurance works on huge generalisations though, so it's nothing against you as an individual.

Your best bet would be to speak to a local insurance broker, as most online 'off the peg' insurance won't be suitable for you.

Your policy will generally cover you for one-off incidents. You would have to be able to argue that the roof was damaged by storm, and be able to prove it (the onus is on the insured to prove that an insured peril happened, the onus is on the insurer to prove that an exclusion should apply). Insurance won't cover anything gradual or caused by wear and tear.

Do you owe them any money for the previous policy?

Had a word with CAB,and as i suspected, they say cause or knowledge of damage is totally irrelevant to accidental claim (or .........am i missing the point )

Knowledge not so much, but cause is - it needs to be accidental damage (so not mechanical breakdown, design fault or wear and tear) - something cause in a sudden incident.

That said, if they inspect the laptop, it will be very clear if there's liquid damage so I wouldn't worry too much about it at this stage.

You can always ask them - but they are probably relying on this condition of the policy (page 33 in the online booklet)

Precautions – You and your family must take every reasonable precaution to prevent any loss, damage, accident or injury. You must keep the property insured by this policy in a good condition. Failure to meet this condition may invalidate your policy and/or any claim

These conditions are notoriously difficult to rely upon, as one persons definition of reasonableness is different to another's. Certainly worth putting in an official complaint.

I would point out though that there is a good chance they would consider the money "held for professional purposes" and hence decline to cover this even if they agree to cover the theft in general.

Make a complaint to the Insurers. What they should have asked you to do, is send them a copy of your provisional licence, a copy of your marriage cert and something showing you at the new address, plus a letter just explaining the situation. If they have done that, then you would not have got to this situation.

 

In regard to cancellation, this is not something you would need to disclose in future. When Insurers ask on proposals about whether you have had Insurance refused or cancelled, they really mean cases of non disclosure, fraud, making too many claims. Not cancellation due to missed premium payments or documents not being received.

Do you have anything to back this up that can be relied upon if it was called in to question? If the question "Have you ever had insurance cancelled" is asked, the answer has to be "Yes"... anything else can be construed as non-disclosure.

I don't think they offer an underwritten product so they are exempt from FSA regulation (they certainly don't appear on the FSA register) so you may not be able to complain via the FOS unfortunately.

you can ask for a cash settlement - but be prepared for them to reduce the settlement to what they pay (as they'll almost certainly going to get a discount from the voucher supplier). Providing the goods can be replaced, this is perfectly acceptable

Just a quick question, before I ring LTSB tomorrow.

I've had an account with them for a few years and never had any problems with charges, but at the end of January had some problems and went into an unplanned overdraft. They won't give me a planned overdraft (fair enough) but were happy enough to authorise an unplanned one, with all the fees that go with it.

On the 20th of January, I went overdrawn by £74.99

I repaid all of this on the 17th of February.

Over the 27th-29th of February, they again allowed me to go overdrawn by £50

On the 1st of March, they pushed my account to £134.14 overdrawn because of the added charges. I naively assumed these were charges from January and February

I then paid in the money to cover all this on the 19th of March

On the 1st of April, they charged me again taking me overdrawn by £87.91 - I repaid this the following day

I had assumed (wrongly as it turns out) that the charges on the 1st of March were for Jan & Feb, and the charges on 1st of April were for March. I have today (yesterday actually) been charged another £95.95 which I now realise is for March.

I don't have the funds to pay this off until the 19th, so it means again next month getting almost £100 of charges.

Is there any chance they'll either write off these fees based on my misunderstanding, or even just freeze the charges so I can get myself back into a decent position? I also think it's incredibly unfair they decline me an overdraft of £50.00 but then allow me an unplanned overdraft of £49.99 which has now cost me £271 approx (plus the further cost of charges to follow next month).

Unfortunately, if they can be cleaned, that is all they are liable to do - maybe your neighbours water damage was worse, or the restoration men your insurance company sent round were just more competent...

On Castle Cover, providing they have accidental damage cover (no need for extended personal belongings cover) they will be covered for any loss within the home.

Hi, many thanks for your postings.

brasenose_road: What happened re your court case?

NinasWall: Could not find your website - did they threaten you?

 

I had a problem with a leak which they initially admitted liability for but then sent someone round who said that anything I do will be at my risk.

 

The property was rented so I cant afford to lose income. So they took advantage of this fact.

 

Their promise to not make a crisis out of a drama was not fulfilled (They say that they would manage all aspects of the repair and rectify any damage - this management cost, stress etc was placed on me) and they played the delay as much as possible and for whatever reason as possible game: we must write postal letters to the over worked loss adjusters who in turn write back so it is a brilliant way of doing what could be done in hours or days by email into a best of 4 or 5 weeks per communication - Apparently the brainchild of director's gang - But the lossadjuster had an email so I could respond quickly to them.

 

They also played youve lied to us and the we suspect your being fradulent with us game cards so we need to investigate and you must explain your answers. Of course their investigations and insinuations take their time toll and stress toll and as they knew from the outset came to nothing. But it did maximise my costs and distress and after the complaints which were largely ignored - although when it was clear that they were obvioulsy persistently being obstructive they relented.

 

The most interesting thing was that the loss adjuster had no interest in sorting the matter out, wasnt interested in the actual damage was very interested in other matters such as precise nature of previous claims, precise dates etc and wanted answers to irrelevent matters - this was to have an excuse for multiple delaying letters to improve its understanding of the problem.

 

The cost of repairs was around £30,000 but they only want to pay £8,000 claiming that had they done the work that is what it would of cost them.

 

Its a brilliant strategy of stressing out their clients and by not having to pay their staff to do the work it means they can make more people redundant and so reduce their head count and of course their Chairman and directors get another substantial bonus and shareoptions for achieving their objectives.

 

What should I do? Court or Ombudsman?

I would always suggest the ombudsman first as they work on a fairness basis rather than a strict legal basis - in addition if you're not happy with the FOS decision you can go to court but once it's been to court, you can't go to the ombudsman - and finally, the ombudsman is free.

Could you not ask them to do the work for you?

A moral duty? Since when did insurance companies have morals?

 

They are bound by their own companies code of practice which if they are a member of the British association of insurers will have an industry code of practice too.

 

Does the insurer have the same moral duty to pay out uninsured or insured? The posts move.... they can keep info on you if you were not insured at the time of an incident and use it should you require insurance yet they wont pay a claim. It seems as if they want the best of all worlds. I am unsure how this prevents fraud? All it seems to do it put premiums up?

 

I am still unsure how a moral duty to record and keep this information has any relation to the application to the ICO that CUE has. They keep information for "maintaining a register of personal insurance claims for underwriting purposes and to detect cases of suspected fraud". I never made a claim??

You made a claim against the policy which was unsuccessful. It is not a register of successful claims.

Unfortunately, the CIS policy wording here (can't post a link but it's on their website) would seem to exclude it under the cover you seem to have

Section B under contents covers computer equipment but excludes "Damage to (i) any item (other than a portable television or remote control unit) designed to be portable" which would cover laptops.

Under Accidental Damage, there is an exclusion for "(a) Damage specifically included in or excluded from the Loss or Damage subsection of this Section." - it certainly could be in plainer English but I interpret that to mean that damage already excluded under any of the contents sections of cover will not be covered under the accidental damage section. As cover is already excluded under section B, it would not be covered under accidental damage.