Davies Loss Adjusters complaint

[A Strachan]

Hi,

 

I am trying to find out if anyone has had issues as to how their claim has been handled by Davies Loss Adjusters for home insurance.

 

They have dealt with three separate claims at different times due to water damage from the flat above.

 

In one room that was being decorated, builders suggested there may of been a further leak. Someone came to measure moisture levels and in certain areas there were high readings.

 

Davies are now saying that the area is dry and requires no further action and if we want a copy of the report it's up to our insurers.

 

We have written to them about this and are awaiting a reply.

 

I have found the way this organisation process claims and treat customers appalling.

 

I would appreciate any advice.

 

Thank you.

[Conniff]

There are a couple - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?314767-Davie-Loss-Adjusters-Cardiff-mis-handling-of-claim.&highlight=Davies+Loss+Adjusters

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?294074-Davies-Group&highlight=Davies+Loss+Adjusters

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?26689-HSBC-Insurance-(Ireland)-Ltd&highlight=Davies+Loss+Adjusters

 

I can't see this one being about Davies, but may be of assistance - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?294171-Water-damage-claim-with-AXA-they-are-being-awkward!&highlight=Davies+Loss+Adjusters

[michelew]

Hi,

 

I am trying to find out if anyone has had issues as to how their claim has been handled by Davies Loss Adjusters for home insurance.

 

They have dealt with three separate claims at different times due to water damage from the flat above.

 

In one room that was being decorated, builders suggested there may of been a further leak. Someone came to measure moisture levels and in certain areas there were high readings.

 

Davies are now saying that the area is dry and requires no further action and if we want a copy of the report it's up to our insurers.

 

We have written to them about this and are awaiting a reply.

 

I have found the way this organisation process claims and treat customers appalling.

 

I would appreciate any advice.

 

Thank you.

 

I am currently having an awful time with them. They will not ring you back, they will not let you know what is happening. it has now been 2 months and for 6 weeks am living in someone's lounge. God give me strength to carry on.

[Mwynci]

Davies are a mess,they used to be one of the best, then closed down half their offices and have not coped since then.

Make a complaint to the underwriter's CEO, forget about Davies direct.

[Kwurhtee]

Hi,

 

Only just found this forum, but looks like I'll be having a good look around

 

I'm currently dealing with a home insurance claim being handled by Davies and I can add that I'm not that impressed by them.

 

To be fair, I have read the list of threads posted by Conniff and while I agree with most of the problems, my dealings have been slightly different.

 

Firstly, I believe in a little balance - the people that I have spoken to on the phone have been courteous and polite - some of the ladies on the claim's line have been really quite nice to chat with and seemed very helpful.

 

That said...

 

The loss adjusters themselves seem to be a different type of animal. One loss adjuster just disappeared - we don't know what happened to them, and when we issued a formal complaint about the lack of progress on our claim, suddenly we had a new loss adjuster! Were they sacked? Are they ill? No reasons were given.

 

Our claim has now started to move and we are now starting the repairs, so I hope that means we're underway.

 

I must admit, I'm putting in waaay more effort than it appears the loss adjuster is - perhaps I should become one?! Especially if there are no regulations!

 

Another concern I have, is why the insurer's documentation has Davies telephone number on - I can't see how to even contact the insurer to complain about Davies (Answer: Google for the insurers contact details - you'll definitely find a Sales phone number! And they can give you further contact details...).

 

It's interesting to read about how the ombudsman has no teeth in this area... I was "saving up" my notes on the claim, to use in a big letter for them, but it looks like that's a waste of time.

 

I am also alarmed at Richard's notes about the lack of legally binding contracts between any of the parties involved in the claim - insurer, loss adjuster, builder - that will make claiming any compensation difficult.

[Conniff]

Welcome kwurhtee. Who is your insurance company ?

[Angela Thorpe Apps]

Hello,

Yes. Multiple probs. with this company. Our house has a septic tank, common in Cornwall where I live. It is not the tank for our property but for 3 other properties which drain into it. We only found out about this tank 2 weeks before we completed. We and they thought emptying it would cure prob. By May 2009 Contractors and myself knew a new system needed to be put in a new tank. To cut a very long and painful story short, the main Insured person with NFU handed this over to loss adjusters in Liskeard and this was April 2010. The first year nothing happened. The second year 2011 nothing happened despite Environment Officers enforcing the tank as a nuisance and it also leaks to the pub next door. The pub and myself have been helpful, big mistake. It is now nearly 3 years he has prevaricated and we cannot enjoy our garden it has also cost us £126 per month to have the tank emptied and now our wall is collapsing due to the vibrations from the tank emptier.

I am at my wits end as we are not the insured person and therefore have no power. ata.

[Conniff]

You have more power than you obviously think Angela. If you have all you talk about on paper, you and the other affected parties can send a letter to the insured and give him a time to get it replaced. You say that if it is not done by (reasonable time) then you will get it done and bill him for it. You will then use the courts for reimbursement if they won't cough up.

 

You can also include the reinstatement of your wall if this was a direct result of them not getting the work done.

[paultheburke]

it seems that there is a common theme running through everyones posts on this site, and that is that basically davies do not have a clue what they are doing, they dont keep you informed or communicate with you and its quite obvious to anyone who will look into it, that they are overworked and indeed inept

 

no one does anything about it including the insurers who let them get away with bad service and deny any wrong doing and absolve themselves of all blame, its like a merry go round

i wouldnt touch them with a barge pole

[Santell]

Hi

Seem to be suffering similar issues with Davies Group but also wild accusations of falsification of certain acepcts of claim relating to a burglary.

Am hoping Richard Withey can PM me with a contact number or email address pls, as he seems to be knowledgeable, or otherwise anyone with knowledge on this organisation!

Thanks

[unclebulgaria67]

Hi

Seem to be suffering similar issues with Davies Group but also wild accusations of falsification of certain acepcts of claim relating to a burglary.

Am hoping Richard Withey can PM me with a contact number or email address pls, as he seems to be knowledgeable, or otherwise anyone with knowledge on this organisation!

Thanks

 

You need to post about 10 comments before the PM system works on here. Even then I doubt Richard or others will discuss via a PM. CAG site team prefers people with a problem to post open comments in their own thread and then people can respond.

 

If you are having problems with a loss adjuster, you need to speak to your Insurance company about it. Make a formal complaint by phone and followed up in writing. If the loss adjuster has submitted a report to the Insurers, ask the Insurrs for a copy, making a Data Protection Subject Access Request if necessary. If the loss adjuster has made any accusations in the report to the Insurers which you can prove to be untrue, then you should speak to a Solicitors.

 

My experience is that sometimes Loss Adjusters say things in reports to Insurers, which they hope don't get back to Policyholders. They should be careful in doing this, if they have no definite proof. If they have suspicions of fraud, then they should speak to the Insurers about it and decide between them how to handle it. The Insurers could send out their own assessor to look into the situation.

[Santell]

Hi,

OK thank you. Sorry, I am new to this forum and dont fully know what the systems are yet.

We have an even bigger issue with the Insurance company itself (London Victoria LV) and have been in dispute with them after they failed to respond for 1 month after notifying them of the burglary so we ended taking stern legal action which they initially responded to arrogantly by disputing everything and creating policy excess limits out of no-where which they then apologised about and withdrew. They since appointed a new handler to manage the case but we are still getting no-where as they have sent in this clearly very professional form of Davies Group with all their history I am now seeing to try and dig into every aspect of personal lives to clearly find irregularities in anything including even digging into on my boyfriend who stayed at the house (only 10 days in previous 8 months) to apparently try and make out I had failed to disclose one of his previous claims to my insurance company. So to me it seems that they are both conspiring and working together in my view.

We were told by the last claims handler at Davies that because of the legal action that the debt ccollection company started & then withdrew, very senior management at LV are pushing to have this claim quashed altogether, but then this loss adjuster vanished (sacked?!) so I have no proof of any of the internal goings on.

LV also fabricated a false and effectively slanderous image of me when the matter went to court by stating I have refused to send them information (which they never actually asked me for) and then they exaggerated the claim value that I had submitted. That legal action ended up being withdrawn because their solicitors were threatening custodial sentences for the debt collection company that I used but also indirect threats against me and everone involved.

We also had to get the house secured ourselves after break in and the repairs done ourselves as LV were no-where to be seen. So we used a freind of a friend but then when LV do appear they accuse us that the whole repairs side is fictitious because the firm had only been trading 18 months and they could find no track record of his business existing, even though the loss adjuster saw the new door and the repaird door and the photos of the damage that occurred and had the police information. Anyway that fictitious claim of their has since been proven they were wrong

But talk about commercial bulling tactics!

More accusation from them have been thrown around that you would be surprised about. Or maybe not!

The claim is still going on.

We lodged a formal complaint at LV and provided them with proof of all the communications sent to them at the beginning which they were claiming they didnt recaived. But they did eventually back down on admitting the phone call took place on night of burglary with their 24 hour emergency service (who actually told us they couldnt do anything to help us in any way! Great 24 emergency service that is!) But then they said the message from that dept didnt get through to the claims dept and also that the emails sent didnt arrive, even though we sent copies of the email receipts as well as copies of screen shots showing the emails were received by them.

So you decide for yourself what opinion to form but I would say this is one for the tabloids if anyone is interested. I wouldnt know where to start myself.

[unclebulgaria67]

"That legal action ended up being withdrawn because their solicitors were threatening custodial sentences for the debt collection company that I used but also indirect threats against me and everone involved."

 

They cannot threaten custodial sentences. It would be up to crown prosecutors and a judge/jury. If they have put that in a letter, you should make a complaint about the Solicitors.

 

For you to involve debt collectors when you did not appear to have a county court judgement against LV sounds a bit strange. There are debt collectors who will act when there is no court judgement, but they don't appear to operate within the rules expected. This may be why LV's Solicitors threatened to go to the Police.

 

My advice for what it is worth is to look at issuing a county court claim for breach of contract in LV not meeting a valid claim against the policy. You should get proper legal advice about this, before you issue the claim. A Solicitor may wish to write to the CEO of LV to see what can be negotiated first.

[Santell]

Hi

 

Thanks for the reponse - much appreciated.

 

No, it wasnt just County Court action. Was another legal method that gets dealt with by a higher level UK Court. Nothing illegal ever went on by anybody so police were never involved/interested. This is a fully legal route

 

Lets see what they come up with but their CEO will be written to at some point for what its worth..

 

Ombudsman also involved but sitting on the sideline for now whilst they are appearing to discuss things again.

 

We will contact solicitors in event we decide to issue a CC Summons. Any recommendations from anyone for sols that have had experience dealing with LV would be appreciated.

 

Updates can follow in case anyone is interested

[honeybee13]

Any recommendations from anyone for sols that have had experience dealing with LV would be appreciated.

 

Hello there. I'm afraid we don't recommend solicitors here. You could have a look on the Law Society website for people with the right speciality.

 

http://solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk/

 

HB

[Santell]

OK thank you for swift replies. I understand.

But I never deal with anyone on any matter without them first being recommended so that I can be sure I am not dealing with an incapable or inexperienced person. Professional qualifications do not always correlate to common sense I have found. Especially where solicitors are concerned.

Hopefully we wont need to go down that route anyway but lets see.

[unclebulgaria67]

OK thank you for swift replies. I understand.

But I never deal with anyone on any matter without them first being recommended so that I can be sure I am not dealing with an incapable or inexperienced person. Professional qualifications do not always correlate to common sense I have found. Especially where solicitors are concerned.

Hopefully we wont need to go down that route anyway but lets see.

 

If you google Solicitors for Insurance disputes, you will see many well known companies who are based all around the country. But I expect that they would be expensive.

[Santell]

Thank you. I will take a look at that.

The value of goods lost in the burglary was horrendous and in our minds that is already gone. The most painful thing was the theft of sentimental items handed down in the family. The money cost of bringing an action is not any issue so its not a problem throwing more money into the situation so long as the quality of work is good. This is more about principle that is being defended here, as well as highlighting the goings on to others as & when we get to an appropriate stage.