Avoid Having to Grouse About Your Property Claim’s Handling

August 12th is often known as the Glorious 12th – the day on which the red grouse and ptarmigan shooting season begins in the countryside.

Whatever your opinion on that, it’s a great day to think about ‘grouses’ within the home insurance and business property insurance worlds. People often come to Property Claim Assist when their grouch has become a major source of irritation, stress or worry, although they could probably have avoided most of these frustrations and health issues if they’d come to us from the start of their property insurance claim.

Grouses typically involve the approach of the insurer and/or their loss adjuster, the adjudications that have been made regarding a claim and often a prospective financial loss for the insured policyholder, if they accept the offer that the insurer has made to rectify property damage. Let’s look at 10 common property insurance claims ‘grouses’!

Here, the insurer says the home insurance or business insurance policy wording in place does not cover the scenario that has led to the financial loss. The policyholder does not know whether or not that is true, as they are not an expert in insurance jargon. Many would just accept what they are told and suffer the loss. Others would call in Property Claim Assist for an independent view. If we are able to argue that the policy wording should, in fact, cover the loss, the grouse tends to be that of “how can the insurance industry get away with short-changing insured customers in this way?” A good question.

Insurers will frequently point to underinsurance as a reason to turn down a claim. If that is true, it can be a financially disastrous situation for the policyholder as they will have their whole claim paid in the proportion to which they are underinsured, as a very best-case scenario, but could be paid nothing. So, if the degree of underinsurance is 25%, they will only get 75% of their claim paid, maximum. On a £10,000 claim that would be £7500, minus the agreed excess on the policy.

This can lead to grousing but it is a clear requirement of home and business insurance that the policyholder calculates sums insured correctly. Having said that, the loss adjuster’s calculations may not be fair and there is sometimes the chance to challenge them, something we can do, if we feel that is the case.

Failure to get through to insurers’ claims departments, an inability to get a helpful response if they do, no call backs from claims handlers and hours spent on automated telephone systems, are all major reasons to grouse right now in 2022. Covid-19 is still being used as an excuse for under-staffing, failure to operate effective home-working regimes and poor insurer IT and internal communications systems. Many policyholders have very good reason to complain, as the standard of support is shocking. By appointing Property Claim Assist to represent you in your claim, all of this hassle can pass from your shoulders to ours.

The staffing situation and cutbacks, plus a lack of new entrants into the loss adjusting sector, have led to situations in which insurers are not sending out loss adjusters for months, even after serious property damage has occurred, as was the case following the July 2021 London floods.

For property owners living amidst property carnage, this is not just a reason to grouse but highly distressing and a major impact on mental health. Again, by letting us step in, we can help reinforce the point to insurers that they are not delivering on the customer service levels that the FCA expects of them and are not treating customers fairly.

Many home insurance policyholders and employers insuring business premises, do not realise insurers are not duty bound to pay you the compensation for your loss that your policy dictates that they should. They will never pay you more than you are entitled to but will frequently seek to pay you less. This is one reason why the person who adjudicates your loss is the loss adjuster, who is paid by the insurer to represent their interest in the claim. If you wish to try to achieve your full entitlement, you would be advised to consider appointing your own representative – a loss assessor – like Property Claim Assist.

A simple assessment of your property damage by a loss adjuster may overlook some key factors that would affect the long-term health of your property. For instance, in the case of smoke damage following a fire, you need to ensure you know how the fabric of the building has been affected, especially if there is water damage too.

Surveyors and other experts may not be introduced into the claims process, to offer their view. Rest assured, that would not happen if Property Claim Assist were your representative.

Some policyholders find they are expected to accept a post-claim situation in which their kitchen units, three-piece suite or other fixtures and furnishings no longer match. This is when a loss adjuster says only part of the ensemble has been damaged – by water or smoke for instance – and so only those pieces can be replaced through the claim. This is not a case of putting you back to your pre-loss condition, expecting an unreasonable compromise with regard to your home décor and appearance. Property Claim Assist would argue as such and seek to gain your rightful entitlement.

Policyholders may well be left to grouse if an insurer claims the weather in their particular location was not bad enough to have caused the property damage they allege. There are many instances where this happens.

Property Claim Assist would call up all relevant localised reports and contest your case for you. Frequently, the insurer has to back down and pay.

It can be confusing and upsetting to deal with a loss adjuster who refuses to explain things in plain English, only justifying actions in terms of insurance jargon. This can lead to other complaints from policyholders but many do not know where to turn to get their own insurance expert in their corner. The answer to that is a loss assessor, just like Property Claim Assist.

If you have insured your property in good faith, you expect the best quality of repairs to put it back to its pre-loss condition. That is often not the case and shoddy workmanship and poor materials can be used. It is repaired but not to the level it should be.

If you appoint Property Claim Assist to handle your claim and want your home to be put back together again, rather than taking a cash settlement, we would work with our approved and trusted contractors, who are high-calibre and use quality materials. There is no chance of you and your home suffering at the hands of cowboy builders – something leading to potential major grouses at some point in the future. It also allows us to charge you nothing.

To avoid all of these grouses within your property insurance claim, get in touch with Property Claim Assist at what is called First Notification of Loss – when you first tell your insurer you need to make a claim. They will be getting their representative – the loss adjuster – involved, so you should similarly get your representation sorted out, by calling 0333 577 2720.