Anyone know much about contents insurance???

Hi,

Well I put in a claim for my 4yr old iMac which the children spilt water over and well it blew up, so called insurance and said it's liquid damaged all ok not much detail of accident taken, so they sent to a company who wrote a report and offered a replacement, I say can i have a macbook which is ok but they want an upgrade price after offering a new £969 iMac, so i called insurance company and ask for a cash settlement, they say we need to find out the cost of the machine which bevalued (the company that have my iMac) said they pay £1022.24 for it so I should get this.

I called the insurance company and they saythey are waiting on the report and do i have a receipt (now this was never mentioned before and on previous claims near £1000 had never been asked for) so i say no it's 4yrs old, ok they say the guy dealing wth it will call you shortly, he calls and asks loads of questions like where did your get it?, was it secondhand?, how much? and says we will send you a letter as there are discrepancies between what I have told and the engineers report???????

What now I feel like i'm committing fraud.

Any ideas why they are doing this? anyone had a simular issue?

[Viney]

Do you have a new for old policy? if so then they are obliged to replce your device with the current model only. If you decide to change it to say, a macbook, then this is technically not the terms of thier policy. Some insurance companies can be funny and to the letter of the law, some are a bit more flexible. I would just take the new iMac and save all the fannying aorund.

I suppose what they try do is to stop people that DO commit fraud by thinking 'oh i need a new PC, i'll just throw water down the back and i'll get a Macbook instead' type things. You are genuine, but plent are not hence the run around i suppose.

Whn i had our shed cleared out 18 months ago, they put me through to a few companies, and i just spilled off a list of stuff that had gone missing, and a load of boxes turned up the following week. But that was a burglary so noting to show/take away to compare.

Originally Posted by Viney

Do you have a new for old policy? if so then they are obliged to replce your device with the current model only. If you decide to change it to say, a macbook, then this is technically not the terms of thier policy. Some insurance companies can be funny and to the letter of the law, some are a bit more flexible. I would just take the new iMac and save all the fannying aorund.

I suppose what they try do is to stop people that DO commit fraud by thinking 'oh i need a new PC, i'll just throw water down the back and i'll get a Macbook instead' type things. You are genuine, but plent are not hence the run around i suppose.

Whn i had our shed cleared out 18 months ago, they put me through to a few companies, and i just spilled off a list of stuff that had gone missing, and a load of boxes turned up the following week. But that was a burglary so noting to show/take away to compare.

It is an old for new policy but I was told if i'm not happy with the offered replacement I could have a cash settlement.

[Viney]

Fair do's. Then sadly they go into the 'insurance world of doom' mode and drag it out as long as possible. Ask if you can see the report as well. The engineer might be pulling a fast one, trying to get more money out of the insurance company than they should be. Always a possibility i suppose.

[TamSV]

I wouldn't get too worried at this stage. Cash settlement requests can be a fraud marker so insurers might take a closer look. It's always worrying when people leave you with a cryptic suggestion of a problem but it sounds like normal enquiries to me so far. They are unlikely to let you see any reports at this stage though.

Is this "engineer" actually a replacement vendor? If so, there's nowt in it for him if insurers agree to give you a cash settlement. I'm not suggesting this would influence him in any way

Just stick to your facts and you should be right.

If you bought it with a debit card or credit card try and get a duplicate statement showing the purchase. Some insurance policies do require you to provide proof of purchase... it's usually hidden in the small print: "The big print giveth... the small print taketh away." That being said, it'll probably be alright in the end, just chase 'em up and make a nuisance of yourself.