ERGOISVICRE and AXA Insurance Warning

[stoop]

Just a brief warning at this stage (I will be writing a detailed post in  the very near future).

I would NOT recommend this insurance company to anyone hoping to get paid out for a claim. Both ourselves and our next door neighbour have recently had a claim rejected for flood damage and both claims (amazingly) were just under the excess amount on the policies.

The estimates put in by the assessor are an absolute joke as for similar damage to both (identical) properties there are differing claim amounts - yet both seem to have been manipulated to make sure they are just under the excess.

My advice is to stay well away from this company and try and insure with one that you know will pay out (I know someone on the forum has  had a successful claim recently for the same floods - so maybe they could let us know who they are insured with). Actually I have just remembered that they were insured with Aviva and got paid out around £1600 for a whole new downstairs.

This claim is now closed as far as the insurance company and our management company are concerned (who we paid £60 to administer the claim for us) so we now have the task of trying to get the insurance company to change the assessors figures when we go over to Turkey in June. Otherwise we will have to pay for the decorating, cleaning, new furniture and new kitchen out of our own funds.

This claim has been going on since the floods in December!

 
Be warned[!]

[stoop]

More details as promised. The claim amount is shown in YTL and the flood excess on our policy is 2% f the sum assured for both buildings (1615YTL) and contents 330YTL). I have now sent this to the Ergo Head Office:

Ref policy number :.................

Dear Sir,


Our property was flooded in December 2007 and we asked our management company to administer the claim for us whilst we were in the UK. We have now received a reply from your claims department which we find totally unacceptable. Please could you address the following points for us:



Hi Stuart
 
We have just received details of the insurance assessment for your property from the insurance broker. It is as follows:
 
Buildings

Interior painting  350.00
   
Exterior painting  880.00
   
Depreciation 20%   -246.00
   
Total              984.00


Kitchen cupboards  652.50
   

Depreciation 10%   -56.25
   

Total              506.25

 
Cleaning           100.00


Overall Total      1590.25YTL

Policy excess      1615YTL
   
Claim Paid         NIL
 
   
Contents
   
Furniture repairs  300.00YTL

Excess             330YTL



Claim Paid         NIL

Points we would like to make:

1. Interior and exterior painting - Whilst we agree with the costings on this we do NOT agree with the 20% deduction for depreciation The inside was painted less than 2 years ago at a cost of 625ytl and no way can you justify this amount of wear and tear in such a short period of time. The outside was painted by us last summer and again 20% wear and tear is far too high. We would like to know how they arrived at these figures please. We would also like to see quotations for both interior and exterior painting.

On reading the insurance documents we can find no clause which states depreciation will be taken off the claim and indeed it is entitled 'comprehensive' cover which normally means NEW for OLD.  We would like the insurance company to point out this wording please - or delete the depreciation from the claim.

2. Kitchen Cupboards - they have quoted 625.50ytl to replace the cupboards - less 10% depreciation. We would like you, the insurance company, to supply us with the details of a local tradesman that could supply and fit the units at this price. Also we would expect them to match the top cupboards or they would need replacing as well. Based on the quotes we have had we think this is far too low.

Again please ask them to point out the depreciation clause or delete this depreciation from the claim.

3. Cleaning - We actually paid out management company 200YTL for the cleaning and can provide you with a receipt for this.

4. Furniture repairs - this is not detailed enough. We want to know exactly what was claimed for and the cost of replacement. 300ytl will not get much more than the dvd player which you said was damaged.

Finally, having spoken to or next door neighbour, we have come to the conclusion that it's very odd that both our claims come out just under the amount of excess on our policies. Quite frankly this bit worries me most as I understand how insurance companies work (having been an adviser for 20 years) and this is obviously a ploy to avoid paying out.

If there is no movement by your company then we will need to arrange for the broker/assessor to be on site when we are over there in June. Rest assured we are not happy about this and will take things as far as possible in order to get a fair settlement.

Please also note than when we agreed to take out this policy we were NOT told about the large excess on damage caused by flooding (2% of the sum assured) . We feel that this should have been pointed out to us at the point of sale and if it had been we would not have allowed our management company to take out this cover for us. We would have gone elsewhere for our cover.

[Crabbit]

quote:Originally posted by stoop

Kitchen cupboards  652.50
   

Depreciation 10%   -56.25
   

Total              506.25

Erm, I may not be a mathematical Genius, but even I know that 10% 0f 625.50 isn`t 56.25.

[Crabbit]

PS,
Kitchen cupboards 652.50

Depreciation 10% -56.25

Total 506.25

Also, 652.50 minus 56.25 does not equal  506.25

[stoop]

Crabbit - that says it all about this claim! That's why we have gone directly to their Head Office as we think something is seriously amiss with the whole process.

My guess above though is that they have got the 6 and the 5 the wrong way around (65.25?) but even then it doesn't add up.

[puma]

i am also waiting for a claim to be paid out by a different company it has not been as long as stoops only 6 weeks but they are dragging their heels
what is it about insurance in turkey they don't want to pay out

[julesbob0303]

Puma, which company are you with?  Stoop's claim with his insurance company is making me feel very uneasy.  We are insured with Intasure, which we sorted out in the Uk.  There doesn't appear to be many companies who will insure properties in Turkey (unless you are able to do it whilst you're over there, of course).

Hope all works out well for both of you, Julie

[puma]

i will let you know if they don't pay out

[julesbob0303]

Are you with Intasure then, Puma? [!]

[puma]

no but i will post about the insurance firm i am with if they are not forcoming with what i want