Calis Beach and Fethiye Turkey Discussion Forum
Calis Beach Forum => Calis Beach Questions and Information => Topic started by: stoop on May 14, 2008, 17:19:51 PM
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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[:(!]
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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.
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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.
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PS,
Kitchen cupboards 652.50
Depreciation 10% -56.25
Total 506.25
Also, 652.50 minus 56.25 does not equal 506.25
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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.
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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
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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
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i will let you know if they don't pay out
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Are you with Intasure then, Puma? [:(!]
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no but i will post about the insurance firm i am with if they are not forcoming with what i want
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Another thing that sticks out like a sore thumb to me (after selling insurance for a lot of years) is that I have yet to come across an insurance policy that deducts wear and tear from buildings cover. How can this be? All buildings are covered for full replacement costs otherwise someone with a 100 year old house would get naff all if it fell down: "Oh sorry to say we have knocked off 100 years wear and tear from the claim Mr A".
Apart from that there is no mention of this in our policy wording at all.
This is going to get very interesting over the next few weeks.
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I feel i must put my 10pence worth in here.
My villa was flooded the same time as Stoops( for those who dont know we are nieghbours )I am with AXA insurance and the figures that I recieved the same time as stoop dont add up either
Building Policy Excess 1803 YTL
Assessment
Painting and labour 400 YTL = £166.00
Kitchen cupboards 800 YTL = £333.00
Doors 500 YTL = £208.00
Total assessment 1700 YTL
I am being told that the excess is more than the claim so no payout.
So were can i get someone to replace my kitchen cupboards and doors for the price they have assessed when I paid £2000.00 for my Kitchen last year
I await your comments
Ron
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Also it's very interesting that although we are with different insurance companies (and different brokers) we have on two occasions got the same (or very similar) emails on the same days telling us that our claim was refused - and only after we both chased up the claim - separately I might add.
The plot thickens.
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quote:
Originally posted by puma
no but i will post about the insurance firm i am with if they are not forcoming with what i want
Puma
You should post the name of your insurance company (when your claim is sorted) so that other members can either use or avoid them, depending on the outcome.
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Dave do you have any thoughts on this matter " you being a local and that " does it ring any bells with you ?
Thanks
Ron
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Crikey Stoop, I've just had a thought - my house in the UK is 105 years old. If I was insured with that insurance company, I'd actually owe THEM money if I tried to make a claim, by the time they used their depreciation figures :o !
I'm not making light of your problem at all - I really feel for you. Insurance is never cheap, and we hope never to have to make a claim, but when or if we do, we expect it to be dealt with in the correct manner. All the best, I hope you get it sorted. It certainly does sound a bit suspicious though. :(
Julie
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Ron
I don`t bother with insurance, I`ve heard too many "they didn`t pay out stories"
If my house collapsed I`d get more in scrap for the reinforcing rods than I would from an insurance company. :D
Plus I`d still own the land.
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Dave,
I'm really wondering if it was worth the £185 we paid for this cover after this escapade. I think we might just consider earthquake cover only next time.
Julesbob,
I know you are not making light of or situation but actually it is quite funny (if it wasn't costing us money) that we have been hit with wear and tear on the buildings cover - even though there is no mention of it in the policy. As you say - in many cases you would owe them money if you had an old house.
As far as I know we have had no actual correspondence from the insurance company direct so it will be interesting to see what their replies are to 1: My email to their Head Office and 2: Jim's email to their office in Fethiye. We were told initially that a claim was put in for all the downstairs furniture and the dvd player - then we find out this is a total of 300ytl!!
For those that haven't seen the damage I have a few photos:
(http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y275/stoopo/DSCF3382.jpg)
(http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y275/stoopo/DSCF3380.jpg)
(http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y275/stoopo/DSCF3383.jpg)
(http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y275/stoopo/DSCF3379.jpg)
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Whilst not involving a damage claim, mine was a burglary, I have to say it was dealt with very quickly by Aviva(Turkish) and I had received payment in a month. Initially they did not want to pay for a telephoto lens for my camera as "It did not belong to the camera" but they agreed when I pointed out it was actually attached to the camera and not an extra and I also discovered a very small amount of cash in a wallet was "Not covered". There was a small standard excess but no other deductions were made on my claim figures. :)
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Thanks Brian - obviously we will be looking out for a new company soon so that helps. Did you deal with the claim yourself?
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No Evrensel Sigorta in Fethiye.....As far as I know they only deal with Aviva so maybe agent status rather than a broker. :)
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Thanks again Brian. It's good to know you got help from the insurance agent/broker.
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We too have been 'stung' by an insurance company, cant remember the name but its the one Finans Bank use if you ask them to cover contents and buildings. We had an accident with a 10 month old LCD Television and after checking with Bekir at Eren Spot (original place of purchase) he advised us to claim on our insurance. After they had deducted 'wear & tear', searched the internet for the cheapest price in Turkey for a replacement (apparently this is common practice), and taken off the excess we were left with a pittance. On returning to Bekir and informing him of what we had been offered his advice was 'change your insurance company'!! Needless to say, our next port of call was Finans Bank to cancel all insurance!
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Interesting! I hope others are taking note of this thread.
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I emailed the insurance company head office and got a reply today. They have agreed to send out the loss adjuster to meet us when we are all over there in a few weeks time. Still no answer about the wear and tear deduction on the buildings section so I have asked him to explain how this can be.
I'll let you know the outcome or any further news as it happens.
Stu
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My insurance co are not aware or cannot find my claim yet so have emailed there UK office & Turkish office
Ron
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Ron,
Well I got the message 'I have spoken to our Antalya Regional Office to obtain the details and we have come to a conclusion that further examination of the house and it's contents is necessary to determine the exact amount of loss'
I am now going to ask for copies of the original claim to see what was claimed and when.
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Yes but who would have those copies ?
Ron
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Hopefully the insurance company have copies otherwise how could they reuse the claim?