Watches stolen, vouchers incoming, what to get.

[moonigan]

My house was burgled last week and along with TVs, computers, jewellery a couple of watches were taken. One was a Planet Ocean and the other was a £300 G-Shock. The insurers are still going through the valuation process but have said they will offer vouchers for Ernest Jones. Thing is both watches have seen little use in the past couple of years as I pretty much wear my Garmin Fenix all the time so I'm not sure what to replace them with. My initial thoughts are on something that I can stick in a cupboard to wear as a dress watch or to pass onto my son when I shuffle off this mortal coil.

However Ernest Jones don't do a great selection so I may push them for vouchers to use at Goldsmiths who are also on their list of approved retailers which opens up the selection. First thoughts are steel Datejust 41 which should be a safe bet any other suggestions?

[bigandclever]

This perhaps isn't desperately helpful, but I had a bike nicked a couple of years ago and the insurer wanted to send me vouchers for use at their 'approved supplier'. I moaned that they couldn't provide a like-for-like replacement, so the insurer offered some Evans vouchers. I then moaned that their prices meant a like-for-like replacement would end up costing me money and long story short they sent me a cheque. Only took a couple of phone calls.

[blue_haddock]

I've also had a similar issue in the past and pushed back at the insurance company resulting in them paying me out in cash so it can be done.

[Wills2]

Another point would be if your PO isn't made anymore, I wouldn't want vouchers for a new PO if my 2500 PO was stolen I'd want the cash value so I could replace it like for like on the used market.

[spaximus]

When we were burgled the insurer did the same and gave a higher value of vouchers to use than a cash offer. This was because they got a discount from the company involved.

What I did was to go and chose a watch and negotiate a deal then when it came time to pay handed over the vouchers. There was a bit of huffing and puffing but in the end they took them, with a bit more cash at full value against a stonking deal on a more expensive watch than I had.

[GC8]

Vouchers will almost certainly exclude Rolex. Id push for a cash settlement too.

[moonigan]

Decided to take the cash as the restrictions on the vouchers were too prohibitive. The settlement was just over 60% of the voucher value.

[GC8]

60%?!? You’ve been had.

[NDA]

Lovely that you have to negotiate with your insurance company after you've been burgled.... it's not quite how they represent themselves in their brochures.

They're clearly getting a double whammy with the jewellery outfit on the vouchers - they get trade pricing, your vouchers are for full retail.

Such a scam.

A very small plug for Chubb insurance here - after being ripped off by an insurance company previously, I moved to Chubb. They settle in full, in cash, no questions. I lost a Breguet over the side of my boat - immediate cheque for the full amount from Chubb. They're more expensive, but you get what you pay for I guess.

[GC8]

Noted.

[Miocene]

Might be a useful link in the below thread on TZ UK:

https://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.php?445658-Sign...

Interestingly when my wife lost her engagement ring there was never any question of a signet voucher or similar. They would have made one to match, but it would have been sight unseen.

[moonigan]

Miocene said:

Might be a useful link in the below thread on TZ UK:

https://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.php?445658-Sign...

Interestingly when my wife lost her engagement ring there was never any question of a signet voucher or similar. They would have made one to match, but it would have been sight unseen.

We were offered the same. "Bespoke jewellery" but it would have been unseen and initially credit with Ernest Jones for the watches. I then enquired about the Gem Card which is accepted at a lot of high street jewellers but there were restrictions on what products you could use it against. No Rolex, IWC for example. I could have used the vouchers to purchase 2 Omega Planet Oceans and then try to sell them but these would have been a full RRP. In then end I figured that I would be lucky to get 60% of the full value but would have all the hassle associated with selling an expensive item so opted for the cash.

[gizlaroc]

So you accepted 60% of the value of the watch?

I think you have been a bit silly here if that is the case.

[moonigan]

gizlaroc said:

So you accepted 60% of the value of the watch?

I think you have been a bit silly here if that is the case.

It was over 60% but that's neither here nor there. What would you have done? Have you read the thread or just jumped in with both foot feet which appears to be the norm around here. The insurers will not give a cash settlement which is greater than what it costs them to replace the items. Unless, of course you have a specialist policy. So you either take vouchers or accept the cash offer. What do you think the second hand value of a brand new PO is?

[gizlaroc]

Sorry I didn't mean to come across like that.


Entry price for a Planet Ocean is around £4500 isn't it?
No idea what model yours was?
I got the impression it was not a current model?
If so, I would have said that I would be prepared to walk away with 80% of the current list price and run the risk of not being able to find the model I wanted in stock somewhere and me having to put more in at a later date to get a newer version if I wanted one.


That is what you should have pushed for, they would have buckled in the end.

But I totally get that you just wanted the cash and were happy with what you got, I probably would have done the same to be honest.




Even with car insurance, when they get a silly repair quote you can always ask for cash in lieu, many people don't realise this. You can then go somewhere else cheaper to get the work done, pocket the difference and it is not logged as Cat D or whatever.