Help Accused of making a frudlent claim on home insurance

[Gecko1978]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I have never had an issue like this before and after first guy had been to look at the floor I figured all was well when they sent the cheque (£570 for new flooring). Seems the issue was with the Ipad causing the damage, just had a look at the case it was in and there are tears an damages to all four sides with glass fragments from the ipad still in it.

So it seems there attitude to this being immposible is not true. But hey they are doing there job just the Oik on the phone bullied my wife for over an hour till she was in a right state thinking she had commited a crime.

But the PH faithful are right fk them we did nothing wrong and they (same firm) have taken our cash for 9 years happily until we actually weanted to use th eservice we have paid for so I am not letting this one go.

Thanks once again you have restored my faith in commen decency whihc is sadly lacking in most of the people I encounter day to day (I work in a bank so maybe not surprising)

[mickk]

Keep us informed, would love to now what response you get.

[agent006]

Gecko1978 said:

So it seems there attitude to this being immposible is not true. But hey they are doing there job just the Oik on the phone bullied my wife for over an hour till she was in a right state thinking she had commited a crime.

Keep going with your claim but also raise a separate complaint about this. You never know, his gaffer might just be waiting for another complaint after the final written warning he gave last month so he can fire the tosser.

[Spitfire2]

Agree with the above. Make the complaint in addition to pursuing the claim.

And even if they pay the claim do not drop the complaint until they have investigated and apologised. If they don't escalate it to the ombudsman.

These companies must follow a specific procedure to deal with complaints.

[japgt]

Sounds like typical legal and general get out tactics to me, stand your ground, pursue the claim fully and whilst at it make a complaint to the ombudsman about the overbearing slanderous comments levelled at you by the person in question, it will be easy to get the name of the person involved as all calls are recorded and archived, request full copys of the recordings and manuscripts of the conversation, that should st them up enought to stop hasseling you.

[agent006]

Request recordings of the calls now (via a data protection "Subject Access Request" if you have to) as it's harder for them to "lose" the recording so soon after.

[nails1979]

I dropped a video tape in its box on a laminate floor from waist height and it took a chunk out of the floor. To be honest I wouldn't of bothered to claim for that, not because im a powerfully built director but just because I see insurance for major stuff like floods fire etc.
But you should fight it.

[Jasandjules]

Rude-boy said:

Really? how come? Please educate us as i had no idea about such a thing!

Because (I believe) the complaint going through the Ombudsman is a cost of I think £750 to the company, regardless of liability.

ETA - and I'd be f***ng livid if they said that to me. I got ar**y enough when they should I couldn't cut a pipe and cap it as a "plumber" needed to. So we had an entire utility room ruined that they had to replace.

[IATM]

skeeterm5 said:

A couple of thoughts;

1) If the claim is genuine then you should absolutely follow it up

2) I would ask for a copy of the call recording and raise a formal complaint about attitude.

S

100% agree with this. the call seems very much like a bullying tactic. i would have kicked up hell and asked to speak to an operations manager immed

[Wacky Racer]

I would definitely stand your ground, if only because if you drop your claim and return their cheque you may go on some "black list" somewhere which is shared between insurance companies...

Not relating to this case, but I do have a certain amount of sympathy for insurance companies because they probably have to deal with hundreds of bogus claims a day...... false "whiplash" injuries and the like....

Good luck...

[Simpo Two]

Gecko1978 said:

the Oik on the phone bullied my wife for over an hour till she was in a right state thinking she had commited a crime.

If true it's inexcusable; the culprit should be sacked.

An HOUR?

[elanfan]

Some Insurers have stress detection software on their phone systems (I'm fairly sure Admiral do but not so sure about L&G). This picks up various inflections and tones that are commonly used when lying. Anecdotally - the operator is alerted to the increased stress levels which apparently then generates further questions to be asked. If the claimant continues to 'fail' by producing further stressed responses they are told of the facts and invited to withdraw their claims - again anecdotally a fair proportion do just that.

I'm not saying this is what happened here but it does make you wonder.

I had a retired Detective Inspector sent to my home by my insurers to investigate a fire claim on a classic car. I was working for the very same company at the time and had completed around 30 years service - strangely in a position of trust where the work I did impacted on clients with £M's of stock.

Was also very interesting when as I was staff I accidentally got cc'd into an internal claims dept memo over the matter. The author of the mail got a direct phone call to their desk from me which resulted in much spluttering and awkward silence etc from them and was followed up with a complaint to the UK Claims Manager again directly (we had a great desk to desk phone system). Person got a severe bking.

Sometimes you just bump into some internal rules or an asshat!

[KFC]

I'm not saying you're lying, but from the other side it definitely sounds a bit weird. I've got an iPad in my hand right now, and its not particularly heavy with rounded off corners. Its hard to imagine dropping it on the floor would lead to anything other than damage to the iPad only.

I'm betting the thought process on their end is that you have legitimately damaged your floor in an accident. Then decided you're going to lose excess/have the hassle of making a claim/increased costs next year anyway, and decided to swap the cabinet that fell over, to an iPad falling and get yourself a little freebie.

[ShortShift811]

Paul Drawmer said:

This was the first response, and it is the correct one. Pursue the claim in the normal way, you have nothing to be frightened of.

Keep all documentation relating to the claim and do not communicate by phone. Keep it all in writing or email.

If your claim is refused, follow their complaints procedure until you are sent the the final letter which gives you the right to take the problem to the ombudsman.

Don't get wound up by bullying tactics, just record them. If you receive phone calls from them, ask them to put it in writing, but still take notes of the call (Date and time the notes to prove that they are contemporaneous.

Insurance companies do use methods of sifting claims to try and identify fraud, it would appear that your claim is failing on some of the simple tests. However, NOT pursuing the claim will make you look a fraud. Just be patient, be clear in your communication, and when it is all over, ask them to explain why they called you a liar.

This. Pursue the claim and record every contact you have with them. If you feel your claim isn't being dealt with fairly, escalate via the insurance company's complaints procedure. Only once this has been exhausted can you then go to the Ombudsman should you need to.

(Another insurance bod here, which I see Paul is from his profile).

[Rude-boy]

R8Steve said:

It's a standard flat fee of £500 to the company if a case is opened against them, win or lose. At least it is in banking, I'm not sure if insurance is the same right enough. It's hardly hefty to these big companies right enough but there is a fee.

Cheers,

As you say £500 isn't a huge sum, but times it by 100 and you are starting to get serious, heck that's money for a good second hand R8

[Rude-boy]

Jasandjules said:

ETA - and I'd be f***ng livid if they said that to me. I got ar**y enough when they should I couldn't cut a pipe and cap it as a "plumber" needed to. So we had an entire utility room ruined that they had to replace.

I'd be after balls on a plate if I were the OP but then in my World a fraudulent insurance claim could be the end of my career so I suspect my reaction would be a little more volatile than most and they would be receiving a cheek clenching letter from one of my fellow partners upstairs before today was out.

As for your issue, your mistake was of course to call the insurance people before capping the leak

[Terminator X]

hedgefinder said:

If its a genuine claim , whats to worry about, just stand your ground.

This. Attitude demonstrated by your insurer beggars belief. Certainly tell them to fook off at renewal time.

TX.

[amancalledrob]

Rude-boy said:

amancalledrob said:

Remember also that the Ombudsman will charge a fairly hefty fee to the insurer even if they find in the insurer's favour, so if you want a bit of financial revenge then that's a good way to get it.

Really? how come? Please educate us as i had no idea about such a thing!

I work for a private medical insurer and the fee from the FOS is something we always weigh up when we're dealing with a complaint. Sometimes we'll tell a member we still feel they're wrong but we're paying their claim 'as a gesture of goodwill' when what we really mean is 'as it's cheaper to pay £50 for physio your policy doesn't entitle you to than it is to pay FOS £500 to tell you we were right'.

Stick to your guns. If you know you're right then you've nothing to worry about.

[valais]

KFC said:

I'm not saying you're lying, but from the other side it definitely sounds a bit weird. I've got an iPad in my hand right now, and its not particularly heavy with rounded off corners. Its hard to imagine dropping it on the floor would lead to anything other than damage to the iPad only.

Depends. I can see it damaging a soft wood floor if it hit on the ipad corner.

[onesickpuppy]

valais said:

KFC said:

I'm not saying you're lying, but from the other side it definitely sounds a bit weird. I've got an iPad in my hand right now, and its not particularly heavy with rounded off corners. Its hard to imagine dropping it on the floor would lead to anything other than damage to the iPad only.

Depends. I can see it damaging a soft wood floor if it hit on the ipad corner.

On the other hand, I find it hard to believe that a drop onto laminate flooring could cause the following damage to the iPad:

Gecko1978 said:

Ok two weeks my wife tripped over in our front room with her Ipad in her hand fell onto the floor and the ipad damaged the laminate floor (gouge in it) and the glass shattered and it looks like it was bent in two.