Problem with household insurance company?

Question

On July 17th 2008 i slipped on my stairs while bringing my vcr/dvd recorder combi back downstairs (I had been watching DVDs upstairs and it was the only dvd player in the house) and i accidentally dropped it till it landed at the bottom of the stairs with the front smashed off. I phoned my household insurance company (Royal Sun Alliance who do a special deal for council tenants in my area) and they sent me a claim form. I filled it out and returned it. On the 30th of July i got a call off a company working on behalf of my insurance company telling me they were arranging an engineer to come out and have a look at the vcr/dvd recorder combi. I got a phone call later that day from Comet who arranged for the engineer to visit the following day. He arrived, took 1 look at it and told me it was a write off and could not be fixed. He left me a copy of his report and told me that my insurance would be in touch soon. I did not get any contact from them for 2 weeks until i phoned them on the 15th of August to ask them what was going on. I was told that another company called Power Play was dealing with it and my insurance would get them to call me. Power Play did call me and told me they would give me a Comet card with £112.35 to replace the vcr/dvd recorder combi but i told them i couldnt buy 1 off ebay for that price let alone from Comet!! I was online at the time and looked at Comet's website and the cheapest I have seen similar to mine was priced at £179.99!! Power Play promised to phone me back but they never did so i chased my insurance company on the 19th of August and they said they would get Power Play to call me but i have still heard nothing. What can i do about this?

Answer 1

YOU PROBABLY HAVE AN EXCESS ON YOUR CONTENTS INSURANCE THE LEAST IT COULD BE IS £50 AND COULD  BE MORE IF YOU HAVE A VOLUNTARY EXCESS ON IT TOO. SO IF ITS ONLY 50 XS THEN THEY SEE IT AS HAVING PAID OUT 162.35

Answer 2

If any company is going to reimburse you for your broken player it will be on a depreciation basis. Take the offer from Comet and be thankful that they offered you that. Contact Comet.

Answer 3

hi.

i would recommend calling your insurance company and asking them to chase powerplay on your behalf. also ask if you can stay on hold while they call so you know that you will get an answer. the card that they were going to send you may have been the cost after the excess has been deducted which is why it was for a lower amount.

also if you get copies of quotes for a new dvd player and advise your insurance company of the cost then they may be able to authorise powerplay to give you a card with more money on it.

good luck, hope this helps

Answer 4

You need to trawl through the small print in your policy, firstly. Not all deals replace new for old.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/co...