NFU/loss adjuster claim handling - what's your experience?

[flyonthewall]

We have a long standing claim with the NFUM for a subsidence problem to a house (reported 4 years ago). Loss adjusters have tried every trick not to remedy a drains issue including the drain not being within the risk address and poor maintenance, much to my surprise. After much argument including going to their complaints the issue was sorted. We were close to settling the claim, but it has recently been noticed that subsidence is continuing despite all the obvious causes being removed. We are loathe to accept a cash offer in full and final settlement only to see the repairs break and the house subside further. A local civil engineer looked at the house recently and said the hole thing is suffering subsidence and it is ongoing. He commented that it may be more economical and a better bet (for us and insurers) to demolish and rebuild completely as nearly 1/3 of the house's footprint is to be demolished anyway and the foundations would be more robust if rebuilt. Having read of other people's problems with repairing subsidence I genuinely feel it is a bad idea if the house is still moving (planned down doors are catching the frames after the summer and cracks seem to expanded with some new ones since it became so wet from the start of November 2014).

The last loss adjuster discovered damage which I had not noticed and included this within the repairs schedule. Pointing out the recent discovery of further damage to the firm another more senior colleague has taken over the claim and is now claiming the damage to be historical and older than the policy and he is not prepared to accept the other new items in the claim. He is stating one fitted cupboard and wall paper is older than 15 years old when the policy was taken out but as I understand the tenant and her son redecorated the whole house about 8/9 years ago. I am not sure how to date a cupboard really?

Is this the sort of practice loss adjusters try on? In the past I've found NFUM to be pretty fair on claims or am I just unlucky with this claim because it's fairly big? I'm pretty annoyed we have insured everything on and off our farm with the local office, and not ever grumbled about the premiums which just seem to keep creeping up - I suppose this is how they reward loyalty these days!

 

[Zebbedee]

Insurers having a hard time at moment I,m afraid which is bound to affect there claims system, but can only say I found them fair in the past and still have 90% of our business through them.

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

Talk to your local Agent and if that fails speak to the regional director.
If that fails speak to head office, the one good thing about a mutual is that at least you can get to speak to the organ grinders!

 

[slackjawedyokel]

We had a big claim (>100K) with the NFU a few years ago after a barn fire and for us the process was as painless as could be really. That's the main reason we're still with the NFU even though we're probably getting fleeced for premiums. I guess the cost of demolishing and rebuilding a house would be quite a bit higher tho, so they're trying to wriggle out of it.

Pity you hadn't funded the redecoration through your business; you'd still have receipts for the wallpaper and cupboard materials. At the moment it's just your word against their opinion. Could you contact the previous tenants and ask them when they did the work? Amazing how easy it is to find people these days.

 

[Penmoel]

As Frank says is the local agent on side? And the local sales manager and regional director get them all in the link

 

[chaffcutter]

We had a big claim a few years ago, and the loss adjusters tried to write down the claim as much as possible. The NFUM used to have their own claims managers but now everything goes out to loss adjusters and their reputation for being easy on claims (we won't quibble ) !! has gone with it.

 

[beef 1]

We had a subsidence issue with farm bungalow believed to be caused by own trees on drive and surrounding area, thought we had a major problem , but all issues were dealt with by Nfu efficiently and quickly and although the works were major , there has been no repeat of the problem , much to my surprize.
Have to say that was about 5 yrs go or more and the way claims are dealt with has changed ,and not for the better in my opinion , but can only speak as found .Couldn,t have been more straight forward.

 

[renewablejohn]

Talk to your local Agent and if that fails speak to the regional director.
If that fails speak to head office, the one good thing about a mutual is that at least you can get to speak to the organ grinders!

Tried that none of them wanted to know each time the same reply came back the NFU is totally independent of NFU mutual. They only paid out 10k of a 25k claim we moved on needless to say without NFU or NFU Mutual.

 

[Penmoel]

Just remember there is always more than one way to swing a cat!

 

[PSQ]

We had a cottage fire (electrical) a while back. The NFU were fine to deal with. But I regret allowing them to use their own contractors ('ISS', a multi national) who were milking the udders off the NFU and making a shoddy job. I emailed the NFU some pictures of the electricians attempts to join new mains cable to fire damaged with insulating tape and ISS fired him on the spot.

 

[flyonthewall]

This is the impression I'm getting some parts of the mutual are genuine and will bend over backwards to help, certainly the admin in the local office is really very good. What I fear is that because much of the work is now being contracted out to loss adjusters/claim handling companies they are milking the NFU. Certainly with the drains the blokes who did the work were a national company and charged a fortune for lining them when digging up and replacing in new plastic would have been cheaper and more satisfactory. What worries me is that 4 years into the claim the house is still moving (some of it is on fill) and the whole house has significant distortions all of which is progressive with current recent subsidence. Because the loss adjusters have failed to deal with problem from day one it is going to end up costing the mutual a lot more than it should be. I was told the L/A are paid on commission for what they save the mutual........

I suppose there is more than one way to skin a cat after all, and a lot of it boils down to professional opinion. Probably track down the tenants and see what they say. I think its fair to say that a lot of people fill cracks over with filler when redecorating and don't give the possibility of subsidence a second thought. Needless to say after this experience I will be looking for some of my insurance elsewhere!

 

[Exfarmer]

|The loss adjusters are independents today.
they are employed by the insurers not the insured .
It is natural they will try to reduce claims to curry favour with the people who pay the bills.
Sounds like the services of a good agent are called for

 

[Welsh Farmer]

I am going through that very thing right at the moment @flyonthewall and the NFU are my insurers. The problem's been on going for some years because as soon as the problem was sorted back it would come again and the loss adjustor's would not listen to common sense over what was the problem actually was. My experience with the NFU has been spot on and they have been marvellous but my experience with some of the companies involved in handling the case has been less so. Any concerns or complaints I've had I've gone back to our NFU agent and he has sorted things out for me and has even attended table meetings with me in an effort to be of assistance.

Not sure if you are dealing with Crawford & Co ... whom we found a nightmare and the next company that was called in made our NFU agent practically boot him out the door himself because of his attitude. I'm more than happy with things now. Sometimes the NFU don't realise how awkward these loss adjusting companies are being with their (the NFU) members so I would go back and speak with your agent and let him know.

 

[Penmoel]

I. Sometimes the NFU don't realise how awkward these loss adjusting companies are being with their (the NFU) members so I would go back and speak with your agent and let him know.

Correct.
I was an agent for 21 years, go back to your agent make him earn his commission, when there is a claim is when you need him most and see what he/she is worth to you and just whose corner they are fighting for.

 

[upnortheast]

Not sure if you are dealing with Crawford & Co ... whom we found a nightmare

Interesting - We had a claim against a company a couple of years ago. All thoughly costed and documented.
The above loss adjusters tried to reduce the claim by 35%.
Fortunatly a chap who we help with his cattle happens to be a high flying solicitor. He provided the words for a letter for us to write in response. The claim was settled in full within a week !
Guess its a matter of knowing how the system works

 

[will l]

You can always appoint your own loss adjuster,
They are called public loss adjusters and assesors whilsthey cannot increase the value of your claim they will ensure you get everthing to which you are entitled,

 

[flyonthewall]

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I would like to think we could rely on our local agent but repeated phone calls over the last month and told he is out of the office, and he will return the call, but nothing as yet. Girls in the office say it's out of the local office's hands. Blindly we keep paying the premiums on the premise that NFUM will see us right.

I am now very wary of the whole system, especially Davies the l/adjusters and fear they are taking the same approach as with welsh farmer: chasing good money after bad. I now intend appointing my own loss adjuster/assesor and finding some decent legal representation. NFUM have seriously gone down in my estimation, they are just the same as any other insurer, happy to take our premiums but when it comes down to paying out on a claim will try to reduce it to the smallest possible amount, especially in the current climate with all of the flooding.

 

[Matt]

we have had a claim on a fire this year. Crawfords and Co were loss adjusters and cant speak highly enough of the assor. ok was a little slow on times getting a interim payment report through but on the hole ok. worked with us and put things under diff parts of policy to get paid what we were insured for.
just waiting on the last part which was our business interruption claim. so that may have helped as the longer he took the higher that went.

 

[Forever Fendt]

We have a long standing claim with the NFUM for a subsidence problem to a house (reported 4 years ago). Loss adjusters have tried every trick not to remedy a drains issue including the drain not being within the risk address and poor maintenance, much to my surprise. After much argument including going to their complaints the issue was sorted. We were close to settling the claim, but it has recently been noticed that subsidence is continuing despite all the obvious causes being removed. We are loathe to accept a cash offer in full and final settlement only to see the repairs break and the house subside further. A local civil engineer looked at the house recently and said the hole thing is suffering subsidence and it is ongoing. He commented that it may be more economical and a better bet (for us and insurers) to demolish and rebuild completely as nearly 1/3 of the house's footprint is to be demolished anyway and the foundations would be more robust if rebuilt. Having read of other people's problems with repairing subsidence I genuinely feel it is a bad idea if the house is still moving (planned down doors are catching the frames after the summer and cracks seem to expanded with some new ones since it became so wet from the start of November 2014).

The last loss adjuster discovered damage which I had not noticed and included this within the repairs schedule. Pointing out the recent discovery of further damage to the firm another more senior colleague has taken over the claim and is now claiming the damage to be historical and older than the policy and he is not prepared to accept the other new items in the claim. He is stating one fitted cupboard and wall paper is older than 15 years old when the policy was taken out but as I understand the tenant and her son redecorated the whole house about 8/9 years ago. I am not sure how to date a cupboard really?

Is this the sort of practice loss adjusters try on? In the past I've found NFUM to be pretty fair on claims or am I just unlucky with this claim because it's fairly big? I'm pretty annoyed we have insured everything on and off our farm with the local office, and not ever grumbled about the premiums which just seem to keep creeping up - I suppose this is how they reward loyalty these days!

how old is the property

 

[Clive]

not a fan of NFU loss adjusters - the "we don't quibble" line couldn't be further from the truth in my experience, local secretary seems to try his best to fight their stupidity and guilty until proven innocent attitude

I expect other companies are no better but as I have recently found out they are at least significantly cheaper !