Just a quick update, After speaking with the loss adjuster regarding my laptop claim, he was in agreement that the valuation provided by Ival was too low and that the replacement they had offered was definately not "like for like" The original valuation was £424 (although the replacement they offered can be found on sale for £299!), the new valuation provided by the loss adjuster is £549! I would certainly advise anyone dealing with Ival/Powerplay to involve a loss adjuster, remember it costs you nothing more than a little of your time! As an additional point of interest, I have been informed that Direct Line (my previous insurer) no longer use Ival/Powerplay as their valuation "experts". P.S. Hats off to beccus! Providing an email address and offering to help on a consumer forum is what I call customer service!

Hiya, Really sorry to hear about your software issue, I sympathise entirely, I had exactly the same problem with my laptop. Unfortunately the replacement of software is entirely down to the terms of your insurance. I know that my policy only covers hardware and I think thats the same for most insurers. They rather presume that if you had the software installed then you still have the original installation disks, in which case you can usually transfer the existing license over to the new computer (you may need to phone microsoft tech support to validate the new install though). Regretably, if like me you no longer have the installation disks then you're probably a bit stuck.. unless you made a note of the license keys and know someone you could borrow the disks from. I'm not 100% sure where you would stand if the replacement machine was incompatible with the software you own. Probably best to discuss that with your insurer, as I know how frustrating it is trying to communicate with Ival. Hope that helps a little at least.

I have been unfortunate enough to have dealings with this company (Ival/Powerplay) twice now, and both times have been an absolute nightmare. Just over a year ago my PC gaming rig died, we contacted Direct Line Insurance and they said we were covered. This was the last bit of good news we would hear for some time. 3 Weeks passed. We contacted Direct Line again and they said our details had been passed to Powerplay who were assessing the damage and would inform us if the machine would be repaired or replaced.. a small miracle in itself as at that point the machine was still sat under my desk untouched since the day it died. 2 more weeks passed before Powerplay finally collected the machine and another 2 weeks again before they assessed the damage as unrepairable and offered a replacement. At this point I should probably tell you that I am an I.T. engineer, and a quick review of the suggested replacement told me all I needed to know about Powerplay.. it was a catalogue of aging components and budget brands.. wherever a few quid could be saved by using third rate components it had been. Naturally we complained to Direct Line and asked if we could replace the machine ourselves and get them to cover the cost. After much deliberation they agreed and assigned a cash value of around £1200 minus their usual excess. At this point I was amazed.. even if I purchased retail parts I would have been hard pushed to spend more than £750 building the rig Powerplay had offered! Unless they are in the habit of charging almost £500 for labour I really can't see how they justify this! Anyway, from begining to end it took almost 9 months to get a replacement, and the experience with Powerplay was traumatic enough to make me switch insurers.. I thought my woes were over. Alas no! A few weeks back my laptop ground to a halt.. knowing that my new policy with Saga covered repairs I put in a claim and in just under a week a company called I-val collected it. Once again this was the last bit of good news I was going to hear. I-val offered a replacement that was far below the original in terms of both quality and performance. I asked why it was being replaced instead of repaired and was told that it "wasn't economically repairable". Now my insurance policy doesn't cover software, and as a lot of the software on my laptop is older versions or I have lost the install disks it's pretty much irreplaceable without a great deal of expense. A replacement laptop would mean all that would be lost. I really needed to get it repaired. As an engineer I know exactly what the cost of repairs would have been and it was certainly less than a replacement laptop. So I asked if they (or I) could repair it and pass the bill to Saga. At this point I was told that my laptop had been water-damaged by themselves and was now totally beyond repair! To add insult to injury, I-vals replacement cost was based on the basic specification of my laptop. I pointed out that it had been upgraded with extra memory, OS, network card etc and asked for a re-evaluation. It took them two weeks and they arrived at exactly the same figure! In all my dealings with I-val/Powerplay (who are one and the same company) I have found them to be rude, inneficient and generally unhelpful. I would strongly advise anyone making an insurance claim that involves this company to imediately ask for a loss adjuster to be appointed.. or better yet, try and find an insurer that uses a more reputable and reliable company for their valuations. But in your other thread you said it was Norwich Union you contacted !!