Loss Adjusters are a fact of life. Cunningham Lindsey claim , when dealing with the Insured that they are independent, a look at their website kicks that into touch. It is apparent that they advertise to represent Insurers only adn do spin things out, in my case nearly 5 years looking at a subsidence claim that was screwed up by Crawfords = the relationship between Crawfords and their preferred repairers was to say the least suspicious. This all brings into question he attitude of the Underwriters - do they wish to settle claims or not? I would recommend anyone avoid the FOS, the evidence is that if you have an issue with a small independent 'Got no money or resources' Broker the Ombudsman will probably act BUT if your issue is with a large institution the Ombudsman is worthless. If you have issues that may involve he regulator call the FSA they are much more approachable these days. Meanwhile the big question is this - Are we being ripped off by the Underwriters ?

It must be remembered that as a Loss Adjuster Cunningham Lindsay are supposed to be neutral and to assess repairers estimates. They should limit themselves to this and to advising the Claimant what the insurers may or maynot not accept. But they do seem to be acting as Judge and Jury when that should not be their role. I recommend, where people are having problems with CL that they go back to the Company /Broker who provided the Insurance and advise them that the matter is not being managed properly and due to CL's atitude that a Legal / Professional adviser should be in a ttendance at all meeting involving CL and that the cost of the adviser must be to the Insurers / Sellers account. I am not sure that Underwriters are entirely aware of the conduct of companys such as CL.