What a couple of days! My husband and I have separated. The house insurance was in his name with DL. He spoke to DL explained the situation and they told him that I would have to ring up, start a new policy and they would then cancel the old policy. So I telephoned them yesterday. They told me that as I was taking out a new policy, there would be no cancellation charge for the existing policy. So we went through all of the questions. We had a claim on the policy in June of this year due to a burst pipe, which DL were very good with at the time. Anyway the lady said she had to pass the new policy to the underwriters and she would call me back. About 10 minutes later I got a call back. She told me that as we had had 3 claims in 12 months, they could not offer me insurance. I queried the claims, we had only claimed once! My husband had telephoned them in April and asked about the legal cover. There was something we were considering taking legal action over, but just wanted advice. We didn't pursue this but DL stated it was a claim!! Then there was our carport roof which was damaged in the storms in January this year. DL would not cover it stating it was poor workmanship by the builders that was the primary cause (it's a relatively new house), so no claim was pursued and no payout. This apparently was a claim too. I questioned how could the other 2 times where there was no payout, absolutely nothing done in the legal query 'claim' - how can they be claims? Apparently with the roof, it's a loss - how is it a loss, the NHBC and the builders rectified it, no one has lost anything - but apparently I have claimed with the NHBC so it's a claim??? The legal question, well, I'm at a loss, no forms filled out, just a question asked, but that's a claim. I told my husband what had happened so he telephoned to cancel the existing policy. They were demanding a £118 cancellation fee. He put our case forward, including that I had been told there would be no cancellation fee, the reasons given for refusing to insure etc. Had DL given me the insurance I was willing to take out there and then, there would be no cancellation fee, it was DL who had broken the deal as such. There was confusion at DL as there was only 1 claim showing on the system (the burst pipe). DL then said they were going to listen to the telephone calls between myself and them. They called my husband back and literally declared me a liar! Husband then requested copies of the taped phone calls, written confirmation of the reason for refusal to insure, written confirmation of the details of the 3 claims etc. DL went away, huffed and puffed called my husband back and stated that they had further reviewed the tapes and due to the misinformation I was given and the way I was treated, they would reduce the cancellation fee to £60. No, said husband, I would like the information I've requested please. DL went away again, called husband back. We have reviewed your case, there will be no cancellation fee and your wife should have been offered insurance yesterday. There is only 1 claim on your property......... and here is the gem "would your wife like to take insurance out with us? Ask her to call me and I will organise it with her" I am so wary of insurance now. Is it worth it? The little extras they offer to bump up premiums, are they worth it? I have only ever had to claim twice in over 20 years of home ownership and house insurance. The burst pipe this year and 4 years ago my house was broken into and burgled whilst on holiday. And seriously DL, would I like my home insurance with you? Hell no, I'll never touch your company with a barge pole for anything! Thank you for reading and the opportunity to vent a little. Hopefully even just one person will be helped by this, stick up for yourself, don't let them get away with it. And one last point, fab forum! I've read an awful lot over the last couple of days, it gave me the confidence to fight them over this even though it was via my (soon to be ex) husband.

I had a leaking pipe from my boiler which caused a lot of damage to the shop downstairs. It looks like the leak was there for at least a month if not more. On been told by the shop owner of the problem I had the leak fixed immediately as I was advised also that there was a high danger as water was dripping onto electric wires. My house insurers say that the shop owner needs to make a claim on his insurance to cover the damage to his shop. However, most worringly, she pointed out that they may not pay out unless it was the case that I refused to fix the leak over a period of time! Considering the danger to myself and other flatmates it obviously had to be fixed. Won't getting the guy downstairs to say I refused to fix the leak in order to get a payout leave me open to other counter claims? Any info gratefully received