Crawfords Please read my story re Crawfords loss adjusters

[Fear no evil1]

Hi all

 

As any body had the misfortune of dealing with Crawford Loss Adjusters?

 

This is my story so far.

 

1, on the 8th of February, the water tank in the loft burst causing extensive damage to bathrooms and 2 bedrooms.

 

2, We contacted our insurance Nationwide and home emergency call out which resulted in tap being capped and so we had no water in the house. Further the plumber believed that the ceilings had asbestos.

 

3, Our insurance company appointed Crawfords to handle the claim, a surveyor visited the property and access the damage caused.

 

4, On the 12th February, we were contact by ICAB telling us alternative accommodation has been arranged at a hotel for us all until buildings works are completed. We were happy that at last we will water to use and not have to buy gallons of bottled water.

 

5, My autistic son objected to the changes and found it difficult to cope then he took a shine to one of the waitress at the hotel and the he began to relax, my eldest daughter was in the middle of A level revisions and we had no internet access at the hotel. It would cost £14 per day, this made revision difficult and my 9 year old daughter just thought it was brilliant staying in the hotel!

 

6, A team of specialist came and remove the asbestos ceiling from all the rooms affected, the house now looks like a derelict building. Then nothing no more work was being done on the property.

 

7, There was not much contact between ourselves and Crawfords however ICAB was in regular contact with us. Crawford wanted end the accommodation even though there was no water in the house and ICAB even took it upon themselves to argue with Crawfords about extending our accommodation because the there was no running water.

 

8, By the 5th April I was getting concern that no works is being done on the house, I asked the man of the house to chase up and get things moving, but he found it difficult to deal with staff member who were being unhelpful.

 

9, I contacted Nationwide, they put me through to Crawfords but they not helpful eventually I was told to contact Home Emergency as they are dealing with the plumbing side of things. Home Emergency demanded payment of £325 for the plumber to come and fix the tank and I promptly made the payment.

 

10, The plumber attended the property on the 8th April, for some reason he was not happy to do the job, he spent over 2 hours on his mobile phone pacing angrily up and down the front of the house. He eventually came inside the house to start installing the tank.

 

11, It was getting late and so I took the kids back to the hotel around 8.30 pm living my husband in the house with the plumber.

 

12, I chased the builders and advised them that the tank had been fitted so they can come and do the building work. The builders confirmed they will start work on the 18th April. The plumber left the house in such a bad state and also managed to damage my carpets!

 

13, On the 11th April, ICAB informed me that Crawford are not willing to extend our stay in the hotel and are insisting we move back home. I explained the conditions to ICAB and they tried so hard to get Crawford to use their common sense but to no avail.

 

14, I contacted Crawford myself and basically told me they couldn’t careless what the condition of the house was, they have made a decision not to extent the accommodation and that was that.

 

15, I was shocked by their attitude, I just couldn’t believe it. I contacted Nationwide and explained the situation to them and also emailed photos of the state of the house. Nationwide agreed that the living condition was unacceptable and immediately extended our accommodation stay to the 15th April.

 

16, Then on the 15th April the Crawford ended the accommodation, and this time they was so rude and abrupt with me. They treated us like beggars and second class citizens. Their attitude was so unprofessional, and I have never experience such behaviour in my whole life before.

 

17, I told Crawford the house is still in the same state it was the previous week and it is about to get worse with the builders starting work soon, common sense dictates that if the house was not habitable the previous week and nothing has been since therefore it is still not habitable. Crawford then started telling lies that our accommodation ended on the 11th and it was not extended beyond that. I referred them to ICAB and Nationwide but they persisted and believing their lies.

 

18, I contacted the Nationwide to explain the situation, unfortunately the claim handler I spoke with was absolutely hopeless and became very arrogant and rude after speaking with Crawford. In fact she said her colleague was wrong by extending our accommodation the previous week. She went further to say that it was costing too much to put us in an alternative accommodation therefore we should go back home and live in the house as it is irrespective of our health and safety.

 

She then went on to say that I have a four bedroom house and I should therefore sleep in the other bedroom. I tried to explain the dynamics of our family to her and the reasons why it would be possible to share bed with a 15 year olds autistic boy, 17year old studying for her A levels, everybody needs their own beds and privacy, it fell on deaf ears.

 

 

I then asked that since we do not have bathroom to use what are suppose to do when nature calls, her reply was that we do need to use the toilet whilst works are being out! I was in such a shock that I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She further told me that should I need to use the toilet when the builders are working, I should go and ask the builder to use the toilet and the builders will let me know when I can use the toilet. I think at this point I ended the conversation as I had already spent the whole day on telephone with them.

 

I felt bullied, demean, degraded and at times felt I was being discriminated against. Surely no other customer is treated this way!

 

19, I put in a complaint straight away, which I was told would take so many weeks to be investigated, I had no choice but to sleep on an old sofa in the living and my autistic son also slept in another sofa downstairs. The discomfort was unbearable and was unable to sleep through the night. I received a letter from UK insurance in respect to the complaint with a cheque for £200 for the inconvenience. I thought what an insult, I contacted the complaint handler and insisted that he listen to the phone calls between myself and the claims handler.

 

20, On the 17th the builders started work and the house was a building site! Even the builders were shock to find us in the house and not an alternative accommodation. Eventually the builders and decorators finished by the 3rd May. The amount of dust and rubble was unbelievable. I spoke with the Nationwide and demanded a professional cleaning of the house. Rainbow international were sent to survey the cleaning on the 10th May. Rainbow international came on the 5th June to start cleaning the house and completed on 11th June. We then were able to move into the bedrooms and also to use the bathrooms. By now I have back ache from sleeping in the old uncomfortable sofa.

 

21, I was still haunted and in shock by the way I and my family had been treated and I was informed by a neighbour to contact the FOS. I am still suffering from back pain and treating it with heat patches

 

22, I received a call from UK Insurance complaint handler (let’s call her Vera) and she apologise for what had gone on. Vera informed me that Crawford will be sending me a cheque for £2160 for the disturbance caused.

Vera also told me the way the staff member spoke to me was unacceptable and feedback has been provided to prevent re occurrence.

 

23, I received a Cheque form UK Insurance for £2160 for disturbance, this cheque did not come from Crawford.

 

24, I called Vera and emailed her in respect my back pain, as I expect to be compensated for the pain I am suffering as a result of sleeping in the sofa for so long. Vera contacted me later and advise that since it was a personal injury I will therefore need to seek legal advice.

 

25, It is clear that the refusal to give us alternative accommodation was a dirty tactic used by Crawford and in doing so, have avoided paying the cost of accommodation which would have come to between £17000 - £25000!

 

26, I have written to Vera stating clearly that it is unfair and unjust for the Crawford/Insurance company should profit out of the unfair treatment we had received. Given that it would have cost them up to £25000 for the accommodation which we were rightly entitled to, therefore I seeking fair compensation from them and the £2160 isn’t fair amount.

 

Thank you all for reading this very long saga. I do wonder how many other families are going through this kind of treatment.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

[maroondevo52]

Hello and Welcome Fear no evil1,

 

I have moved this thread to the appropriate Forum, hopefully you will get some advice shortly.

 

Regards,

 

Scott.

[Fear no evil1]

Hello and Welcome Fear no evil1,

 

I have moved this thread to the appropriate Forum, hopefully you will get some advice shortly.

 

Regards,

 

Scott.

 

Thank you

[citizenB]

You need to exhaust the Company's complaints procedure after which time you can go to the Insurance Ombudsman

 

Have you dealt with this situation on the telephone or by letter ?

[Fear no evil1]

Both telephone calls and by email

[citizenB]

They have 8 weeks to resolve a complaint - if it is longer than that and there appears to be no resolution, then I would suggest you write one last letter - ensure they understand that this is a Formal Complaint (send to their Head office), give them say 14 days to resolve things to your satisfaction if not, then start escalating your complaint to the Insurance ombudsman.

[Fear no evil1]

I understand thank you

[Conniff]

Do you have a mortgage with the Nationwide and was the insurance taken out at the same time ?

 

If so, you should send your whole story as you have laid it out above, to the big boss - gjbeale2@nationwide.co.uk

[unclebulgaria67]

The behaviour of Crawfords loss adjusters is not acceptable, but they are simply the agents of Nationwide, employed to adminster the claim in line with the policy t&c's and to minimise the cost of the claim. What should have happened is there should have been an assessment of how long the repairs were going to take and what period alternative accommodation would be required. It is normally the case that you would be offered Hotel or B&B type accommodation for as long as needed to properly assess the damage, for you to sort out the plumbing issue and for the home to be made as habitable as possible. If the damage to the house was severe and needed many months of work, the Insurers would have rented another house for you.

 

The problem is in regard to alternative accommodation as set out below, is what is considered habitable. For a home to be habitable, it would have to have running water for health and hygiene requirements (drinking, washing & toilet). It would have to have sufficient space for your family to be able to sleep. It would have to have facilities for your family to be able to eat. It would have to be safe to live in. If there were occupants with disabilities, then this should have been subject to an assessment by Crawfords on behalf of your Insurers, as they have responsibilities under a normal duty of care to work with you, to ensure their safety.

 

Normally in these situations, the Insurers won't pay for alternative accommodation, beyond the point where these points are catered for. As soon as the house was made safe with the asbestos risk removed, the plumbing issue resolved with running water restored and there were rooms in the house that could be occupied, you would be expected to move back in. Even if this meant that you were living in one or two undamaged rooms of the house, while restoration work was being done elsewhere in the house, this is normally seen as acceptable.

 

In my opinion you were not entitled to alternative accommodation to the value of £17k to £20k, but simply to accommodations costs where the house was not fit for habitation by your family, taking what I have said above. I would have expected this to be no more than a couple of months accommodation, if the claim and renovations had been handled properly.

 

What needs to be addressed, is the sloppy handling of this claim by Crawfords and any risks/inconvenience that they caused as a result. You need to work with Nationwide to come to a resolution and if you are not able to, then I would suggest that you speak to a Solicitor to see what they say. I think going to the FOS may not be worth it, as they will take months (or years) and I think this will just prolong this unncessarliy.

 

Buildings cover

4

Alternative accommodation and rent If your home is not fit to be lived in as a result of damage for which a valid claim covered under Section 1 of the policy has been made, or it is occupied by squatters, the insurer

will pay:

a) providing the property is yourmain residence, the necessary cost of comparable alternative accommodation for you and your pets while your home is being repaired or

b) if you rent out your property, the amount of rent you would have received but have lost as a result of it being unoccupied because of the damage

c) the cost of up to 2 years ground rent which you are legally responsible for.

 

Contents Cover

6

Alternative accommodation and storageProviding you live in the property and your home is not fit to be lived in as a result of a valid claim made under part A of Section 2 the insurer will pay:

a) the necessary cost of comparable accommodation for you and yourpets whilst your home is being repaired

b) the necessary cost of temporarily storing your contentswhile your home is being repaired.The insurer

will not pay more than 30% of the ontents sum insured in total for any alternative accommodation and storage costs.

Edited July 31, 2013 by unclebulgaria67

[Fear no evil1]

Thank you all so much for your response. I accept that we may not be entitled to an accommodation of £17k-£20k.. I based the calculations on the nightly cost that was being paid when we were in the hotel. I believe they should have rented a place for us especially given the fact that it was going to take so long to get the house in order and habitable again.

 

It is the point blank refusal to help us at all and that really saddens me. The builders would leave their tools in the rooms and warn me of the dangers and to keep the kids away. It was a complete nightmare.

 

And the fact that I was told I should not have the need to use the toilet whist in the house was just beyond me. I shall be patient and work with the Nationwide on this matter.

[stevi1]

We have had a real proplem with Crawfords, the person who came to our house, was very aggressive towards me, theatend me and my pregnant wife, saying that we were lying and alsorts, Mr X from Crawfords was so bad towards us, we made a complant against him,

 

people beware of Mr X, he lied to us about police report, and other things

Edited December 12, 2013 by ims21

[unclebulgaria67]

You should make a formal complaint to your Insurers. They are responsible for the actions of the loss adjusters.

[stevi1]

NT from crawfords, made it personal, just saying what he wanted, should be fair, not judgemental

[Fear no evil1]

You should make a formal complaint to your Insurers. They are responsible for the actions of the loss adjusters.

 

Absolutely put your complaint in writing to your Insurers. Get them to listen to any recordings and I am sure they will investigate fully. I do find Crawford very unprofessional, but after I made the complaint to my insurance company (chief executive), I noticed a very big change in their attitude towards me. I would go as far as to say they showed respect towards me whenever we spoke although their service is absolutely appalling. Good luck.