Thursday 28 April 2011

Day 196 - 28th April 2011

Mark Scales will have been back in the office 10 days now following his week's leave but I still haven't heard anything from him.

I still haven't heard anything from Alison Wright either.

Saturday 16 April 2011

Day 184 - 16th April 2011

Still no reply from Alison Wright, my personal claims manager, in connection with the email I sent her on the 23rd March (despite chasing her on the 9th April and 13th April).  I review all the outstanding queries that I am still waiting for answers to. These are issues separate to the issue of whether undamaged tiling should be covered by the policy and answers are needed before I can move forward.  They are as follows:

Which tiling will be classed as covered and which will not?

I need to clarify whether the section of the tiling around the bath surround will be covered as some of it is on the stud wall that needs to be replaced. The policy says tiling is covered where it forms part of a specific area and the tiling around the bath surround is a specific area. I first raised this issue with Nadine Trigg on the 14th December but she did not provide an answer. As the matter got passed to Mark Scales to deal with, I raised the question with him on the 28th January but he made no attempt to answer me. I made it clear in my email to him of the 2nd Feb that this point had still not been answered but again, he did not reply.  I advised Alison Wright at Asprea on the 14th March that this query had not been answered but did not receive a response. I advised her again on the 22nd March but still did not receive a reply.  Having had cause to email Alison on the 23rd March about another issue, I also mentioned that I hoped she was arranging for me to get a reply to the outstanding query regarding which tiling was classed as covered. She replied the same day to say that she believed that the query was answered in January and that if I have any further query about it I should address it to Mark Scales. I replied by return to state categorically that this was NOT dealt with in January and that if she maintains that it was, could she please send me copies of the emails. I copied Mark Scales in on this email so that he could be aware that I have not received an answer.  I did not hear anything further regarding this query from either Alison Wright or Mark Scales so I emailed them both again on the 9th April requesting a response.  I did not receive a reply or acknowledgement from either of them so I emailed them both again on the 13th April , this time getting an out of office message from Mark Scales to say he was on holiday from the 11th to the 18th April. I received nothing from Alison Wright.

Has my contribution to the cost of the uninsured tiling been calculated correctly?

The email from Mark Scales on the 2nd February states that the total number of square metres of tiling in the bathroom is 16.6.  In addition he confirms that 5.6 square metres of tiling will be covered by the policy and that I (the customer) will be paying for 11 square metres of tiling. As the insurance company have agreed to pay 50% of the uninsured tiling, I queried whether I should in fact be paying for 5.5 square metres of tiling rather than 11. If they have got the square metres wrong, the calculation of how much I have to pay will not be correct.  This needs to be clarified before I pay and I have chased for a response on the 14th March, 22nd March, 9th April and the 13th April but have not received a reply.

Does my contribution include any costs for removing and refitting the fixtures and fittings?

Having been trying to ascertain since the 14th December what the cost to me for the uninsured tiling would be, Nadine Trigg advised me on the 19th January that it would be £651.36 +VAT.  The information she provided stated that this would include a share of the cost for removing and replacing the fixtures and fittings. The surveyor at the initial visit said that I would not have to pay any of this cost as it all needs removing in order to replace the floor. I tried four times to get this clarified with Nadine but was not successful. As the complaint passed to Mark Scales to deal with, I asked him to clarify the situation on the 28th January. His reply to me states very clearly that “the customer is paying towards the removal of any sanitary wear”. I asked Mark on the 2nd February to provide a clear explanation as to why this is the case. I have chased for a response on the 14th March, 22nd March, 9th April and 13th April but not received a reply.

Who was responsible for the tiles not being removed carefully for reuse as agreed with the surveyor?

It was agreed with the surveyor that the tiles would be removed carefully for reuse so that full retiling wouldn’t be necessary in the event of the exiting tiles no longer being available to purchase.  The tiles were not removed carefully- they were hacked off quickly with no consultation with me.  I queried this with Nadine Trigg and she advised me in an email of the 14th December that she had queried this with the contractor and it had not been possible to save them.  It was not until my husband and I were investigating different solutions to the tiling problem that we tried to remove some of the tiles ourselves and found that they come of extremely easily indeed. It is clear that either the Contractors were not told to take the tiles off carefully or that they just didn’t bother to try. I asked Mark Scales on the 2ndFebruary who was at fault in this respect but did not receive a reply. I have chased on the 14th March, 22nd March, 9th April and 13th April but still have not received a reply.

Why hasn’t the cost allowance for wallpaper in the scope been increased to £11 a roll from £7. 

It can be seen from this schedule of events that Alison Wright agreed on the 20th October that the cost allowance for wallpaper would be increased from £7 a roll to £11 a roll.  The schedule of works that Alison sent me on the 23rd March shows the allowance for wallpaper as £7 a roll.  I queried this with Alison on the 23rd March but did not receive a reply.  I chased on the 9th April and 13th April but have still not received a reply.

Why are some items on the schedule of works annotated *A* or *B*?

The schedule of works that Alison sent me on the 23rd March so that I could look into getting my own quotes for the work instead of using the insurance company contractors have some items that are annotated *A* or *B*.  So that I can make sure I don’t miss anything important in obtaining comprehensive quotes, I asked Alison on the 23rd March to explain what the annotations mean. I chased on the 9th April and the 13th April but have not received a reply.

Has replacement of the stud wall been allowed for in the scope of works?

 I advised Alison on the 23rd March that the schedule of works that she provided for me to use to get my own quotes does not allow for the replacement of the stud wall that the surveyor agreed would be done.  As this materially affects the cost of a settlement figure I would have expected her to comment but despite chasing for a reply on the 9th April and 13th April I have not heard anything from her.

Day 181 - 13th April 2011

As I have not received an acknowledgement from Alison Wright or Mark Scales in connection with the email that I sent on the 9th April 2011, I send an email to chase them up.

Later that day (3 hours later)I receive an out of office email message from Mark Scales to say he is out of the office from the 11th April to the 18th April.

Day 177 - 9th April 2011

I receive a letter from the Ombudsman to say they will be asking Aviva to send them information about my case and that once they have this information one of the adjudicators will be able to start work on my case within eight weeks.

I've been close to exploding with the stress of all this since before Christmas, now I can expect to wait somewhere in the region of another three months before the Ombudsman even starts to look at my case.


I review the current position re outstanding queries to see how I might be able to move forward.  I can't bear the thought of living with the bathroom in its almost inhabitable state for another three months.  I am still waiting for the outstanding queries in my email to Mark Scales on the 2nd Feb to be answered (despite telling Alison Wright on the 14th March and the 22nd March that these queries are still unresolved.)  I am also still waiting for Alison Wright to answer the questions that I put to her on the 22nd March. I email both Mark and Alison                  asking for a reply.

Day 170 - 2nd April 2011

I receive an acknowledgement of my form that I sent to the Ombudsman.  They tell me that they are receiving very high volumes and will provide a full response as soon as they can.

Monday 28 March 2011

Day 165 - 28th March 2011

I receive a letter from the Ombudsman. Its 6 weeks since they acknowledged my complaint and told me they would look into it.  They tell me that I need to complete their complaint form in order for them to review things further.

Six fucking weeks to tell me this! I don't know why I am surprised!

I complete the complaint form (none of the information on there is anything I haven't already provided) and send it off. I'm not hopefully of a speedy reply.

Wednesday 23 March 2011

Day 160 - 23rd March 2011

I email Alison at Asprea to say that further to our email conversations yesterday, I trust she is in the process of arranging for the queries I raised in my email to Mark at Aviva on the 2nd Feb to be dealt with.  I tell her that in the meantime my husband and I have discussed the matter and we would be grateful if she could send us a copy of the schedule of works that details what needs to be done so that we can make investigations into the cost of appointing an alternative contractor to undertake the work.  In addition, I ask if she can please confirm whether the figure of £2848.33 is inclusive of VAT. If VAT is not included and they don’t intend to include it, this will mean that effectively we are bearing the cost of VAT ourselves as we will have to pay it to whoever carries out the work.

I receive a reply from Alison later in the day.  She encloses a copy of the schedule of works.  Alison advises me that with regards to the queries I raised with Mark, she believes that these were addressed in January of this year. She tells me that if I still have any outstanding queries, I will have to address them to Mark.  Am I ever going to deal with anyone that will not fob me off as having to speak to someone else?  Mark says Nadine answers questions, Alison says Mark answers the questions and Nadine says Alison answers the questions.  Its a wonder I haven't gone insane - I probably have and just don't realise it yet. 

With regards to the settlement figure and VAT, Alison advises me that the figure offered does not include VAT. They will only add VAT if they have a valid VAT registration number from my builder. If I wish to approach another contractor to complete the works, I should be advised that if the quote obtained is more than the figure of £2848.33 + VAT, the Insurer will not pay above the offer. If I wish for VAT to be added to the sum, I will need to submit quotations to them.

I reply to Alison to say that it’s a good job I thought to ask about the VAT because if I hadn't, I would have had to pay it myself and be even more out of pocket. 

I tell her that I will state again, categorically, that I have NOT received answers to the questions I raised in my email to Mark Scales on the 2nd February.  I tell her that if she takes the time to properly read and understand the schedule of events that I sent to her, she will see this for herself.  I tell her that if she maintains that the questions have been answered (I tell her that I include Mark in this since he is copied in on this email) then please by all means she can show me how and when this was done and I will be more than happy to apologise and admit that I was wrong.

With regard to the schedule of works, I ask Alison if she remembers a conversation we had on the 3rd of November where I voiced my concern that having been out to look at wallpapers it was virtually impossible to find any wall paper for £7 a roll.  I tell her that she immediately said that she would increase the allowance to £11 +VAT per roll, however the schedule of works she sent me still has an allowance of only £7 a roll. I point out that the £11 a roll isn't really much better as when I did some research into the cost of wallpaper I found that of the wall papers for sale on the Homebase website, the average cost per roll was £14.30.  With a cost allocation of £11 a roll, less than 25% of the wall papers on sale are available to me. With a cost allocation of the original £7 a roll, less than 4% would have been available to me.

So that I can understand the schedule of works, I ask Alison if she can please explain what *A* and *B* mean on the Schedule as its rather confusing.  In addition I tell her that I can't see from the scope where the allowance is for rebuilding the stud wall.   I add that advice from three separate professional tradesmen has been that the stud wall will need to be entirely replaced as the plaster is crumbling away, the timbers are black and smelly and the tile adhesive will have been compromised as all tiles in the area where the leak occurred will now be susceptible to working loose and falling off in the near future.