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.

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.

Day 159 - 22nd March 2011

I receive an email from Alison, my personal claims manager at Asprea.  She tells me that she has been discussing my claim with Aviva and that she appreciates my concerns with regard to the contribution.  She tells me that a possible solution may be if I were to complete the works myself and she asks if I would consider the option of a cash settlement and appoint my own contractor to do the work. She tells me that this means that I would not have to pay any money up front and instead they would offer me a settlement figure and if accepted they would issue me with a cheque to enable me to complete the works myself.  Alison tells me that if this is an option I would like to pursue I should advise her and she will put together a settlement figure for me.  She says that this settlement figure will be based on how much it would cost the insurance company to complete the works and would also honour the offer from Aviva of paying 50% towards the undamaged items that I am not covered for.

I reply to Alison to say that if I were to take this course of action I would have to be certain that I could get all of the necessary repair work completed, to an acceptable standard, for the sum of money that was agreed. This would involve me having to get comprehensive quotes from reputable companies for the cost of the work.  I tell her that whilst her suggestion could well be a way forward, I do not want to go to all the time and trouble of obtaining costings if there is no intention on Aviva’s part to be mindful of the fact that I don't want a sum of money that will only enable me to get half the job done. We had the bathroom done professionally 4 years ago and I do not want the professional job we had done to be replaced with a poor quality DIY job.   I say that perhaps if she could put some costings together for me to consider I can take the matter from there and let her know.

Later in the day Alison replies to say that she has split the scope to show a full and final settlement figure of £2848.33.  She tells me that I should be advised that this figure is full and final. It is the cost to the Insurance Company to complete the works at my property.

Alison advises that they would not accept any quotes from another builder. The options would be to accept the figure above as full and final or, if not acceptable, Asprea to fulfil the works after a contribution from me of £590.26 was paid.

She tells me that if neither of the above is acceptable, the only other option would be for me to approach the FOS as advised by Aviva.

I reply to Alison to thank her for clarifying the position.  I tell her that I have already contacted the FOS but that in the meantime I am still waiting for replies to the issues I raised in my email to Mark at Aviva on the 2^nd February 2011- a copy of which I sent to her on the 14^th of March.

Day 151 - 14th March 2011

I receive an email from Alison at Asprea saying that she has spoken to Mark at Aviva who has advised that they have not heard from me since the beginning of February.  Alison asks me to confirm whether I wish to proceed with the claim or if I wish for the claim to be cancelled?

I reply to Alison to say that I most certainly do still wish to proceed with the claim but am waiting for a response from Mark Scales to my email dated 2^nd February as there is information I need in order to be able to make decisions on how to proceed. I point out that delays have not been of my making.  As things stand, not only am I waiting for a reply from Mark Scales but I also haven’t had replies from Russ at Aviva or Nadine at Asprea  to the emails I sent to them on the 20^th Jan.  In addition I point out that this is the first contact I have had with Alison, my personal claims manager, since the 3^rd November. 

Day 140 3rd March 2011

I review the current position.  There's no word from the Financial Services Ombudsman yet.  Its been two weeks since I sent them the paperwork and all I have had is a letter acknowledging receipt of my complaint. I still haven't heard anything from Aviva, Asprea or Safeguard.  Are they hoping I have just fallen off the face of the earth or something?

Out of interest I do a bit more checking on policy documents on line for different insurers to see what their position is with matching items cover. Churchill and More Than don't appear to exclude it at all on buildings cover but they do on contents.  Direct Line don't appear to exclude it at all on either Buildings or Contents. Saga exclude matching items for both but their wording is such that it appears to only relate to things like sanitary wear and soft furnishings- the sort of the thing you would expect a clause of this nature to relate to - not tiles on the wall that are nothing more than an alternative wall covering.

It strikes me as I look through all these policy documents just how much we are not covered for!  We buy insurance for peace of mind.  We know we won't be covered for every single eventuality that life might throw at us, but in the event of serious damage we think we will be ok.  Not so!  Get your policy booklets out and have a proper read of the small print!! Its disgraceful really.  They advertise insurance on the basis of selling us peace of mind but there are a whole heap of exclusions in these policies that have the potential to give people some very nasty shocks.

I check the Barclays(Aviva) policy - its been made even clearer since I last looked at it.  Compare here my copy, a copy I got from the website in early January and the copy I got today. The difference is surely an admittance that historically the situation has not been at all clear.

My copy

copy from January

Copy from today