Thank you for your share. That sounds great.

Hi djw ,

Read my other posts on Aviva and also look at other peoples comments.They are the company with the most complaints to the financial omnbudsman and they are best avoided.It doesnt matter how cheap the insurance is if when you make a claim you cant get paid out

I always recomment the NFU as I personally find them honest and fair if you make a claim but I think you will find most insurance companies better than Aviva.

Pilot2

I do not share your experience with the above mentioned companies I found that Asprea handled the claim very well and kept me informed at all stages. The builders that were sent are another matter however.

While talking to the surveyor I too was annoyed about the lack of notice regarding the visit and he told me that you cannot give exact times because you do not know how long each claim is going to take when you arrive and to say there is a definate time scale to a visit would be wrong I had to admit I never thought about it like that. Crawfords are loss adjusters and do a similar job to Asprea, seems like you were a bit confused!

For all who read this posting take time and read your policy!! I ask you this if a stranger walked up to you and said that they would sell you 30 sheets of paper (insurance policy is usally this long) 1. Would you buy it ? If you did then would you read it ? Have you read your policy (yes all 30 pages)? And lastly what is peace of mind ?? it is just a buzz word You are paying for whats is stated on those pieces of paper with exclusions beside them and a general exclusion page why dont you READ THEM.

It's worth looking at the which! recommendations on home insurers. Aviva/Norwich Union do not come out well.

http://www.which.co.uk/reviews-ns/home-insurance/which-recommended-providers/index.jsp

Huckster

There was no information at all given at the start or even during the claims process. Nor could Aviva/Crawfords give me a clear explanation as to where my claim was in the settlement queue at any time. The customer is told that as in my case an appointment would be made by Asprea so that their Surveyor could attend. It even took 3 phone calls by me to get them to confirm this by email. Nor would Asprea give me the exact arrival time of the Surveyor, which meant that I had to take additional time off work and also drive a considerable distance to meet with him. Thereafter things went decidly even more downhill when the claim was eventually passed to Crawfords - Even here no one advised Asprea that my claim had jumped onto another Organisation. Perhaps if some of the smug personnel in organisations like Aviva/Crawfords and Asprea had water floating into their livingroom and bedroom they would not be so smart. Its not a question of Aviva cutting corners its downright fraudulent of any Organisation to take premiums and provide a non existant service until the customer has to approach the Financial Ombusman and take Legal Advice. That is the situation that this type of comapny lends itsef too and no matter what splurge is in on the web site they really do not want to honour their contracts.

I am quite sure that there are some customer focussed people in Aviva, however when a claims process is fragmented that is sub contracted to companies such as Crawfords and Asprea, then no one wants to be accountable and the customer is left to become their own claims handler. It doesnt say this in their policy literature. either in the paperwork or onsite. Its interesting also to note that Aviva are almost at the bottom of the customer 'experience' in all Insurance Polls for 2009. Its fair to say that when a customer experiences storm damage (which is covered by their policy) that they want to get the matter addressed asap. The customer does not want to be passed from company to company while the damage only gets worse. In my experience the customer svcs in Aviva got the run around from their own internal departments and also Crawfords. So if Aviva customer svcs own department cant intervene quickly then neither can the customer if the sub-contracted companies have their own agenda. Perhaps the sub-contracting companies like Crawfords are on commission therefore the more claims they can stall the bigger the paydirt for them

Gail

The online comments about the experience of people having claims with Aviva I would say is mixed. But there does appear to be upward trend in the wrong direction, due mainly to the quality of information provided when claims are started. It would appear that the claims process is not always explained in a clear way and as a result expectations are not met, leading to complaints later on. Also the service provided by some of the companies used by Aviva e.g.. Asprea is also a point of concern to some.

Having had some insight into the way Aviva have operated in the past, I would say that sometimes corners are cut to the detriment of maintaining service levels. But saying that Aviva are not alone in this.

Huckster

hi all,

i have read with interest the comments on this forum and wish to have a say,

i am an ex employee of Aviva, worked for them for over 5 years before leaving for family reasons.

in my time with the company, i worked in claims. I would like to say that in Aviva, customer service is a number one priority, if a customer ever had a concern or complaint we were encouraged to look at all that could be done to assist and to go that extra mile to help, all of my colleagues were professional and customer focused.

Customers should look at all aspects of a policy before chosing it and reading the policy booklet online is a really good idea, its the little things like does a policy offer matching items cover, so that if you have a claim where a set or pair was involved and the insurance company could not get a match, the undamaged item would also be replaced, or trace and access for a leak, another small issue that can cause alot of heartache if your policy does not have this it can be costly - the company will pay for the resulting damage but not the tracing or accessing of the leak.

hope this helps anyone trying to find the right home insurance.

thank you

Thank you for the renewal info - You are perfectly correct Aviva did try to bump up my premiums post water damage - (even although the source of the storm water was from a neighbours property). However even before I eventually received a settlement from Aviva - that is after months of sheer hassle - I shopped around and am now with an Insurance company that will provide a 'real' dedicated claims inhouse advisor and not the numerous un-intelligible 'scripted' back-sliding waffle that was Aviva/Crawfords approach to a legitimate claim for storm damage.

When I hear from people with insurers problems I must admit a certain company keeps cropping up could be Aviva ! specialy if you were flooded they will charge you far far more at renewal see the national flood forum for a solution if your renewal is high after a flood

Seamor is perfectly correct the Aviva/Crawfords experience is dreadful. Please see below the letter I drafted after many many months of inaction on their part. I finally received some but not all payment in December from Aviva. Be Warned.

FAO Chief Executive Gresham,

Mr O’ Sullivan - Gresham

Barclays Customer Relations Dept

6^{TH November 2009}

Barclays Policy Ref No: BH – Barclays Claim Ref No:

Dear Sir/Madam

I am writing to escalate a complaint regarding the Aviva ‘claims handling’ on my above claim.

Since reporting water ingress damage to Barclays Insurance in early August 2009 which, was caused to my above address by a neighbouring property. Other than meeting with an Asprea surveyor in August 2009 who identified the cause and who advised I was covered by my policy and the subsequent visit by a Crawford Loss Adjustor in September 2009. I have been left to rectify the water damage caused without any help or advice or payment from the Asprea/Aviva/Crawford’s personnel. This is despite my contacting these personnel on over 60 occasions by telephone and by e-mail. Last week I received a letter from Asprea asking if they could close my claim. I have to date spent months trying to get this claim actioned..

I have advised Aviva and Crawford’s personnel on an ongoing basis of a) the extent of the damage b) the remedial costs c) and provided Barclays with the neighbouring property solicitor details. In addition to this I have advised both Aviva + Crawford’s personnel in both writing and verbally of all my residential circumstances previous to and at the time of the water damage. (I had a residence in Aberdeen and made regular overnight stays at the property in New Pitsligo both during my own building works and also when the damage appeared and have this evidenced in a letter from the Council Tax Office in Aberdeenshire a copy of which was provided to both Aviva and Crawford’s).

In September 2009 due to the inaction and lack of interest by Aviva/Crawford’s and due to the worsening condition of my property which had suffered structural damage due to the water ingress, I registered a complaint with the Financial Ombudsman’s Service and I have since spoken from then to a Customer Services Manager in Aviva who is well aware of the ongoing problems that I am having in getting this claim resolved. In desperation and without any guidance from Aviva and to mitigate any further losses I had to instruct professional Timber Specialists to investigate and arrest the damage. Get quotations from Roofing Contractors and engage a Solicitor.

I have been informed this week by Aviva customer services that their Underwriters have no concerns with my claim. However, today (through again my own efforts) in progressing with Aviva Customer Services, I have discovered that my claim is yet again being bounced backwards and forwards between Aviva and Crawford’s.

Despite customer svcs indicating that the file was marked urgent, neither party wants to take any responsibility in bringing this matter to a close. Rather I have been informed that Crawford’s will be writing to me by Royal Mail to request information that was previously supplied to them and Aviva over the phone. Even although I asked on several occasions that we keep mail to e-mail or telephone calls due to the mail strike. This is a deliberate ploy to avoid settling the claim and to further delay recompensing me for substantial workmen’s bills.

I purchased a Barclays policy in good faith and paid in advance. The water ingress was not of my making and the damage and inconvenience has not only been a nightmare but has adversely affected my health. Aviva and Crawford’s are certainly not acting in good faith by their continued claims avoidance techniques. I purchased a policy from Barclays and never envisaged either having to claim, but, more importantly would never have purchased a product where all these separate entities are in place without any transparent process to assist the customer. I have worked in the Oil Industry for over 20 years as a consultant and have never come across such a poor or absent level of service. The Aviva website purports ‘Our purpose is to bring prosperity and peace of mind to our customers’ No statement could be further from the truth.

The neighbouring properties solicitors were promised a copy of the Barclays final report, and I have requested a copy for my own solicitor again this has not been forthcoming. Despite my requesting on several occasions the name of the Insurance Companies legal person Crawford’s have indicated in writing Quote "Your Insurer does not have a "responsible legal person" as you refer to".

I look forward to your early reply

Yours faithfully

The offer of a quick repair or for me to appoint a local business to do so, was not on offer immediately, it took several phone calls from me to aviva and to crawfords who tried and failed to allocate a local business to carry out the work.

It was after i complained to crawfords about their conduct on the phone and their lackadaisical approach to my claim, I phoned aviva and they arranged for asprea who arranged for insure direct to attempt to remedy my leaking roof.

The icing on the cake was when I was phoned on Saturday evening by an employee of insure direct, she confirmed that a roofer would call me later on in the evening, to arrange for the work to be carried out on Sunday.

When the roofer called, I was again in utter disbelief, when he said that I was not in his catchment area, and that he would not be coming down to carry out the work, I proceeded to call insure direct to complain about their sloppy attempt at hiring a roofer to carry out my work.

I didn't think that it was that hard for a "professional" to make a clear and correct phone call to a roofer and give the roofer all my details, well I was wrong ( no surprise with the people i was dealing with)

So I call Aviva next and guess who they appoint to the case.......crawfords, well you can imagine how infuriated i am now,

I asked for all correspondence to be carried out by e-mail, because all companies involved were playing each other of their counterparts.

Finally this morning Aviva granted me, the power to appoint a local roofer and I quote

"Crawfords and Asprea have been unable to obtain a local contractor to carry out the required emergency repairs to your property to prevent any further damage.

We now ask that you arrange the necessary repairs to your property to help mitigate further loss. As discussed, I am unable to confirm at this stage that we will recompense the associated costs until we have validated the claim. May I add that payment for any permanent repairs you choose to carry out will also be subject to the claim being validated.

Please obtain a full report and estimate detailing the cause of damage and send with the invoice / receipt for the repairs carried out, quoting you claim reference number, to allocations@asprea.co.uk or by post to -"

Talk about them being inefficient, unprofessional, lackadaisical, inept, rude and downright pathetic.

Seamore

If the Insurers have record of a storm there should not be a problem. The Insurers are just saying that if you want a quick repair, you would be better to get a local roofer or builder around. You will have to pay them and submit a copy of the invoice to Insurers for reimbursement. The invoice must state the cause of the damage as being storm.

The alternative is to get a temporary fix and submiit a quote to Insurer or wait for the Asprea people to sort it out.

What were you expecting Aviva to do?

It does not sound like the advisors you have spoken to have been very good at explaining the claims process.

Huckster,

I noticed the damage myself early on Friday morning, at the time of the claim, the insurance clerk put me on hold and advised me that there was stormy weather over my area lastnight, and that I would be covered under storm damage.

I have been advised by a few staff at aviva that, the conversation was recorded, and that I would be covered.

And then there's this from their website.

Most claims can be settled. However, please note that unless you have selected the accidental damage option, you can only claim for the specific events detailed in the policy document. Even if you have opted to take out Accidental Damage cover, there are a few (typically very rare) occurrences that are not covered.

It covers the main structure of your home. If it were to subside, burn down or be damaged or destroyed by extreme weather, your policy will cover the costs of rebuilding or repair. It also covers any permanent fixtures in your home like built-in wardrobes, kitchen surfaces, taps, basins, baths and showers.

We had -20 over christmas and newyear, I hope this is treated as extreme weather.

Seamore

Seamore

When did this storm damage occur? Have the local met office a record of a storm in your area on the date in question?

You have to a bit careful here, as the Insurers are likely to say that the roof issue is down to maintenance. Insurance is supposed to cover particular events i.e. a particular storm event and not a gradual process of wear and tear.

Sorry to say this, but I cannot recall a storm in the UK for quite awhile. Therefore it would be unlikely that the Insurers would look at a claim, unless they find any recent record of a storm event in your area. Then the Insurers would want some written proof of storm damage from a builder or roofer.

Huckster