Don't you just love insurance companies. - TilersForums.com

[DHTiling]

I quoted and insurance job back at the end of November...

The job was a dishwasher leak which had got right under a floating floor...

Me and strummer quoted for a full rip out of the floor and kitchen as the water had got under the full chipboard floor and DPM..

The floor was to be framed out and reinstated onto the framing with new DPM and insulation..etc..

The insurance comp has been on a penny pinching rampage since day 1...

So any strummer lost out on the floor and the kitchen side , insurance said it was to high a quote and sent in their own guys... cheap as chips..

I quoted to install UFH and re-tile in polished travertine.. ufh and stone was extra and down to the customer to front that extra cost .. my quote for labour was accepted etc on 4 th December ..

Then 3 days before i was due to start the insurance comp said my cost was too high and now the customer is forced to go with the insurance comps choice of tiler, same comp who repaired the floor etc... i say tiler but who knows what he will get lol lol .. but bloody infuriating that insurance comps do this to customers...

I was lucky enough to out another job in it's place but i was still annoyed...

Anyone else get stiffed by insurance comps..?

 

[Ian]

I've just quoted an insurance job (ensuite that had leaked and caused all sorts of damage), I'll tell you briefly what I quoted for- dry line the room, tank shower area, hardie on the floor, have ceiling skimmed, all existing furniture removed by qualified plumber, supply new shower screen, shower, toilet and basin (these alone were £800) again to be fitted by qualified plumber, move shaver socket and disconnect extractor (qualified spark), then tile (22 m2) mosaics in shower area, porcelain for the rest, all adhesive grout and materials for the whole job to be included - £3100. They got in touch and said that the insurance company would only give them £1600!!!!!!!! Why not tell me that when I quoted? There is no way on earth that the job could have been done properly for £1600, no chance. No doubt it'll be done with tubbed adhesive, no tanking, cheap fittings, straight onto the chipboard floor and need another claim in 3 years.

 

[DHTiling]

This was the same here bri , after 5 weeks they then decided they would now only give so much.. so insurance repairers said they could do it for that lol lol .. good luck i say as the stone is one that is not easy to work with , very hard travertine, yet very porous... so this might just bite this insurance repair firm in the *** ..

 

[Ian]

Daftest thing of all Dave is, the house is 10 years old and this will be the 3rd time the ensuite has been redone! Because of leaks! I tried to explain that if they had it done properly now, it would last 10 years or more, not interested. They have spent a grand on porcelanosa tiles out of their own money so you'd have thought they might have wanted to go that extra mile to have a tip top installation, obviously not. Some people only have price in their mind even if that means doing it all again in 3 years because the hallway ceiling has a free water feature :lol:

 

[Saltire69]

Had the same about November. Wash machine had been leaking for ages and ply started to swell lifting the tiles. Quoted about £2800 for everything that needed done and insurance company said they would only pay out £1500. Asked for a breakdown off everything which i gave them and not heard anything since. Their penny pinching as well.

 

[DHTiling]

So true bri.. so true...

The guy here wanted to use me but is now forced to have this other comp in...

 

[John Benton]

Had the same a year ago. Re-furbed a complete house(bungalow) a couple of years ago and the customer went away to NZ for winter, his daughter went to check the house every few days, and it was during a really cold spell that they had a pipe burst in the loft. They were on a water meter and so had a record of how much came through the ceiling. Just over 15,000 litres apparently. I'll let you guess the state of the house. Anyway the customer was in a hotel for 7 months, drying out and work being done etc. My customer wanted me to to redo both bathrooms as ceilings had come down and timber/drywall walls had virtually collapsed. Insurance company wouldn't even pay the £50pm for tiles offering him only £25pm for tiles and they wouldn't accept my prices. You guessed it, they got the contractor to do everything and the customer told me and builder did the tiling and the decorator helped him finish the grouting off!!!!

I went back to do some additional work and the tiling was awful, rectified tiles, with bigger lips than Mick Jagger.

The customers wife was heartbroken as they had spent £230k to buy this 2 bed bungalow plus cost to refurb, and I really felt for them

 

[DHTiling]

This is one of my points John, it is always the customer who suffers..

 

[John Benton]

This is one of my points John, it is always the customer who suffers..

They were lucky in one respect though Dave, If the water that was recorded on the meter had been standing in the house they would have been charged for it, but as most of it drained away, then they don't get a bill, but apparently this can only happen once. If it happens a 2nd time then you have to pay. That's what they were told.

So not only do you end up with your house wrecked, you have to pay for what damaged it as well :mad2:

 

[AMtek]

My uncle's kitchen was flooded by his washing machine and it was wrecked everything, turned out the washing machine had been leaking for a while as I put my foot through the floor when i went out to have a look. So the kitchen had to be gutted and everything including the floor replaced. They wouldn't accept the quote and got their own guys to repair it. It was a mess! they tiled onto a chipboard floor over laid with 6mm ply, the cutouts for the pipes inside the kitchen units were cut really roughly and they hadn't silicone the bare timber inside the unit to stop damage if anything leaked and the splashback was a disgrace. 12 months on there are cracks all over the floor tiles where the joints of the ply are, one of the feed pipes for the sink has leaked and the inside of the cupboard is destroyed. And now he has found out that he only had a 12 month warranty so he will have to pay to have it sorted himself

 

[Peter]

Used to do quite a bit for a firm who done insurance work but wasn't working out. Good rates were paid but they just wanted as much profit as possible. ie if the insurance company gave them 50k for a refit they'd have tried to do it for 25k, then a lot of the time it cost them more in the long run with snagging/wrong things fitted etc.

Although there were the chancer customers too who were trying to squeeze as much out of the job as possible since they're not paying for it.

 

[White Room]

I found it was more the customer who tried to take the pee rather than the insurance company.....

 

[afright]

Did a insurance quote never heard a thing from the customer 9 months on got a phone call from insurance company they wanted in detail all work that I done and a guarantee on the work done to be put in writing ,I explained that I never done the work they asked me to put that I never done the work for the customer in writing ,asking them what do I get out of it they said well nothing told them to sling there hook.

 

[kilty55]

nightmare ,i advise customers i charge for insurance quotes now as half the time they are just after 2 quotes as asked for but wont pay excess themselves

 

[afright]

nightmare ,i advise customers i charge for insurance quotes now as half the time they are just after 2 quotes as asked for but wont pay excess themselves

I to have started to charge for insurance quotes after being caught out a few times you can tell if they are genuine about having the job done or if they are just out for the money.