Links

Chips were down after blaze wrecked kitchen

£39,000 boost for fire victim

Life has been particularly cruel recently for Mark Holmes. After his father died, his marriage crumbled. Then a fire wrecked his refurbished kitchen and caused smoke damage throughout the house.

Things did not improve for him when his insurance company made a less-than-attractive offer to settle his claim.

Assessors negotiate a higher payment for fire damage to Mark Holmes` house

After the fire, which started when a chip pan was left unattended, insurer Eagle Start appointed an adjuster who at his first visit mentioned a figure of about £20,000 to meet the claim. Mark says: `He said the carpet could be cleaned rather than replaced, but when it was cleaned it was worse than ever. I was also asked for receipts, some of which I could not provide because they had been destroyed in the fire`.He was also horrified to be told by the adjuster that the computer CDs damaged by smoke could be cleaned rather than replaced. `I did not want to put a CD that was not in first-class condition into my computer`, says Mark. After spotting an advertisement in his local paper, Mark an unemployed engineer from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, decided to appoint Salmon Assessors to help negotiate his claim.The firm`s assessor spent 14 hours compiling an inventory of damaged items throughout the house - from kitchen cabinets to smoke-soiled bedding. Mark says: `He ran round getting estimates and doing the negotiations. I suppose I could have done these things myself, but it would have been much harder.

I have been pretty depressed since the fire in October, and I was pleased that the assessor could do the work for me. The whole house was affected by the fire. I felt that the loss adjuster was trying to talk down the cost of damage and quibbled over some of the bits and bobs. But it is the cost of replacing the little things that add up. Luckily, the assessor was more persuasive`. Salmon Assessors not only managed to arrange an interim payment of £15,000 to help cover costs such as repainting and cleaning the house and making it habitable again, but last week Eagle Star agreed a total cash settlement of £59,347.
`It has taken quite a long time`, says Mark, `I might have settled the claim more quickly without the assessor`s help, but the final payment would have been a lot less`.

Site Map

Text Only |