The severe storms in Britain during the summer months of 2007, have led to an increase in the number of complaints made to the independent Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).
Last year, insurers forked out more than £3bn on claims from the summer floods. In June and July alone, 180,000 claims were made to insurers. But the rise in claims has led to a rise in complaints over buildings insurance, a figure that rose by a third on the previous year.
Generally it is accepted that claims are being dealt with fairly, but the FOS say that the biggest issues that they are seeing are over repairs rather than the whole claim being refused.
“There is a steady stream of cases where firms have turned down claims on the basis that there was no storm at the time the damage occurred, or where it is agreed that there was a storm but the evidence indicates that it did not cause or contribute to the damage claimed for,” says the FOS.
“The message to consumers is to be realistic. Just because your house was damaged in a storm does not mean that is an excuse to do the whole house up.”
The trade body The Association of British Insurers said that given the volume of claims last year it was inevitable that there would be an increase in customer disputes.
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