I'm ill, I have a nasty cold and i'm stuck at home, tired and unable to sleep because I can't breath when I lay down. (This is just background).

I made a claim on home insurance a few months ago for a leak, the bay window flat roof leaked and the papered ceiling was damaged and paintwork marked.
They sent an assessor, who had a look and said that they'd pay for the interior damage, but not the roof as the felt was old. Fair enough.
I said that I would be redecorating in the next few months anyway, and so didn't want to just repair the damage and then have to redo it in the near future, as that was a waste of time and effort. Which they agreed, said they'd put me down for 'own contractors' and that way I could have the damage put right when i decorated.
They then sent a letter asking for a quote, so I found a local decorator and got a quote for the work, which I duly sent off.

They then phoned me again (today, whilst i'm feeling ill and grumpy) and said to get the work done and they'd settle the invoice.
Clearly this is no good, as I don't want the ceiling repapering just so that I can rip it down again in a few months.

Fortunately this one was resolved quite easily by phoning the Abbey who said they'd send a cheque, no problems. It was Norwich Union who said that a cheque wasn't possible and that they could only settle the invoice.

As it happens, my car insurance is due for renewal, and Norwich Union are my current policy providers. So I phoned them today to discuss a quote they'd given me on the phone last week (which I declined at the time as I wanted to look around).
Today it appears that there is no record of last weeks quote, and that 200 pounds more is the best they can offer. I asked to speak to a supervisor, and got the on hold runaround for 10 minutes, finally giving up with a promise that they'll phone back (which I don't think will happen).
I'm changing the insurance to Royal Bank of Scotland since NU can't deal honestly with me, and pretty much just refused to put me through to a supervisor.

I just wanted to rant and get that off my chest a little bit. I'm not particularly impressed with the customer service of NU today.

NU are rubbish

When i lived in my last house there was a big storm that resulted in some of the roof tiles by my chimney getting damaged. This caused the roof to leak and soak the loft.

Anyway, phoned NU and told them. They said they would send someone around.

A Couple of days later some guy turns up, stands at the front of the house and takes some photos of the roof. Being that i already knew that the damage was behind the chimney and impossible to see from the road i asked him to stick up his ladders and have a proper look.

Basically he refused and told me the photos were good enough (which was rubbish) - off he goes.

NU then call to say they wont pay a claim as the damage is due to age / wear & tear...I explain the situation with the tiles and the d**khead who came to assess the damage, but guess what - they dont care. Bottom line being they wont pay the claim.

Useless

Don't get me started on insurance companies. You wanna try and get car insurance as an Entertainer. Most companies won't touch you.
The singing sheila's wouldn't be able to get car insurance with sheila's wheels either.
It's outrageous!
:rant:

I've had my car insurance with NU for about the last 5 years, simply because they've ended up at the best price I could get for good cover.

What's annoying is that every time they send me a renewal, I manage to knock £50-60 off it by getting a quote from their own website.

Can't help but think that they deliberately try it on, knowing that they can 'help' with a lower quote if you shop round and let them know but like to see if they can stuff you for the extra cash in the first place. Of course that’s what they do.

Went to Churchill this year - £320 FC as opposed to £380 with NU.

I did have a claim about 3 or 4 years ago, and to be honest NU dealt with it very well indeed.

I worked for a time in an insurance claims office. Generaly the advice I would give - if you don't get satisfaction, keep shouting. Be a pest. I've seen quite a few unreasonable claims settled because the insured kept shouting and a few legitimate claims disappear.

Fortunately the abbey were much more helpful than NU and agree to send a cheque with no argument or equivocation at all.
Any my car insurance has been moved, so that's £900 that NU won't get this year, or ever again from me.

These days the assessors come out not to evaluate your claim and to assist in a quick and easy straightforward settlement but to see if there is any opportunity/excuse for the insurers to get out of their duty to pay!!

If not, they drag things along as long as possible in the hope you may get fed up and not pursue the claim further and generally make the whole procedure as stressful as possible in the hope that next time you need to make a claim you will think again and not bother!!

Hopeless!!

:rant:

I've also found Norwich Union to be pretty poor recently. I'm currently buying a house which happens to lie in a flood-risk area. The environmental search still passed the property however, and said the actual risk was 1%.

I've been getting many quotes for home insurance in preparation for moving in, one of which was from Norwich Union. They said they'd only give me a quote after I obtain a hydrologist's report for the property, which I have to pay for! More Than quoted me a high monthly premium but still gave me a quote, whereas other insurers such as Direct Line, AA, Churchill and Tesco Home Insurance gave me much lower quotes for buildings and contents insurance. These were all provided with exactly the same information as Norwich Union were.

Norwich Union - Quote me unreasonably

The company I worked for dealt with NUD. I started not long after NUD offshored alot of its call centres. Everyone used the 'secret' numbers to the uk call centres as the Norwich Union Direct (or 'Delhi') lines were painfully slow to make yourself understood