"Asprea" - Or Why your insurance costs so much

[DancingDave 10]

Has anyone dealt with this company in recent times, I have had the misfortune of having my Insurance claim for a leaking roof in the storms, passed to them by Norwich union. The complete farce is ongoing, and the works are still unfinished. They seem to farm out the work to contractors from all over the country, Ive had to have one room plastered, and so far 3 different plasterers have been sent from, Stoke on trent and Bradford. they have all arrived at various times usually mid afternoon, not had enough plaster or time to complete the job, and I have been left with a room out of use for nearly 3 months now.

 

a good local plasterer could have had it done in a day and a half. Plus the various contractors have asked for cash payments for "extras" or things not covered, like painting etc, and when I've argued they change their mind.

 

So a £ 500 plastering job will probably turn into a £ 5000 Insurance claim.

[sheffgeeza 10]

We do insurance work but i know some companys only let you use they're tradesmen.

[DancingDave 10]

Geeza,

 

Isn't it crazy to send a Plasterer from Stoke or Bradford ? you could go in the Big Tree at 4pm and shout "plasterer!" and you'd find a dozen at least.

 

These companies like Asprea are just fleecing the insurers.

[BasilRathbon 10]

you could go in the Big Tree at 4pm and shout "plasterer!" and you'd find a dozen at least.

 

There's a difference between being a plasterer and being plastered.

[sheffgeeza 10]

Well it just seems mad to send Plasterers from so far away who are probably charging a bomb for travellin expenses when they could be putting you in touch with local people

[hevydevy 10]

do you mean Asprea or Asprey? We dealt with Aspray and they were awful, took 4 months to get a leak fixed, a million emails and ignored phone calls - a guy caled David Spafford was dealing with it, utter rubbish. Complained to head office, never heard anything back. Avoid like the plague.

[DancingDave 10]

I've got the paperwork here now, its called ASPREA, and is based at Europa link, Sheffield.

 

I still don't know when the effing plasterer is due to turn up, it was supposed to be today and I came back from Holiday early, to be here this morning, they really are the pits.

[DIVA 10]

I have had similar experiences with Legal & General. I nearly dropped through the floor when I found out what the shoddy contractors had been paid for the job! I could have got it done at a fraction of the price, and been a lot more satisfied with the work. It's time this practice by some insurance companies was thoroughly investigated, at the end of the day, it's our money they're throwing at these guys.

[jack_8932 10]

Hi all

 

I have worked for various insurance giants and have now set up my own building contractors specialising in insurance repair, the reason for this is for the big repair companies penny pinching and ending up with sub-contractors working for next to nothing. Would you believe i approched Crawfords who are one of the biggest loss adjusters. They OWN repair-net who funnily enough do probably 99% of their repair work. In order to become a repair net approved contractor you have to have a turnover of £1,500,000.00 a year + 3 years accounts + CHAS approval + construction line!! This in itself is entering into a market of profit before customer satisfaction companies but to top it all off in order to carry out work for REPAIR NET you have to then pay a fee of arround 8% of every job value back to them who then in turn add it to the massive proffits of CRAWFORD!!!

 

It is not un common for a 30 - 35% profit to be made by companies before passing the work on to a sub contractor, this is to cover their staff costs + managment costs etc but with the way things are now working a job which might have been £1000 to start ends up £80 - network charge £350 - company profit (pre costs) and only maybe £570 paying for the work to be done no wonder the workmanship might be a bit rough round the edges.

 

I am pulling my hair out trying to get some decent volumes of work in from insurance companies, i offer managing directors visit to site atleast once a week concentious staff who always go the extra mile to put a smile on peoples faces, a dedicated mobile phone number for people to ring 24/7 a DEFFINATE date,time and project length to ALL jobs however small! But the only andswer i get is YOU DONT TURN OVER ENOUGH MONEY ie YOUR NOT GREEDY ENOUGH TO DO WORK FOR US!!!!!!!!

 

The thing to remember is and not many people know, Everyone who has insurance has the choice who comes into THEIR house to do work. To the insurance company it is just another property but to you it is your HOME if you don't want those builders in KICK them out. Chose your own, you have every right!!!

 

Jack

[Scozzie 10]

Has anyone dealt with this company in recent times, I have had the misfortune of having my Insurance claim for a leaking roof in the storms, passed to them by Norwich union. The complete farce is ongoing, and the works are still unfinished. They seem to farm out the work to contractors from all over the country, Ive had to have one room plastered, and so far 3 different plasterers have been sent from, Stoke on trent and Bradford. they have all arrived at various times usually mid afternoon, not had enough plaster or time to complete the job, and I have been left with a room out of use for nearly 3 months now.

 

a good local plasterer could have had it done in a day and a half. Plus the various contractors have asked for cash payments for "extras" or things not covered, like painting etc, and when I've argued they change their mind.

 

So a £ 500 plastering job will probably turn into a £ 5000 Insurance claim.

 

Have you contacted your Personal Claims Advisor to give them a mouthful?

I've had dealings with Asprea and they were very good - quick, polite and efficient.

[Jon26 10]

Has anyone had recent dealings with ASPREA?

 

A quick google search shows more bad feedback than good, but I'm just checking if anyone has recent experience in Sheffield. At the moment we've a choice between appointing ASPREA or appointing our own builder/decorator etc.. The latter will no doubt involve more up front paperwork for me, but once approved I feel I'll have more control over what is done and when etc..

 

Thanks in advance!