Trouble with an AV Receiver damage claim (Lightning Related) - please vote

[ghostinthemachine]

Have you ever had damage to AV Equipment and then had trouble with resolving a claim via your insurer?

If you had an issue and did not get compensation - with what company was that? PM me if you would be so kind?

This is related to an issue a friend has with a claim where the insurer is pulling out all the stops to no pay out the claim for a relatively expensive AV Receiver.

The damage to the unit is not a direct strike but most likely caused by induction via cables. The whole system is fitted with surge protection plugs as well as an inverter that feeds the system.

Please share your experience?

 

[Family_Dog]

Dewald, no one will ever guarantee the repairs on lightning damaged s/s equipment. We certainly do not. I would suggest insurance pay out a fair price to protect both parties. Valve equipment - yes, I would certainly give that a repair attempt but solid-state - nope. If they insist on a repair, there is no warranty at all from the dealer.

In the case you mention the Insurance should definitely pay out, they might insist on Lightning Arrestors on the DB board however.


-F_D

 

[ghostinthemachine]

Dewald, no one will ever guarantee the repairs on lightning damaged s/s equipment. We certainly do not. I would suggest insurance pay out a fair price to protect both parties. Valve equipment - yes, I would certainly give that a repair attempt but solid-state - nope. If they insist on a repair, there is no warranty at all from the dealer.

In the case you mention the Insurance should definitely pay out, they might insist on Lightning Arrestors on the DB board however.


-F_D

Lightning arrestors are all present as requested by the insurance company.

 

[FranZAR]

Is the claim handled by a broker or is it one of the call centre type insurers? They are notorious for finding reasons to reject claims. Hence the low premiums.

 

[David Morris]

I think there may be a claim on the surge protection manufacturer, I recall when I bought mine it had some guarantee for damage due to surges

 

[Family_Dog]

Don't know about that David, those LAs have to be replaced every so often because lightning knocks the hell out of them. But most people don't bother with their replacement.


-F_D

 

[Cowboy]

Pfft. Insurance scammers, not companies.

I recently had my annual policy "review". The broker comes around once a year to advise me about my policy, what it covers, what it doesn't cover, etc, etc (because you know these people move the goalposts daily). She gleefully tells me that because I am now over 55 I no longer have to pay an excess on any claims I make. I am also told that I have surge cover on any appliance that is plugged in and damaged by load shedding provided there is a surge protector plug in place.

Hmmm, interesting I say. A few weeks go by and my Xplora decoder hard drive decides to become corrupted because of the constant power outages we are experiencing here in Durban. My other PVR decoder has long since given up the ghost and cannot be powered on at all anymore. I contact the brokerage and ask about claiming. Yes indeed, I can claim but I must show proof that the damage to the decoder is caused by an electrical surge, plus the surge protector MUST be installed on the DB board, not just one of those red plug things you can buy from Ellies. And to cap it off my excess for any surge claim is R3500.

Wait, what?

Yep. What comes out of their mouths and what is printed in the insurance schedule appear to be at odds with each other. Surprise. Not.

I am with Hollard as underwriters and while I have never had a household claim with them, the motor insurance I have claimed plenty and not had a problem apart from the repair shops trying to squeeze an excess out of me when I have excess waiver on all our vehicles.

 

[chrisc]

When we started having regular scheduled blackouts, a friend in Constantia had a bad power restoral incident which damaged a fair bit of his audio kit

I increased the surge protection on the houseowners policy to R 50 000,00. There was no extra premium but I was required to fit a 3-phase surge arrestor to the house DB. I also replace this unit every 3 years as the manufacturers spec shows that it can degrade with frequent use

There is also no first amount payable for any surge claim. A report is needed if there is to be a claim

 

[neoT]

24 December 2023 we had damage to a long list of household equipment including hifi due to a large lightning strike close to us, my neighbor took the brunt of the strike and almost all electronic/electrical equipment in his house was damaged despite all his surge and lightning protection.
My neighbors insurance started replacing/fixing his damaged equipment within 2 days despite it being holiday, essential equipment first, the rest in January 2024, take note he has a mix of business and personal insurance because he works from home and some of the equipment relates to him being able to generate income and service his clients.

My own insurance (outsurance) only attended to my claim in January 2024, first round they denied the claim because according to the assessor (Samsung repair shop who took half a day to assess 12 items??? ) the damage was related to wear-n-tear - ja sure, a list of 12 items all failing at the same time due to wear-n-tear? I made a fuss and they then said I don't have the mandatory surge protection, I made another fuss and pointed out that the last policy update they send me doesn't have such a clause in it, I asked for a second assessment.
Second assessment (different electronic repair shop who actually took time to evaluate the damage) indicated equipment was damaged by electrical surge most likely due to lightning, after some more arm wrestling Outsurance approved my claim, I opted to take the money as I didn't want to go through the hassle of having Outsurance source the new equipment / getting stuff repaired and also because I allready replaced some of the equipment (alarm, cctv, router and switches and few other) due to Outsurance taking so long.
I recieved my payment beginning of March - just longer than 2 months after the incident and more than 1.5 months of fighting with them.
They also send me a letter telling me I need the surge protection for any future lightning claims - getting an electrician to install this is another sad story.

 

[Timbaland]

I had a strike at my house on January and I suffered some significant damage on building and household contents. Building was settled within 2 weeks but household took a while. It went as far as forensic investigation but they settled

 

[David Morris]

I had a strike at my house on January and I suffered some significant damage on building and household contents. Building was settled within 2 weeks but household took a while. It went as far as forensic investigation but they settled

It is a shame that a forensic investigation was necessary, probably due to so many fraudulent and inflated claims they so often receive.

 

[Timbaland]

It is a shame that a forensic investigation was necessary, probably due to so many fraudulent and inflated claims they so often receive.

They appointed a company that checked the stuff out and gave a formal report on the extent of the damages. This company sent the report to their approver who then appointed the forensic investigator. Yes it was a big claim but the role of throat guy was to go and do exactly what the first company did and he came to the same conclusion. I expressed my unhappiness about this because to me it was dealt which was a a result of them not trusting their own processes

 

[David Morris]

They appointed a company that checked the stuff out and gave a formal report on the extent of the damages. This company sent the report to their approver who then appointed the forensic investigator. Yes it was a big claim but the role of throat guy was to go and do exactly what the first company did and he came to the same conclusion. I expressed my unhappiness about this because to me it was dealt which was a a result of them not trusting their own processes

I think as I mentioned before about inflated claims, people feel entitled as they have paid insurance for many years so why not inflate the claim, I can't. I like my sleep