Using Morgan Clark a second time for flood insurance claim

When the river Eden flooded in Carlisle in 2005, water poured through David Allen’s substantial five-bedroomed semi-detached home. There was extensive damage throughout the downstairs which was likely to result in an insurance claim of around £100,000.

As a senior police officer, Mr Allen felt he would be able to handle the insurance claim himself and started the process for both buildings and contents. While both of these had been taken out with the same insurer, different loss adjusters were appointed for the two separate claims.

The contents claim progressed smoothly and it was obvious from the start that Mr Allen would receive his full entitlement. The same could not be said of the buildings claim.

Buildings claim issues

Mr Allen’s Victorian home had some rare and high-quality original features, including beautiful tiled fireplaces and hearths; he also had a very expensive fitted kitchen. All of this had been completely ruined by the flood and needed to be replaced. According to Mr Allen, “All we wanted was like-for-like replacements which we were entitled to under our policy, but the adjuster argued with us and wanted to put a lot of the original damaged material back.”

The adjuster then sent in a building contractor to start the reinstatement but, according to Mr Allen, “it was all so shoddy – I could see the fireplaces falling apart as soon as they were put back. And the electrical work they did looked dangerous. So I threw them out – and then nothing happened for two months.”

It was at this point that Mr Allen realised he needed professional help. So he turned to professional loss assessors Morgan Clark “and that changed everything and made all the difference. We were able to step back from an emotionally-charged relationship with the loss adjuster where we’d reached an impasse and couldn’t communicate. Morgan Clark had the technical knowledge and experience to make sure the right things were done.”

Once Morgan Clark took over the claim, the loss adjuster agreed that Mr Allen was entitled to like-for-like replacements throughout: “That’s all we wanted; we weren’t trying to rip anyone off. Morgan Clark put everything back on a professional footing and achieved what was needed to restore the house to how it was before.”

Second flood in 2015

So when the river flooded again in 2015, Mr Allen immediately contacted Morgan Clark: “As soon as it happened I was on the phone to them again. I had no idea if we would have the same bad experience but I couldn’t take the risk. Morgan Clark did such a fantastic job last time and it’s a godsend having them do it all for us again.

“And I’d say to anyone else who is in a similar position: don’t hesitate to use a loss assessor such as Morgan Clark. What you face is inordinately complicated but Morgan Clark does this for a living. It simplifies everything and in our case it ensured we received what we were entitled to.”