RSA won’t repair the damage Storm Arwen did last November

theguardian.com:

My house suffered substantial damage in Storm Arwen last November and it has been an ongoing battle with my insurer, RSA, to get it repaired. The programme of repairs has still not been approved and damage from water leaks is worsening.LG, Hexham, Northumberland

You first contacted me in May. By then, you’d spent six months with masonry dropping from a damaged gable, an unstable rear wall, destroyed guttering, damaged window frames and water leaking through electric light fittings from a hole in the roof. A telecoms cable wrenched adrift couldn’t be reattached because of the unsafe brickwork, cutting off the broadband and landline. You, meanwhile, paid for broken windows to be reglazed and waited in vain for a promised refund.

The problem appears to be a familiar one: miscommunication between the companies involved – in this case, the claims management firm appointed by RSA, and the subcontracted surveyors and builders. The claims management firm objected to the builder’s requirement of scaffolding and a skip, without which the works couldn’t proceed. Over the ensuing months you were forced to chase each company, spending hours waiting for calls to be answered or returned.

I contacted RSA on 23 May. Within a day you were told the works had been approved. Scaffolding went up three weeks later, and the £664 you’d spent on replacing the glazing refunded. Repairs were finally completed this month, 10 months after your claim, and you have agreed a compensation payment with RSA.

RSA says: “Our handling of this claim has fallen below the standards our customers expect and those we set ourselves. We are taking steps to learn from the mistakes.”

Another RSA customer, RE of Newmarket, Suffolk and her family, have spent two months