Any experiance with claiming on liability insurance?

[iain85]

Happy New Year all!

After returning from holiday I had a call from good customers of mine who have had a leak on an old bath tap connector and has brought part of the ceiling down. I changed from gravity hw to combi boiler about 6 weeks ago and at the time did warn that some times leaks can present themselves when making the swap to mains pressure.
i went out today as soon as I heard and fixed the fault free of charge but offered to contact my liability insurance to which they accepted.
i do feel a little hard done by as I checked the connection before I left but since they are regulars I promised to ask the insurers to look at it for them.

The bathroom is properly old and is getting replaced soon so is one of those things but hey Ho.

so my question is has anyone gone through their liability insurance before and if so how do I go about it?t

Ta

 

[Ray Stafford]

I hope that you have not admitted liability Iain?

From what you have said, this is not down to you. Did you install the tap connector?

 

[Destroyer2813]

Wouldn't be going through my insurance for that you explained the possibility of leaks and should of put it in writing,

 

[iain85]

No admitted liability just offered to ask the question based on the situation. I'm 100% not at fault but refitted a new connector and repiped a short section for them foc as a gesture of good will. The old connector has been on there 20 years +.

 

[iain85]

Haven't got any disclaimer documents sadly and this is the first time one would come in handy. Any links to a generic one which is legally binding?

 

[Destroyer2813]

To put it bluntly how can a 20 year old fitting leaking be your fault. The one time i had to claim of my pl the they stated it is down to the householder to maintain there property and it is down to them to prove your neglgence

 

[hammers4spanner]

I have just gone through my PI and if you can avoid it I would as it will suck up some time which can be annoying.don't sound like you have done anything wrong tho imho so why bother on this occasion

 

[SimonG]

Should always have "Cannot gaurantee any existing pipework and fittings.". I would have charged to repair no matter how good a customer. Insurance company will want to know why you didnt charge.

 

[mfgs]

Its an existing fitting, you cannot possibly be responsible. Yes you should have warned the customers of the risk, but ultimately it could have started leaking anyway even with a gravity set up.

 

[iain85]

I know , the issue is that I connected the hw supply from the combi to the pipe about 1 metre away from the fitting and the ex mechanic customer muted that I probably disturbed the connection which while possible can't be the whole reason as was fine when I left. They are genuinely nice people but feel a bit stuck on this to be fair.