Halifax Home Insurance Review

Overall Rating

Immediate personal assistance, quickly arranging for contractors to undertake various aspects of property restoration. Priority was to deal with the damage, any inquest would be for later. Financial help offered immediately. Regular contact maintained with Customer Services.

Only one telephone number, going through the options / recorded messages frustrating, then having to identify oneself and explain yet again what your call is in detail before you can get to speak to a specific person. Halifax's own archive 'Record keeping' could and should be more efficient.

On November 29, 2005, we suffered a house fire during the installation of a new flat roof. As the work was apparently subcontracted, the main contractors stated that the subcontractors' insurers would be responsible for any resulting claim. However, it transpired that the fire was caused by actions not covered in their policy. With Christmas fast approaching, the main contractors showed little concern or sympathy for our plight and indeed demonstrated a marked reluctance to acknowledge due responsibility. So, as our Buildings and Contents Insurance were with the Halifax, I phoned them for advice and help.

They swung into action immediately - no hassle, no delay, no quibbles and no messing around. Within 24 hours, a Personal Claims Consultant came to assess the overall situation. He promptly arranged for a team from Munters Property Damage Restoration, to clean the house, all the upstairs rooms having been subjected to substantial smoke damage. A team of four arrived within a couple of days and worked solidly from 9 till 5 for the next five days. Every item was either cleaned or written off whereupon an inventory was produced for the purpose of obtaining fair replacement values. A gentleman from Johnsons The Cleaners came in a large van from Oldbury and emptied the wardrobes and drawers, taking away all clothes, bedding, towels, etc for appropriate cleaning.

We were asked to detail what else we would like done over and above the obvious. We requested for our regular decorator, local builder and local 'window-blinds' shop to undertake necessary appropriate restoration. This was agreed. Estimates were subsequently obtained, duly agreed and cheques issued (even before some of the work had been done!). We were invited to go to Allied Carpets or Carpetright and chose new to replace that which had been damaged. Other details were addressed.

Over the Christmas period, we received two or three interim cheques to cover on-going expenditure and on January 20th, 2006, some seven or so weeks after the fire, we received a substantial cheque from the Halifax in 'full and final settlement'. Initially, we had to forfeit our £75.00 policy excess and our '30% No-Claims Bonus' until Halifax had recovered their losses. However, this process took a major firm of Solicitors, eighteen months (until June 2007) to obtain a total recovery whereupon our excess was then returned, our NCB restored and our premiums adjusted so that in this respect we had suffered no financial loss over the intervening period.

We are more than happy to stay with the Halifax. It's one thing for a firm to offer cheap insurance, it's quite another to see how well they react when a claim is submitted. The Halifax gave us a first-class service and I would even say we had 'Xtra'. We would have no hesitation in recommending the Halifax to anyone!