Chilling out wasn't an option: why the accidental landlord warns against 'repair or replace’ insurance policies for kitchen appliances

When a tenant’s fridge breaks down in the heatwave, the accidental landlord goes into protracted battle with her ‘repair or replace’ insurers.
£550 a week: a ninth-floor two-double bedroom apartment at Cavalier House, Uxbridge Road, W5, with concierge, private balcony and allocated parking, is available to rent immediately through Curtis and Parker (020 8012 3010)
Victoria Whitlock28 July 2018

Should any landlord be thinking of taking out insurance to cover kitchen appliances, I would urge them to gouge out their eyes with pencils instead. It will be less painful.

I have just spent several hours over several days trying to persuade one of the biggest of these insurance companies to do what they promised and replace a broken fridge in a rental property.

My husband had bought the cover because the company promised a “repair or replace” service. In other words, if the fridge was beyond saving, they’d provide a new one. He thought this would be the most cost-effective option as the fridge was some years old.

I should point out that my husband dealt with the matter because I was working in the US at the time but had I been in the UK, I wouldn’t have bought this policy. Not that I am blaming my husband for the fiasco that followed — although I might bring it up if ever we divorce.

Anyway, the first “engineer” they sent to repair the fridge gave it a cursory inspection, told the tenant he’d be back “in a couple of minutes” and never returned. When I called the insurance company to find out what was going on, they said he had ordered some parts to repair it and would return the following week.

It was bad enough that my tenant was left for days without a fridge during a heatwave, but when another engineer arrived with said parts, he said the first guy had misdiagnosed the fault and the fridge must be replaced.

He promised I’d get a call within 48 hours from the insurance company to arrange delivery of a new fridge. After two days I’d heard nothing. When I called, they said they couldn’t replace the fridge because they didn’t have the correct address. What the hell? They had sent two guys out to the property, so how could they claim they didn’t know where it was?

Unbelievably, it took two more days and hours on the phone, being passed from one department to another, to establish that the insurance company had muddled up our correspondence address with the address of the rental property where the fridge was located. Once this was sorted I was passed to yet another department, where some muppet told me they had no record of our appliance so couldn’t order us a new one.

Ironically, if this had been my fridge, it wouldn’t have been nearly as frustrating, but I felt so guilty about leaving my tenant so long without anywhere to keep his food chilled that I ended up buying him a second-hand mini fridge on eBay as a temporary solution.

When the new appliance finally arrived, the tenant told me it was something like a scene from Laurel and Hardy. I’d paid extra for the company to install the fridge but they made such a hash of it, including denting the door when they tried to shove it into position, that the tenant, who is a gem, told them he would do it himself.

In fairness, I should mention that the new fridge cost twice as much as the insurance, so it turned out to be good value in cash terms, but the wasted hours and stress just was not worth it. I will not be taking out another policy.

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