On the 8th of June 2007 the Hunter Region in NSW was declared a natural disaster zone. This storm caused the Pasha Bulker to run aground, local flooding of shopping malls and damage to 10,000's of homes. My home unlike many were lucky suffers with only minor damage.
The roof of the home became damaged from the 8m antenna mast, along with the solar absorber for the pool heating that subsequently damaged the pool pumps.
Being recently divorced and a single father left to raise my children alone, like many Australians I was just making ends meet. I place my trust in my insurer NRMA to act quickly and responsibly to have the antenna mast removed and place a tarp over the roof while waiting repairs.
My details were given to the NRMA approved repairer only to be left waiting. Several storms would follow the storm that devastated the area and each time I would ring my Insurer NRMA begging to have a tarp placed on the roof. Not once during these calls did they inform me that the builder I was waiting for was unable to take the job on. They eventually put me in touch with one of their other builders.
Some 9 weeks passed since the storm, I had signed off on the repair contract with the insurer NRMA and their builder for the sum of $2035.00 to a maximum of $10,000.00. During the 9 weeks I lost count of all the storms that followed and entered the home. Each time my children would call me fearing the worst, as always I contact the NRMA begging for them and their builder to place a tarp on the roof.
Eventually the NRMA builder turned up, they saw fit to make urgent repairs to the pool while the home remained open to the weather. I could see the funny side this, as my family could live in the pool as it was warmer and dryer than the home.
Unfortunately during this time without power in the home from the constant rains that entered the roof I was left to cook on a portable gas cooker that failed and caught fire in the kitchen resulting in a second claim.
As before I contacted the NRMA to report what had happened, I was told I could make arrangements for temporary accommodations at my local motel. I did so but had to wait 3 days before a room was available.
Before the commencement of the accommodations I received a visit from the NRMA assessor to assess the fire damage. Not only was she rude, I was told that while I am in temporary accommodations due to the fact my home was no longer secure, that I will have no insurance cover for theft of any items within the home. Following this I cancelled the accommodations and made arrangements for the NRMA to tarp the roof.
Months would pass by and still my insurer made no attempts to tarp the roof to stop the rains from entering the home, I made dozens of calls to the NRMA and no reply. Months would pass by, before I contacted the NRMA customer advocacy department who escalated my claim to level one and made it urgent, but the managing assessor handling my claim refused to respond to one of his own internal departments request this was also followed by 14 calls from me over 2 month period and not one return call.
Some five months had now past by and still not one returned call from the managing assessor, that was not until I sent him a fax for which he replied with a phone call for the first time in 5 months only to abuse me and file my claim with the internal dispute department (Customer Advocacy).
During this time my home was becoming a serious health risk, my children began to suffer with nose bleeds asthma attacks from the air born particles from the mould growing within the home, these same air born particles placed me in hospital with a viral infection that triggered a heart attack. Soon after, I was relocated with my family to a rental home. No assistance was given or offered, just out of hospital from a heart attack I was left to move using my car and trailer.
During the move claim number 4 was issued for total loss of contents that were damaged by mould from all the rains that entered the home over a period of 5 months. From a simple yet small claim that escalated to total loss of contents to the value of around $76,000 this has been paid for.
My insurer engaged their own engineer to inspect the damage to the home and even ignored the request by their engineer to urgently tarp the roof before the damage became irreversible. Their own engineer also stated that even after the repairs are carried out the home will require further repairs until such a time as it stabilizes from all the rains that passed through the home causing the foundations to shift.
This was to be the beginning of my insurer's attempts to do anything to minimize their losses, during this time all work that had been carried out by the insurer failed; these repairs were 7 months within their warranty period. My insurers refused to contact or supply me with the name of their repairer as they were no longer using them. I was asked to engage another builder to quote on the repairs and as always I conformed to every request and still the NRMA refused to address their failure.
I was to learn that the repairs carried out by the NRMA on the pool and solar absorber were faulty and had allowed more rains to enter the home to the point where the internal structure was rotting away. The NRMA repairer screwed the solar absorber to the roof without any sealer; this explained the waterfalls coming out of the cladding under well protected areas.
From this point onwards my insurer insisted on a cash settlement and cash only, my insurer refused to take any responsibility for faulty workmanship. My insurer would stop at nothing they manipulated reports, engaged builders to carry out reports, reports that contained large errors in costing that would finally be falsified for submission to the Financial Ombudsman and would in fact be questioned by the Ombudsman. If I was to do this I would be sitting in jail for fraud.
Unlike my insurer NRMA, I was not given the opportunity of a phone call from the Ombudsman like my insurer NRMA received to clarify these errors. My insurer NRMA had no hesitations in lying to the Ombudsman and deliberately directed them away from the original documents before they were modified. My insurer also denied carrying out replacement repairs to the pool.
The Ombudsman ruling went in favor of the insurer. Following which I contacted the Ombudsman to inform them that their ruling was based on false documents supplied by the insurer, the Ombudsman replied by saying this is for the code of practice manager and there ruling still stands.
My family and I now stand to lose the family home as we are forced to pay rent and the mortgage on the family home at the same time. I have been offered $193,083.31 cash settlement by my insurer NRMA fully knowing I can never claim this money under the terms and conditions laid out by the NRMA. To claim the cash settlement, I am required by the NRMA to sign a deed of release stating I accept these funds as full and final settlement for damages. I am also required by the NRMA to get a letter of authority from the finance company giving me permission to accept and collect this settlement.
This is where the problems lie, my finance company will not give the authority required by the NRMA due to insufficient funds as the home stands beyond repairs and now requires Knock down and rebuild. My finance company cannot claim the cash settlement as I am the owner of the home. I cannot claim the money as it requires an authority. So the NRMA stand to walk without paying a cent, while the finance company foreclose and sell of the home for land value only, leaving me with an outstanding payment of around $100,000 or more.
My home is now sitting in the hands of the agents handling the foreclosure, they have made attempts to make claim to NRMA cash settlement without success. Due to the legal ramifications and pending legal actions that are soon to commence, foreclosure on the home has been placed on hold awaiting the outcome.
The roof of the home became damaged from the 8m antenna mast, along with the solar absorber for the pool heating that subsequently damaged the pool pumps.
Being recently divorced and a single father left to raise my children alone, like many Australians I was just making ends meet. I place my trust in my insurer NRMA to act quickly and responsibly to have the antenna mast removed and place a tarp over the roof while waiting repairs.
My details were given to the NRMA approved repairer only to be left waiting. Several storms would follow the storm that devastated the area and each time I would ring my Insurer NRMA begging to have a tarp placed on the roof. Not once during these calls did they inform me that the builder I was waiting for was unable to take the job on. They eventually put me in touch with one of their other builders.
Some 9 weeks passed since the storm, I had signed off on the repair contract with the insurer NRMA and their builder for the sum of $2035.00 to a maximum of $10,000.00. During the 9 weeks I lost count of all the storms that followed and entered the home. Each time my children would call me fearing the worst, as always I contact the NRMA begging for them and their builder to place a tarp on the roof.
Eventually the NRMA builder turned up, they saw fit to make urgent repairs to the pool while the home remained open to the weather. I could see the funny side this, as my family could live in the pool as it was warmer and dryer than the home.
Unfortunately during this time without power in the home from the constant rains that entered the roof I was left to cook on a portable gas cooker that failed and caught fire in the kitchen resulting in a second claim.
As before I contacted the NRMA to report what had happened, I was told I could make arrangements for temporary accommodations at my local motel. I did so but had to wait 3 days before a room was available.
Before the commencement of the accommodations I received a visit from the NRMA assessor to assess the fire damage. Not only was she rude, I was told that while I am in temporary accommodations due to the fact my home was no longer secure, that I will have no insurance cover for theft of any items within the home. Following this I cancelled the accommodations and made arrangements for the NRMA to tarp the roof.
Months would pass by and still my insurer made no attempts to tarp the roof to stop the rains from entering the home, I made dozens of calls to the NRMA and no reply. Months would pass by, before I contacted the NRMA customer advocacy department who escalated my claim to level one and made it urgent, but the managing assessor handling my claim refused to respond to one of his own internal departments request this was also followed by 14 calls from me over 2 month period and not one return call.
Some five months had now past by and still not one returned call from the managing assessor, that was not until I sent him a fax for which he replied with a phone call for the first time in 5 months only to abuse me and file my claim with the internal dispute department (Customer Advocacy).
During this time my home was becoming a serious health risk, my children began to suffer with nose bleeds asthma attacks from the air born particles from the mould growing within the home, these same air born particles placed me in hospital with a viral infection that triggered a heart attack. Soon after, I was relocated with my family to a rental home. No assistance was given or offered, just out of hospital from a heart attack I was left to move using my car and trailer.
During the move claim number 4 was issued for total loss of contents that were damaged by mould from all the rains that entered the home over a period of 5 months. From a simple yet small claim that escalated to total loss of contents to the value of around $76,000 this has been paid for.
My insurer engaged their own engineer to inspect the damage to the home and even ignored the request by their engineer to urgently tarp the roof before the damage became irreversible. Their own engineer also stated that even after the repairs are carried out the home will require further repairs until such a time as it stabilizes from all the rains that passed through the home causing the foundations to shift.
This was to be the beginning of my insurer's attempts to do anything to minimize their losses, during this time all work that had been carried out by the insurer failed; these repairs were 7 months within their warranty period. My insurers refused to contact or supply me with the name of their repairer as they were no longer using them. I was asked to engage another builder to quote on the repairs and as always I conformed to every request and still the NRMA refused to address their failure.
I was to learn that the repairs carried out by the NRMA on the pool and solar absorber were faulty and had allowed more rains to enter the home to the point where the internal structure was rotting away. The NRMA repairer screwed the solar absorber to the roof without any sealer; this explained the waterfalls coming out of the cladding under well protected areas.
From this point onwards my insurer insisted on a cash settlement and cash only, my insurer refused to take any responsibility for faulty workmanship. My insurer would stop at nothing they manipulated reports, engaged builders to carry out reports, reports that contained large errors in costing that would finally be falsified for submission to the Financial Ombudsman and would in fact be questioned by the Ombudsman. If I was to do this I would be sitting in jail for fraud.
Unlike my insurer NRMA, I was not given the opportunity of a phone call from the Ombudsman like my insurer NRMA received to clarify these errors. My insurer NRMA had no hesitations in lying to the Ombudsman and deliberately directed them away from the original documents before they were modified. My insurer also denied carrying out replacement repairs to the pool.
The Ombudsman ruling went in favor of the insurer. Following which I contacted the Ombudsman to inform them that their ruling was based on false documents supplied by the insurer, the Ombudsman replied by saying this is for the code of practice manager and there ruling still stands.
My family and I now stand to lose the family home as we are forced to pay rent and the mortgage on the family home at the same time. I have been offered $193,083.31 cash settlement by my insurer NRMA fully knowing I can never claim this money under the terms and conditions laid out by the NRMA. To claim the cash settlement, I am required by the NRMA to sign a deed of release stating I accept these funds as full and final settlement for damages. I am also required by the NRMA to get a letter of authority from the finance company giving me permission to accept and collect this settlement.
This is where the problems lie, my finance company will not give the authority required by the NRMA due to insufficient funds as the home stands beyond repairs and now requires Knock down and rebuild. My finance company cannot claim the cash settlement as I am the owner of the home. I cannot claim the money as it requires an authority. So the NRMA stand to walk without paying a cent, while the finance company foreclose and sell of the home for land value only, leaving me with an outstanding payment of around $100,000 or more.
My home is now sitting in the hands of the agents handling the foreclosure, they have made attempts to make claim to NRMA cash settlement without success. Due to the legal ramifications and pending legal actions that are soon to commence, foreclosure on the home has been placed on hold awaiting the outcome.
Copyright©2009 R Deren All Rights Reserved
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Location: Morisset Park
Click on the link above to see my story that aired on new years day 2009. what they did not say or show, was that I was unable to claim their offer, they did not show the damage to the pool and roof of the home by the NRMA repairer that allowed the rains to pass into the structure of the home and rotting the structure from within.
What the NRMA would not say is how My family had to live in this home for 6 months while every rainfall passed through the home. To say they have done all they can to get my family back into our home is a total "JOKE". The NRMA are the ones who damaged my home and not the rains by the direct neglect of the NRMA to act responsibly .
What the NRMA would not say is how My family had to live in this home for 6 months while every rainfall passed through the home. To say they have done all they can to get my family back into our home is a total "JOKE". The NRMA are the ones who damaged my home and not the rains by the direct neglect of the NRMA to act responsibly .
MY STORY
Latest Update 27/12/2009
On the 25th of November 2009 Today Tonight ran a story on insurance practices by the NRMA (IAG). At first (IAG) NRMA denied these practices ever taking place, this was quickly followed by a total turn around from NRMA (IAG).
This story was called the INSURANCE INSIDER. Adam Thomas put his job and career on line to fight the corruption within (IAG) NRMA insurance giant. Adam Thomas put honesty and integrity ahead of his job with (IAG). He says people are being ripped off, Adams own words confirm the thousands and even hundreds of millions that the giant (IAG) NRMA can save each and every year on insurance claims, by ripping off the consumer and not even considering the safety of the insured.
Take the time and visit the link to this story. DON'T FORGET THESE ARE OUR CHILDREN DRIVING THESE CARS
INSURANCE INSIDER STORY
It has now been over twelve months since the NRMA stopped paying rent on the temporary accommodations which forced me to default on the home loan. As I have, Liberty Financial have struggled to make claim to the moneys offered by NRMA (IAG). To date this has cost me and my family over $36,000 on the home loan alone. On the 23rd of November 2009, Liberty Financial introduced new fees for default loans. These fees are as follows, Default Resolution Fee of $95 per payment overdue, Default Management Fee of $195 per payment overdue, along with my monthly repayment at 10.6% being $596.20 per week. This now means I am loosing a total of $886.20 per week and growing.
All while the NRMA (IAG) and their solicitor continue to stalemate and structure the settlement in such a way that only garantees the loss of the family home followed by bankruptcy.
This story was called the INSURANCE INSIDER. Adam Thomas put his job and career on line to fight the corruption within (IAG) NRMA insurance giant. Adam Thomas put honesty and integrity ahead of his job with (IAG). He says people are being ripped off, Adams own words confirm the thousands and even hundreds of millions that the giant (IAG) NRMA can save each and every year on insurance claims, by ripping off the consumer and not even considering the safety of the insured.
Take the time and visit the link to this story. DON'T FORGET THESE ARE OUR CHILDREN DRIVING THESE CARS
INSURANCE INSIDER STORY
It has now been over twelve months since the NRMA stopped paying rent on the temporary accommodations which forced me to default on the home loan. As I have, Liberty Financial have struggled to make claim to the moneys offered by NRMA (IAG). To date this has cost me and my family over $36,000 on the home loan alone. On the 23rd of November 2009, Liberty Financial introduced new fees for default loans. These fees are as follows, Default Resolution Fee of $95 per payment overdue, Default Management Fee of $195 per payment overdue, along with my monthly repayment at 10.6% being $596.20 per week. This now means I am loosing a total of $886.20 per week and growing.
All while the NRMA (IAG) and their solicitor continue to stalemate and structure the settlement in such a way that only garantees the loss of the family home followed by bankruptcy.
For to many years now the NRMA have been getting away with ripping off their customer and members. Finally we have a TV network with the courage to take on the Insurance GIANT NRMA otherwise known as (IAG). First they denied all, followed by a quick turn around. Unfortunately an honest man with good morals lost his job for telling all. I have been told that NRMA on many occasions threaten their employees with their job if they don't find a way to deny the claim.
These practices not only exist with car insurance but also home insurance. NRMA have no concern for the insured, only profit to keep feeding the pockets of the CEO's with their big balloon payments.
See the video below and see just how corrupt (IAG) NRMA are.
These practices not only exist with car insurance but also home insurance. NRMA have no concern for the insured, only profit to keep feeding the pockets of the CEO's with their big balloon payments.
See the video below and see just how corrupt (IAG) NRMA are.
These are more recent photo's showing my home decaying even more while I am still in a stalemate with (IAG) NRMA to resolve the issues. I have made attemps to seal and tarp the roof bu to many leaks exist.
The tarp has not stood the test of time. So much water has entered the roof cavity that even the gutters are falling of due the the facia rotting from within.