Insurer out to get you

We had a very bad experience using AON insurance for international shipping cover while sending a container with Biddulphs International.

The insurer was very disinterested in responding to any of our queries pertaining their very unreasonable settlement proposed by feigning misunderstanding or actually not understanding their own clauses.

It seemed like this may be a common tactic to frustrate customers sufficiently so that they just eventually submit the unfair settlement and give up on actually receiving compensation for their damaged goods.

We spent 2 months engaging with AON, provided all documentation swiftly, when receiving the settlement it included various items not ever mentioned in their clauses and contractual documentation i.e. removing 50% of the value of an item for salvage. Which makes no sense if the country has no salvage market for the type of item damaged.

They also incorrectly interpreted a clause about averages meant for overall value of the container and used it for calculating an average for items included in a single line item notwithstanding that different items are likely of different values and a quote was provided under the listed amount. “Average Clause: If at any time of any loss or damage occurring the property covered shall be collectively of greater value than the sum insured thereon, the Assured shall be deemed to be his own insurer for the difference and shall bear a rateable proportion of the loss accordingly.” The claim was much less than the total so this made no sense.

Please be very careful who you ship with and what insurance you take out as you may pay more for the premium than you will actually get paid out even if you sustained significant damages. We had really big ticket items damaged like our dining room table, brand new matching bedside cabinets and our kitchen aid stand mixer.

The whole process was highly unpleasant and disillusioning and did affect the relocation process. Pointless taking out insurance if they will make any effort paying you out less than the premium