Solve My Claim

10/03/2025

CYCLONE ALFRED UPDATE 2

Storm Damage To Your Property?

We are already receiving calls after current Cyclone Alfred has caused mayhem throughout NSW and Qld, and we wanted to provide a few tips to help you navigate the early stages of your claim.

1. With so many trees falling during this event, we have heard of some people seeking for the damage to their property to be covered by their neighbour’s insurer as the tree or other object that has caused damage to their home came from the neighbour’s yard. Your neighbour’s insurance is for their property and therefore does not cover the damage to your property. You may feel that the damage to your property should be covered under your neighbour’s insurance policy through a liability claim, but your neighbour’s insurer will typically only accept liability if the damage was due to some form of negligence on your neighbour’s behalf. A tree, or other object, impacting on your property during a storm is not generally an event which can be deemed as arising due to negligence on your neighbour’s behalf. As such, the best course of action available to you is to lodge a claim with your own insurance company for storm damage. Whilst your insurer may possibly choose to later seek recovery from your neighbour or their insurance company if there is indeed negligence on their part, this is a separate issue to your insurer indemnifying the damage to your property.

2. Due to the scale of this event, and the length of time it is continuing to cause havoc, you may be experiencing delays to have a “make safe” undertaken at your property due to your insurer not having any local builders or trades. A “make safe” includes works such as removing the tree from where it has impacted, tarping any storm created openings to prevent further water ingress, or undertaking drying out for any internal water damage. You may be tempted to start these works yourself so that you are not impacted by these delays. Firstly, we would advise that you do not undertake any work without your insurance company’s explicit, written permission to do so. Part of your policy requirements is to allow your insurer to assess any damages and if you repair those damages before they can assess they are within their rights to deny your claim on the basis that you have prejudiced them by not allowing them to fully assess the damage to your property. It may be that your insurer agrees for you to engage your own trade to undertake “make safe” works only. Our advice is to ensure you take many photos before these works are undertaken, during (if possible) and after, along with ensuring you keep the receipts from all trades you engage. This will ensure that you have evidence of the cause of damage, to submit to your insurer if requested.

3. Notwithstanding the above point, you also have an obligation to take reasonable steps to secure your property and to minimise the chance of ongoing increase to the damage. If you need to take steps to secure your property and make it safe and watertight, you DO have the right to proceed with reasonable works and to incur reasonable costs, as long as you keep records and photos showing the property before you completed the make-safe works. The key word here is ‘reasonable’. Typically, this would mean that you shouldn’t actually remove damaged items from the property (if you have to remove them from a roof or fence to make it safe, keep the damaged item in the yard or somewhere safe until it can be assessed), and that you should limit make-safe works to temporary works rather than permanent repairs. For instance, if you have a tree branch that has poked a hole in your roof, make-safe works might include removal of the branch and tarping up the roof – NOT replacement of the damaged roof sheet. If you are unsure, seek professional advice from a suitably qualified insurance claims expert, or call your insurer to discuss the situation. And whatever you do, always ensure that you have good evidence (photos, notes, quotes and reports etc).

4. Make a habit of obtaining details (name and qualification) of EVERYONE who attends your property. This can be as simple as requesting a business card. One of the reasons for this is to verify if the person giving advice has the relevant qualifications to give that advice. For example, is your loss adjuster a qualified and licensed builder? If not, don’t take building advice from them unless you have a fully qualified builder verify the advice. Is your builder or assessor a qualified mycologist? If not, they have no right to give you advice about mould issues. We are not saying that a loss adjuster HAS TO be a builder or mycologist – they only have to have qualifications as loss adjusters. But unless they are qualified in other areas such as building or mycology, they are NOT qualified to tell you not to worry about seeking proper expert advice.

5. On a similar note, one of the best things you can do to protect yourself through this process is to understand, and use, contemporaneous notes. Contemporaneous simply means “at the same time”, and in respect to a note, it means that the note was made during or immediately following a conversation or set of events that the note refers to. For a note to be considered “contemporaneous”, it must be made at the time, or as soon as possible after the time that the incident occurred. For instance, if an assessor came to your house today, and it was not practical to record the assessment, you could sit down as soon as the assessor leaves the property and make notes about that assessment. If it could be proven that those notes were written immediately after the assessment, they would be considered “contemporaneous”, and would therefore hold more weight than a later report or file note that may be made by the assessor to the insurance company days or weeks after the event (particularly if that assessor had completed 20 site visits between yours and completing their report).

6. Additionally, we would recommend you never arrange anything or agree to anything in a phone call. You really need a paper trail (email is fine) for everything. If you MUST do something by phone, or during a face-to-face meeting, always follow that meeting or phone call up with an email as soon as possible. In the email, confirm what was discussed, what each party agreed to and what the timeframes were for those agreements. For instance, you might email an insurer straight after a phone conversation, thanking them for speaking with you, and noting, “As discussed in our phone call today, you advised that…(insert details of what they said), and I advised you that…(insert details of what you said). Confirm timeframes (eg. “You advised that your remediation company would contact me within the next 48 hours”, or whatever they told you). If you are using emails AND contemporaneous notes in your own diary or notebook, refer to your email in the contemporaneous note. For instance, “Met with ### assessor today, discussed (add details of discussion). Once assessment was finished, sent email to ### insurance company (and then cut & paste the email to your note, or attach a printed copy if you are hand-writing notes). These are all excellent ways to ensure that every meeting is accurately reported and outlined, and that later disputes can be properly resolved by all parties being given the correct facts of anything that may have been agreed to in those previous phone calls or meetings.

7. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that your insurance company is in business for you – they are in business to make a profit, and their decisions will likely reflect their own interests ahead of yours. If your interests and their interests are the same, you usually won’t have a problem. But if your interests are not the same as their interests, they will act in their own interests in our experience.

8. YOU are the manager of your claim – NOT your insurance company, and not your loss adjuster. You have the right to dictate terms, and to expect that your service providers (both your insurance claims department, and the service providers they appoint) are acting to fulfil the terms of your insurance contract. Never make the mistake of meekly rolling over and accepting whatever you are told. As part of this, please be aware that you have the right to receive EVERY report, scope of works etc, including make-safe works, remediation/restoration/mould inspection reports, assessor’s reports, loss adjuster’s reports etc that are used in the assessment and settlement of the claim. Do not accept “no” for an answer, as the General Insurance Code of Practice compels an insurer to provide you with every report and document that is used to assess or settle your claim. On this, you should note however that the service provider themselves (loss adjuster, builder etc) won’t provide you with any report, you need to request it directly from your insurer.

9. Lastly, you have the right to be satisfied with your scope of works/repair quote BEFORE you agree to sign anything. Don’t ever be fooled by someone telling you to “just sign it and we will work out the issues during the repair as variations”. Sure, they MIGHT accept variations during the repair process, but if you signed the scope as is, you are legally agreeing that it is complete, and fair & reasonable, so if they reject the variations down the track you can’t really do much about that. Even if getting the scope right delays your claim, you are better off getting it right before you sign anything.

If you are in the unfortunate situation of having a damaged property or motor vehicle from the recent storms, we genuinely hope that your insurer is doing the right thing, and that your claim assessment process will be relatively painless for you. But if it is not, or if you are having concerns about the process, feel free to contact us at [email protected] for a free, no-obligation discussion about your circumstances and what you can do to solve your claim.

(Photo sourced from ABC News)

07/03/2025

This story relates to one of our clients, whose claim we took to AFCA and were ultimately victorious!

We don't know when insurers will learn the repeated and costly lessons of their failures!

If this claim had been properly managed in the first instance, it would likely have cost less than $200,000. In the end, the insurer has been forced to pay out well over $1 million (and who knows how much they spent on their multiple, mostly incompetent "experts" who tried to help them rip off our client).

Chalk one more up for "the good guys"!! AFCA even made the insurer reimburse our client for our fees in this one.

Every day, we fight battles like this, for people just like you. If you are struggling with your insurance claim, give us a call. We will fight for justice and fairness for your claim too!

Same mould story: insurer forced to pay for remediation failure 07 March 2025 The financial services ombudsman has told Hollard to increase its payout to a homeowner after it failed to adequately fix his mould-contaminated property following a previous dispute.  The complainant said repairs complet...

06/03/2025

David was approached by the ABC this week, to help provide additional information and advice for those who will be affected by Cyclone Alfred in the coming days.

There will likely be a flurry of insurance claims lodged after Cyclone Alfred, so here's what the experts recommend you do before, during and after the storm to make sure you're protected.

04/03/2025

You may be “Cyclone-Ready”, but are you “Insurance-Ready”?

There is much fear and trepidation about the imminent Cyclone Alfred this week. Many are busily preparing extra food, sandbags, and all sorts of sensible measures to ensure that you are ready. And this is so important!

But with all of the focus on being “Cyclone-Prepared”, it is critically important to be “Insurance-Prepared” too.

Having spent the past 29 years in the insurance claims industry, I can tell you with great confidence that a significant number of people who endure a natural disaster will say that the subsequent insurance claim process was far more traumatic than the disaster event itself!

But there ARE steps you can take to ensure that you are “Insurance-ready”, to reduce the chance of your claim becoming a nightmare far worse than anything that a cyclone can do to you.

At the time I write this, you have around 48 hours until it hits. Consider taking some of these steps while you have a chance. Some of them might seem like ‘over-kill’, but believe me, everyone who has been through an event like this will attest to the importance of each of these steps.

1. Take 10 minutes to go around your property with your phone and take literally hundreds of photos (or a 10 minute video – or BOTH). Every room. Every angle. Showing the condition of the different parts of the house, inside and out. I can tell you with great confidence that, unless your house is brand new, many insurance assessors, builders or engineers will try to find “maintenance issues”, wear & tear, deterioration, or other factors that will enable them to reduce or deny your claim. If a major weather event hits you, your house may well look worse for wear in the aftermath. But if you have photos showing the condition of the property before the cyclone, this will help you to overturn ridiculous assertions from insurers that your house was “in that condition before the event”. Believe me, I have seen this thousands of times – it is not an exception, but almost a rule. Make sure your photos show ceilings, cornices, flooring, cabinets, etc. Basically, every main feature of your house.

2. And while you are at it, photograph all of your contents. It’s amazing how difficult it is to try to remember all of your contents at claim time, when your insurance assessor asks you to make a list of everything you owned. That can be traumatic, and can also take dozens (or hundreds) of hours of time, right when you are enduring the trauma of having lost everything. You don’t need to photograph every item – just every room, from all 4 directions. That gives you a really good snapshot of what you owned. Open wardrobes, kitchen cabinets etc and take a photo. You will be SOOOOOOO glad you did this, if the worst does happen.

3. If your property is affected, once you get back home, keep taking photos. Take photos of the immediate aftermath, as well as every stage throughout the process. Before you dispose of contents. Before you start cleaning up. I cannot overstate the importance of having photos throughout each stage of the claim process. If there is a lot of damage, it may take insurers weeks (or even months) to be able to assess your property and start to clean up. Many people will go ahead and get started. Volunteers will likely be everywhere, offering to help. This is all fantastic, but do yourself a favour and get everything on photo (or video) as it happens.

4. From your first interaction with your insurer, TAKE CONTEMPORANEOUS NOTES. This essentially means make notes as soon as something happens, rather than waiting till a later date. If notes are written down contemporaneously, they are seen as more reliable than notes that are taken down later, after some time has passed. Most people think the best of their insurers. We want to believe that all of those ads about “helping” or “solving” or “We are there for you” are actually true. And in some cases, they may be. But I have dealt with the many thousands of cases where the ads were bald-faced lies, and insurers did anything BUT look after their clients. By the time you realise your claim is spiralling out of control and you need to escalate a dispute, you will rue the fact that you didn’t start taking contemporaneous notes from the first day of your claim. Take down the name, job title and qualification (if they present as a contractor or other service supplier) of everyone who contacts you throughout the claim process. Make notes of every phone call, every site visit, every interaction you have. It will be a lot to remember a few months down the track when things start to go bad.

5. Before the cyclone hits, make sure you have your insurance policy details, contact information etc available. If you have the time, have a read through your PDS because so many people never bother to do this, and never really understand what their policy does, and doesn’t cover. You will see in most PDS’ that there is a section titled something like “How We Handle Your Claim”. This is a really good section to read in preparation, so you are prepared for the claims process that your insurer will follow if the worst happens and your property is damaged.

That’s enough for now – you have so much to do in preparation this week already.

If you take these steps for now, you will be one of the more prepared ones. I will watch to see what happens on Thursday and Friday, and if damage is reasonably widespread, I will start posting more and more insurance tips to help you navigate the event.

Feel free to join our page – Solve My Claim so you will receive further posts in the next few weeks.

I hope the cyclone fizzles and doesn’t cause the damage that is currently expected. But ultimately, it is far better to be prepared for the worst and not need it, than to be unprepared and then wish you had taken more steps to be ready.

We are hoping for the best for you all. But regardless of what happens this week, we will be there for everyone who needs us. Because at Solve My Claim, we are passionate about bringing justice and fairness into the insurance claims process, and sticking up for ordinary Aussie families when insurers do the wrong thing.

(NOTE - Photo credit to ABC News）

10/05/2024

The Team at Solve My Claim are celebrating today with our former employee Vicky Carter, who sadly left us at the end of 2022 to start an electrical apprenticeship, and has just been announced the WINNER of the "Bunnings Women In Apprenticeships" Award for 2024!

From more than 1,900 applicants Australia-wide, Vicky was one of 10 winners and received a HUGE prize package from Bunnings.

Congratulations Vicky!! We are all so proud of you!! Keep excelling at what you are doing!

03/04/2024

David Keane was back on ACA tonight, discussing a really tough situation for a family with an Allianz claim.

01/03/2024

We have heard many times from people within the insurance industry that companies are "doing it tough" due to all of the natural disasters and claims being paid out.

This is usually in the context of them not wanting to pay the proper settlement amount for a claim, or justifying their overriding push to "mitigate their loss".

And then, I keep seeing results like those outlined in the attached article. It really is a disgrace, and highlights the need for stronger advocacy for consumers, to ensure that your rights are protected equally (or more importantly) than insurer's ever-increasing profit-margins!

In the past year, insurance premiums grew at their fastest rate in 22 years but despite unveiling huge profits, insurance companies have managed to escape price gouging scrutiny.

05/12/2023

ARE YOU REALLY PREPARED?

Many will be watching with some trepidation this week, as Cyclone Jasper is bearing down on the Qld coast, and may well make landfall in the coming days as a potentially major weather event.

I have seen a number of articles about being cyclone-prepared, and these are so important. But while you might be preparing for the cyclone event itself, are you “prepared” for a potential insurance battle in the aftermath of the cyclone?

Having helped literally thousands of people in North Qld over the past 7 years in the aftermath of Cyclone Debbie, Cyclone Marcia and the Townsville Floods, we have seen firsthand the importance of being prepared for a possible insurance claim.

I have outlined my TOP TIPS below, that you can start to implement NOW to ensure you are prepared for anything your insurer will try to throw at you, if you are in the unfortunate situation of having to lodge a cyclone claim for your property.

1. Insurers love sending “experts” to your property who often seem to have the goal of trying to find ways to attribute damage to anything other than the cyclone event. You may find an engineer or builder tries to suggest that the damage to your property has been there for years, even though they have never laid eyes on your property before. The best thing you can do NOW to protect yourself is to go out in the next day or two (BEFORE the cyclone) and take as many photos of your property as possible. Not just 20 or 30 photos, but hundreds if you can. Every surface, inside and outside, and if it is safe to get up on your roof, take 50 photos of your roof too. There is literally NOTHING more important than being able to show your insurer the state of your property BEFORE the storm event. And you can close the mouths of even the most ‘qualified’ engineer or builder who tries to convince the insurer that the damage was pre-existing, if you have the photographic evidence to prove that the property was not damaged at all.

2. This same principle applies for your contents. There is nothing more difficult than having to come up with a complete inventory of everything you own, in the event of a major loss. Take photos in each room, showing all of your contents items to make it easier to prove their existence, and the condition they were in prior to the cyclone, during the claim process.

3. If you have time in the next few days, get hold of a copy of your insurance policy PDS, and read through it to see what you are – and are not – covered for. It is likely too late to make changes to the policy so close to a potential cyclone, but at least if you know what you are covered for, you can be prepared. And take down the details of how to lodge a claim (phone contact, email, method of claim lodgment etc) so you are prepared in the event that you need to lodge a claim.

4. From the time of the cyclone, if your property is affected and you need to make a claim, take photos and make notes every time something happens. When you make notes immediately, they are known as “contemporaneous” and contemporaneous notes are seen as far more reliable than something that is written down long after the event. The photos you take in the aftermath, showing initial damage, spread of mould, etc can be so important if you have a claim dispute. These notes should include the full name and qualifications of every person your insurer sends out to your home. It is critically important to know who attended your property, what their qualifications are, and what they said or did whilst they were there.

5. Recognise that just because someone at your insurance company tells you something, doesn’t automatically mean they are correct. QUESTION EVERYTHING! Without exception. Even question advice that you receive (including the advice in this or any other article that you read!) – too often I see people accept what the insurer says in the first instance, and then later on realise that the advice was wrong or could be challenged. I would hope that insurers will do the right thing in this situation, should the cyclone cause damage and claims arise from the event. But I have been around long enough to know that many insurers will try to find any way possible to reduce or even deny your claim – they even have a fancy term for it, referring to “mitigation of loss”. Which means reducing the cost of your claim, sometimes by any means possible.

6. Finally, always remember that YOU are the manager of your claim. This is your property, the assets that you have spent much of your life purchasing, and no one else has a greater desire to see your assets protected than you do. Of course, you should cooperate with your insurer where possible, and I hope more insurers do the right thing this time, but ultimately you have to be happy with the outcome. Challenge anything you are concerned about early and often. And you will hopefully resolve most issues yourself, without needing an external advocate to ensure that your rights are protected.

Ultimately, if this cyclone does strike your area and if you need to lodge a claim, we are always here to help or provide advice. Just as we have helped multitudes of your friends, neighbours and fellow Queenslanders, we will be there again if Cyclone Jasper turns ugly and you need someone in your corner.

And even if this cyclone fizzles out as we hope it will, we are at the beginning of a long, hot summer and you may find another disaster event is just around the corner. These tips apply for cyclones, floods, bushfires or basically any other loss event too. Hopefully you never need to take advantage of the tips in this article, but if you do, you will be so glad you took the time to prepare yourself BEFORE the cyclone struck.

I would love it if you send this to as many people as possible, so more people can be truly prepared for the possible insurance battle ahead of them this coming summer.

(Note - photo was taken from couriermail.com.au via Google)

03/12/2023

Our founder David Keane was back in the media this weekend, standing up for the rights of Australian consumers facing insurance claim challenges.

In this story, Tina has been battling her insurer for 6 years. Whilst this is not a claim that Solve My Claim has been officially involved in to date, we have challenged the insurance company to meet us at the property and we will (on a pro-bono basis) take the matter on and try to get Tina a more realistic settlement.

Time will tell whether the insurance company will do the right thing or not....

Insurance loophole leaves Queensland woman with mould-infested, damaged homeBy A Current Affair Staff|A day agoTeena Van-Doren's home was once a Sunshine Coast hinterland haven but it has turned into a nightmare."My whole house is destroyed, my granny flat's an empty shell, my house is full of mould...