Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: ok cleaning on July 13, 2014, 12:04:54 am
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hi every one i have been cleaning windows for 20 years now and unfortunately i had the worst working day of my life on thursday (10th ) my son was away with his girl friend on a week of holiday and i decided to drive his van to work that day for a change while i was cleaning the last house of my working day and the van was parked at my customers drive way ( with my son's van fiat doblo 51 plate ) and the house owners were on holiday too i noticed some smoke under the bonet something was wrong paniced and called 999 more and more smoke raising and then in a matter of minutes smoked turned to huge flames my van vas on fire burning like hell people started rush whats happening but no fire engine in view the fire was so big and intense that the window of the house started braking the gutters was melting i was so desperate that the house and the trees near by would catch fire and than half an hour later the fire engine turned out and put the fire out my van was coplately burned out and there was only the shell of a fiat doblo left all my belongings in the van etc was burnt too and there was some damage to my customers house too and i ofcaorse did nt know that the fire man was on strike that day that s why they were so late to turn up any way after two or so hours the fire was out lots of mess every where every body left and i left too came home called the insurance company did tell them what happened ok they said and moved van away from my customers driwe way same evening and did tell me that the van is write of and and did asked me to post all the paper work to them asap for the final settlement did called my public liability insurance company to tell them wat happened and did noting to do with us they said it s not you did cause the damage to the house it s your van and so your van insurance will cover the damage they said called my van insurance company again and told them as but they got lots of excuses to not to pay like your van is too old or etc like asking for a service history of fourteen year old van after a long conversation they asked me to post all mot s and documants and they will consider and decide to pay or not to pay for the damage and me stuck in the middle i got all the necessary insurances but neither wants to pay but they both took my money last twenty years this is not right i hope they will decide pay out and i can sleep in the other hand my son is coming back home tomorrow and no idea what happened he will have the biggest shock of his life so far he is only 20 no van to go to work with of a while I'm afraid he has to work with me in my van for awhile he likes it or not and we ll start thinking to set up another van for him once this case is settled and hope the outcome will be the fair one for me what i understood that insurance is not some ting i ll be comfortable to feel any more and i wish what happened tome will never happen again not just tome to non of us
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Aaaaaaaaannnnnnnnddddddd breath!!!!!
Woah.
That sounds like a nightmare,
I would have thought your van insurance will need to pay. Just like if you crashed into someone's wall they would pay out for that.
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That's harsh bud.
Be interested to see why she caught alight in the first place.
Did you get any pictures?
All the best with the insurance companies.
Who were you insured with (motor & PL)?
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Don't like the sound of that - an insurance company trying to wriggle out of paying if you haven't got a full service history. That'll be a lot of guys on here I'd imagine.
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Typical insurance behaviour I'm afraid. When push comes to shove I believe they will pay out between them but try to wriggle and squirm as to who owes what.
Put every conversation in writing (and record and get names).
Use recorded delivery. Include a letter to both insurers that due to the unhelpful response from their staff on your initial contact you are seeking legal advice and that from this point on all fees will be forwarded to them.
This of course assumes that the fire is not due to any modification you have had made.
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Frightening story, i would of grabbed customers hose and had a go myself mate . Hope the insurance works out, note to myself - buy a fire extinguisher this week.
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Terrible story. I hope that the insurance companies see you right.
P.S.
These are for you: ...........,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,???
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Top ten most common causes of car fires.
Least likely at top.
10. Design Flaws
9. Poor Maintenance
8. A crash
7. Arson
6. Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Batteries
5. Overheating Catalytic Converters
4. Overheating Engines
3. Spilled Fluids
2. Electrical System Failures
1. Fuel System Leaks
Source How Stuff Works website.
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Get back on to your Insurance company and tell them if they don't sort it out you will make a complaint to the FOS
Financial Ombudsman Service.
Your Insurance Company have 8 weeks to sort out the claim .
If they have not sorted it within that timescale the FOS will take on the complaint.
The big insurance company treat their claimants like poop most of the time and they normally say things
to make you feel like your not covered. The truth is generally you are and the more noise you make the more chance you have of getting paid out.
Good Luck Russ
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in my experience the most likely cause of a car fire (excluding arson) is electrical problems .
i have been to loads of them .
As for the half hour wait ........may as well get used to that with all the cuts the tories want to make.
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in my experience the most likely cause of a car fire (excluding arson) is electrical problems .
i have been to loads of them .
As for the half hour wait ........may as well get used to that with all the cuts the tories want to make.
You'll just need to clean more houses during your 4 days a week off mate. That should cover the shortfall!
😄😄😄😄
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ha ha , its not about money its more about the stations they will be closing .
longer attendance times , more people and property will be damaged /destroyed.
The tories want to privatise the fire service , thats what all these attacks are about , make it more attractive to a private firm.
unfortunately that means a worse service and a higher cost .
If you speak to somebody that has never needed the fire service they don't seem to care , speak to someone that has been cut out of there car or rescued from there house fire or any of the many other things we do , they all say we are worth double what we get.
The fire service only cost each household in the country around £70-£80 a year .......pretty cheap i think.
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ha ha , its not about money
It is when you're van and livelihood and that of your sons goes up in flames when you call 999.
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I think i will be investing in a fire extinguisher now as well.
I hope it gets sorted OP.
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ha ha , its not about money
It is when you're van and livelihood and that of your sons goes up in flames when you call 999.
True , but the brigades are talking about having longer attendance times for that kind of shout , 15 min target by which time your not going to save anything .
We have a really good fire service and its relatively cheap but the tories want to destroy it .
I meant its not about money for me .
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ha ha , its not about money its more about the stations they will be closing .
longer attendance times , more people and property will be damaged /destroyed.
The tories want to privatise the fire service , thats what all these attacks are about , make it more attractive to a private firm.
unfortunately that means a worse service and a higher cost .
If you speak to somebody that has never needed the fire service they don't seem to care , speak to someone that has been cut out of there car or rescued from there house fire or any of the many other things we do , they all say we are worth double what we get.
The fire service only cost each household in the country around £70-£80 a year .......pretty cheap i think.
Yes Yes we all know fireman are worth their weight in gold in a emergency
situation :)
But give it a rest,we had twenty pages of your complaints a few months back
this post is about a window cleaners problems not another opportunity for
you to hijack a thread to drum up support for the fire service :)
Time and place matey :)
Best of luck to the OP and him sorting his problems out.
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I think i will be investing in a fire extinguisher now as well.
I hope it gets sorted OP.
+1
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ha ha , its not about money its more about the stations they will be closing .
longer attendance times , more people and property will be damaged /destroyed.
The tories want to privatise the fire service , thats what all these attacks are about , make it more attractive to a private firm.
unfortunately that means a worse service and a higher cost .
If you speak to somebody that has never needed the fire service they don't seem to care , speak to someone that has been cut out of there car or rescued from there house fire or any of the many other things we do , they all say we are worth double what we get.
The fire service only cost each household in the country around £70-£80 a year .......pretty cheap i think.
Yes Yes we all know fireman are worth their weight in gold in a emergency
situation :)
But give it a rest,we had twenty pages of your complaints a few months back
this post is about a window cleaners problems not another opportunity for
you to hijack a thread to drum up support for the fire service :)
Time and place matey :)
Best of luck to the OP and him sorting his problems out.
Thats not quite what happened now is it , go and re read that old thread .
a certain person was spouting a load of bull as facts and i corrected him , a certain person who is never wrong .
I answered the thread because he had a half hour wait for a fire engine , this is unacceptable .
i make no apology for drumming up support for the fire service .........although that was not my intention.
Its a lovely day .....bugger off and catch some fish .
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Talk about public sector workers being self involved ;D
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Its a lovely day .....bugger off and catch some fish .
I think he already has one on the line. Just a case of reeling it in.
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best of both worlds.
i can be a self involved public sector worker and a millionaire window cleaner ;D
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No not all,the OP must feel he is on his knees at the mo and we get
waffling about the fire service with the tories.
It aint helping the OP,If Roberto would like to give advice about
prevention vehicle fires great being an experienced fireman.
But it turning into a waffle session about the political situation
with tories hsrdly the time and place.
Not trying create an argument,like i said before sympathies to the OP
hope things go well,im off to cook dinner :)
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above was response to soupys post
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official advice is not to tackle it yourself .
my advice would be carry an extinguisher and attack straight away and you may save the vehicle but be very careful opening the bonnet in case it flashes up.
most are electrical so if you install stuff yourself buy good quality wire and connectors and always use fuses .
Apologies if i ranted about the politics slightly ........just annoys me the way they are trying to destroy it.
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Robert, why would the Tories want to destroy the fire service?
Genuine question.
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Good question. Here's a point to take note of Robert. Ze Gurman fire service is about 70% volunteer. They have aged equipment compared to the full time fire service. However, there are waiting lists to get onto the volunteer service. The system works well. Maybe the scum in Westminster have seen how some countries keep costs down by having these systems, and want to try it.
Think of the wages saved. These positions are highly rated, and people will do the job for no wage. Never mind privatisation, what about what could be saved. That's how they may see it.
My neighbour was a volunteer fireman for over 30 years. He loved his time training and working on the service. No pension, and no wages, but annual trips for a few days to visit other services, such as Northern Ireland and Cornwall.
I've just checked, and there are over 1,300,000 volunteer firemen in the service at the moment. The population here is around 86,000,000 I think. A lot of free service there.
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i see your point and you have answered it partly in your post "aged equipment ".
My brothers have both lived in germany for years so know how the country works.
There are some problems with volunteers .
1 - they only work when is suits them .
2 Training takes up hours and hours of our time now with all the different things we get involved in , fires.road traffic collisions,water rescue ,rescue from heights , sewer rescues,bomb incidents, radiation/hazmat incidents , lock ins/lock outs, lift rescues etc etc and now we are expected to don bulletproof vests and deal with casualties at terrorist incidents . Trying to keep volunteers trained in all these things would be a nightmare. You will probably find they attend fires/rtcs and keep training simple .
3 money comes first - volunteers may do it until they find a job and then quit ,thats money wasted on training etc.
4 doing it on the cheap with aged equipment and undertrained volunteers means more people will die .
5 i believe volunteers are mobilised from home like our retained firefighters here , this adds to the turn out time meaning more people will die and more property be damaged.
There are more points but I'm tired and slightly hungover!
personally i would rather pay £70 a year for a professional fire service with excellent discipline and training.
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rofl @ the van on fire ;D
sympathies with the damage caused/cost to yourself and your son with the rest
and please punctuate for gods sake
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rofl @ the van on fire ;D
sympathies with the damage caused/cost to yourself and your son with the rest
and please punctuate for gods sake
:-\
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nothing to do with firemen :P but. Public liability if for damage caused by you in line with your work. Van insurance is for 3rd party damage done in connection with your van
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The OP is probably in the sh 1 t and in distress and the morons on here go on about .........
I give up with this forum sometimes - I really do.
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rofl @ the van on fire ;D
Eh?
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Would love to know who the insurance company is, could save us all a lot of hassle, especially if its one that advertises on here?