My cottage roof blew off in a storm… but my insurer couldn’t send anyone for FOUR days: CRANE ON THE CASE

I own a holiday home on the south coast, which I rent out. In November, it suffered severe damage during Storm Ciaran. This included part of the roof being blown off.

I called my insurer, Homeprotect, which said it would send an emergency roofer, but this would take four days.

With the storm still going on – and my property exposed to the elements – I booked my own roofers to come and secure the roof with a tarpaulin the same day.

As Homeprotect had told me its emergency roofers would not work in the dark or in windy conditions, and it was urgent, I later decided to pay my hired roofers out of my pocket for the whole job. This cost £30,000.

I’m now trying to claim the money back from Homeprotect, but it has been 10 weeks since the storm and I have still not been paid. Two third-party loss adjusters have visited and made reports, and I understand I have a valid claim.

Stormy weather: This reader’s holiday home was wrecked during Storm Ciaran (stock image)

The total claim, including the roof work I have already paid for and future repairs to the inside of the property, is around £100,000. I also hope to claim up to £40,000 for loss of income. 

I’m especially annoyed because I have actually saved Homeprotect money. Another storm, Storm Debi, hit the area days later. Had I not paid for the roof repairs to be done quickly out of my pocket, the insurer would be looking at a vastly bigger claim.

I call Homeprotect, as well as the loss adjusters, every day and am beyond frustrated that it has not been sorted. I have no idea what stage my claim is at and when it might be completed. P.W, London

Helen Crane, This is Money’s consumer champion, replies: You have shown me some pictures of the damage to your holiday cottage, and you are not exaggerating.

Fittings and furniture were strewn around and part of the roof ripped clean off, leaving only some beams and a view of the threatening sky outside.

While the home is in beautiful surroundings, I imagine that is a bit closer to nature than your guests would like.

The property certainly would not have withstood a further battering from Storm Debi, which arrived 10 days later.

Destroyed: This image shows the damage to the roof of P.W’s property following the storm

Autumn and winter this year have been particularly tempestuous when it comes to the weather. Since Ciaran in early November, we have had Debi, Elin, Fergus, Gerrit, Henk, Isha and now Jocelyn.

With storms come a spike in home and motor insurance claims, and this seems to have proved a challenge for insurers.

I recently helped a reader who was hit by Storm Babet back in October to finally get her flooded car towed off her driveway, after insurer Sheila’s Wheels left it sitting there soggy for more than a month.

With premiums increasing all the time – despite regulators’ efforts to curb the practice – customers should expect a far better response than this.

Some insurers have claimed that the increasing frequency of extreme weather events is to blame for higher insurance costs. If that is true, your story and others suggest the money isn’t being put to good use. 

In your case, Homeprotect’s offer of an ’emergency’ roofer with a four-day delay was almost laughable.

I can understand why you chose to pay for the hole in your roof to be covered up out of your existing business funds. 

You praised the ‘amazing’ work of the roofers you hired, who ‘attempted to cover the flat roof with tarpaulin as the storm raged’. 

Devastating: Storm Ciaran wrought havoc on coastal areas, such as the one where this holiday cottage is located. Since then, the UK has had seven more named storms

When you heard that Homeprotect’s contracted roofers wouldn’t work in the wind, it made sense to keep on the ones you had already hired.

This cost £30,000 – but it was a price worth paying to avoid further damage. In total, you think restoring your holiday home will cost between £80,000 and £100,000, and that you will lose income of £30,000 and £40,000 while the repairs are made.

With your property watertight again, you tried to get in touch with Homeprotect to reimburse you. Sadly, this did not go to plan. 

While third-party loss adjusters visited and agreed that you had a claim – something that was fairly obvious – you could not secure your payout, despite flooding the firm with calls and emails. This went on for 10 weeks.

That is when you contacted me, and I asked Homeprotect what the hold-up was.

Thankfully – due to a combination of your doggedness and my involvement – it sprang into action.

It has awarded you an interim payment of £42,000, more than covering your expenses, which you are expecting to receive any day now.

A spokesperson from Homeprotect said: ‘We are sorry for the delays P.W experienced with her recent claim. This was for damage to her holiday home caused by Storm Ciarán and was a particularly complex claim that occurred following a major weather event.

‘Unfortunately, when the policy was taken out, some incorrect information was given about the property usage which as per our standard internal procedures triggered a referral to our specialist underwriting team, making the claim review process more time-consuming.

‘An interim payment is now being finalised and we continue to work with P.W to progress the claim.’

You told me the ‘incorrect information’ was that, when you took out the insurance, you had opted for a landlord policy rather than a holiday let one.

You hadn’t under-paid, though, as the holiday let insurance you needed was cheaper. After I got in touch, Homeprotect ‘renamed’ your insurance. It also refunded you £156.34 for previous overpayments – a bonus neither of us were expecting.

If you’re letting a property, it’s important to check what the most appropriate type of insurance is, as there are several different types depending on how often it is let, and to who.

However, I don’t think this should have led to such a delay in your claim. I also don’t think the incident occurring in bad weather is an excuse.

What’s the point of a home insurer if they don’t help you promptly when your property floods?

The way things are going, we could reach Storm Walid this season – the end of the alphabet for storm naming purposes. 

That means insurers need to tool up for extreme weather events – and fast.

Payment problems: Our reader has not been receiving money from Etsy to her bank account

I’ve waited six months for my Etsy payout

I have been selling vintage clothing and jewellery on the online craft marketplace Etsy for 11 years. 

Since August 2023, I have been trying to withdraw sales proceeds of £73.19 to my bank account, but they don’t go through. 

Etsy says they are being sent back by my bank, but the bank – which is based in Australia where I used to live – says it has not received any attempted payments.

I had repeated requests to ‘confirm’ my bank account, which I have done.

Someone from Etsy’s online help desk said I should update the address on my account to my old Australian one – even though I’m based in the UK. Exasperated, I did it – but looking back I’m not sure that is legal. 

My attempts to speak to a real person on the phone have been unsuccessful. I wrote a letter to the Dublin HQ but it was returned as ‘not at this address’.

Eventually, I closed my Etsy account and opened a new one, using my UK bank account. I was able to link my old Etsy account to this one, and try again to withdraw the money. I was told I would be paid in five days. 

That was more than a month ago. Can you help? R.D 

Helen Crane of This is Money replies: Sorry to hear your payments for your vintage clothes have taken a long time to materialise.

Upon checking the Etsy online forums, it appears many other sellers are having issues, with some saying they have not received deposits for months.

I contacted Etsy to ask where your money was, and thankfully I did manage to reach someone who could help. 

You told me your previous online chats with Etsy had felt as if you were talking with a robot – but now said that  ‘for the first time, the emails appeared to come from a real person.’

The full amount has now arrived in your bank account. Thanks to the saga with your Australian address, you’ve decided to say g’day to Etsy and won’t be using the website again. 

I also asked Etsy whether there was a wider problem with its payment process. 

It didn’t confirm or deny that, but it did say that it may be misleading to connect your experience with other users’ complaints. 

For you this is just a way to make some money in your spare time, but for those who run businesses on the platform payment problems could be a serious concern. 

Etsy also said that it does not use bots for customer support cases such as yours. 

I’m glad your six-month saga is over and hope you find somewhere more suitable to sell your wares.