West Auckland flooding victims disappointed by insurance company dealings

The Pilgrim family were left confused and concerned by their initial dealings with AMI.

For the Pilgrim whānau, the West Auckland floods in August were a living nightmare.

They scrambled to save what they could, as the water rushed through their property outside. But in only a few moments, the water was too high to save anything.

Tracey Pilgrim tried to get her family out of the house.

“I said Mike we’re flooding, we need to get out," she says.

“By the time we came back out it was up to the line of the ranch slider doors where my mum is."

Tracey’s 91-year-old mother lived in the granny flat on their property, and was fast asleep when the water flooded in.

“I know for a fact that mum probably would have perished had we not been here," Tracey says.

Tracey’s husband Mike Pilgrim, and son Tyler, had to lift Tracey’s mother up over the water line, in the chair she was sitting in, to try and get her inside the main house.

They watched as the water started to come through the floorboards of their home and felt helpless. But they weren’t alone.

The Pilgrim's were one of many families hit by the West Auckland floods, and one of the many claiming on their house insurance.

Building assessments have revealed four homes are no longer habitable.

Mike and Tracey have the highest cover possible with AMI Insurance, under IAG; a premier house policy and an advanced contents policy, which both cover damages caused by a natural disaster.

That’s at least some relief because the damage runs deep. Tracey says the floors are unstable.

“They’re like Weet Bix," she says.

“It’s like a little rollercoaster ride as you're walking across the floors at the moment as the floors are sinking in between the joists."

Mike has spent his time cleaning what he can on the outside of their home.

“A third of the outside has apparently got to come off and most of the interior's gotta come out," he says.

The morning after the floods, Tracey called AMI Insurance.

“I didn't expect people to fly in with capes on or anything like that I didn't have that expectation," she says.

“What I did expect was for them to go OK, we usually do this, we usually do this, this is what happens we'll get this in place for you this is what’s going to happen for you next and this is what to expect from us."

What Tracey did get was a claim number, and was told a loss adjustor would be appointed and would get in touch.

“And then that was it," she says. This left the Pilgrims unsure about next steps.

Tracey then called their insurer back late Tuesday afternoon to follow up.

“At that point I didn't even know if I could throw anything out," she says.

AMI Insurance arranged for a cleaner to get in touch. But Tracey says they didn't help with tidying or leave the family with any advice.

“When they did turn up the guy had a camera and took photos, and I said what are you here to do," Tracey says.

But the cleaner told her, they were only there to take photos.

Confused and concerned, the Pilgrims were still unsure if their house could be saved and unsure if there was anything they should or shouldn't be doing. So they found some skip bins, paid for them and started cleaning up their home themselves.

Some things of course, couldn't be saved.

“All of mum's photos, those are, those are all gone," Tracey says.

“I've salvaged a few of them but it’s all photos of the family who are now all deceased including my dad."

It’s clear the loss is devastating, but an AMI Insurance spokesperson says it's been doing everything it can to help.

"Our records do not indicate any unreasonable delay in responding to Mrs Pilgrim's claim," they say.

In fact, they say a claim was lodged on August 31st and that same day an assessor and a cleaning team were appointed to manage the claim.

The AMI Spokesperson also says: "Within two days they (the assessor and cleaning team) were on site at Mrs Pilgrim's property.

"Unfortunately, the damage to Mrs Pilgrim's home meant that cleaning the property was not an option."

One thing was for sure, the Pilgrim's couldn't stay in their home, so now the hunt was on for temporary accommodation.

“It was up to me to find that and of course I wasn't the only person looking," Tracey says.

Again she says she felt unsupported by their insurer.

To this its spokesperson says, "despite regular contact with Mr and Mrs Pilgrim, we now understand that they were not clear about what is covered by their policy."

But Tracey and Mike would argue that it was AMI Insurance that wasn't clear.

The couple spent around $30,000 hiring three cabins on a year contract, which was more than AMI Insurance said they could spend.

But Tracey found, while googling herself, that the sum the insurer first gave them to spend on accommodation was wrong.

Tracey says she was told twice that AMI Insurance would pay them up to $20,000 in accommodation cover. That's in her policy's wording.

But according to the insurer’s website, the Pilgrim’s should be covered for up to 25 per cent of the sum insured. In the Pilgrim’s case, that’s around $30,000.

After reviewing the claim, AMI Insurance found they had "miscalculated" Mrs Pilgrim's accommodation allowance, which had now been remedied.

All this confusion got Fair Go thinking, how much should the public know about making claims after a disaster has struck?

Karen Stevens is New Zealand’s Insurance and Financial Services Ombudsman and says any evidence for damage and loss is going to help your claim.

“The other really important thing is to record all of the damage,” she says.

“So, you know lists of things that have been damaged, photographs are great, videos anything that you can do to prove that you actually owned the goods."

Karen says it's OK to start cleaning up as long as you've documented all the damage, and as for what help you can expect.

“There's a fair insurance code that really guides insurers about what they need to do for their customers and equally it gives customers a pretty good idea of what they can expect from their insurance company," she says.

“I would really strongly advise people go onto the ICNZ (Insurance Council New Zealand) website, have a look at the fair insurance code."

That’s great advice for people like the Pilgrims, having gone through a stressful and scary event, and one that was made harder because they felt let down by AMI Insurance.

“I was like, this is not what I do everyday for a job, you do this everyday for a job I just expected that you would know what to do, and obviously what you could assist me with," says Tracey.

AMI Insurance spokesperson says Covid-19 restrictions have created many challenges for essential work to take place.

“We have been doing everything we can, under Level 4 and 3 restrictions, to assist all our customers affected by this flooding."

There’s no telling how long the Pilgrims will have to wait for a decision to be made about their home.

They’ve now received the official building report on the damage of their home. This should help in deciding whether their home will be worth repairing.

“I said to Tracey at the onset it'll be about 12 months,” says Mike.

“With the shipment and Covid and everything playing a big part of it, you're just gonna have delays left right and centre."

But things are starting to look up.

AMI Insurance says it's sorry for any inconvenience caused, and confirmed the cost of the cabins will be covered under the Pilgrim's policy, as will their storage bills.

“It's huge actually to be honest with you," Tracey says.

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