STD bank home owners??

Carol35

Carol35

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Before I have a total tantrum with std bank, can anyone confirm the following:

We have had a flooded kitchen for the past week, at first thinking it was the washing machine tap- we called insurance to send a plumber, guy rocks up and says nothing wrong with the pipes, we then replace all pipes on dishwasher and washing machine etc etc, still flooded kitchen. Finally worked out that the water was coming through the wall somehow everytime we pulled the plug out the bath in the room next door.

Plumber just bloody told me this is NOT covered by homeowners...I have checked the policy and struggle to understand all the fine print, I do understand about wear and tear but dont see how this rule applies now as its not a pipe we have access to, will literally have to remove our bath to check and nevermind how the bath water is landing up all over our kitchen floor. :confused:

Any advice will be most helpful before I waste my time calling the bank! :(
 
As far as I know, if the pipes are worn out = insurance pays. I'm also using standard bank homeowners insurance & they replaced my geyser pipes.
 
ice_cubes said:
As far as I know, if the pipes are worn out = insurance pays. I'm also using standard bank homeowners insurance & they replaced my geyser pipes.
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Thank you..the plumber said its because its a waste pipe (bath outlet pipe)?? I can find nothing on my policy that excludes waste pipes.
 
Years ago my one room cupboard were found to be damp and moist inside. Turned out the bath was leaking somehow and needed replacement. The paid for both the cupboard and bath replacement.
 
Carol35 said:
Thank you..the plumber said its because its a waste pipe (bath outlet pipe)?? I can find nothing on my policy that excludes waste pipes.
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My waste pipes were replaced when I made a claim last year. They were damaged by that terrible hail storm
 
Nope. just called them. She called it a drainage pipe and they are excluded. I argued(while trying my hardest to remain calm lol) that its impossible to get to the pipe to maintain them but naturally not budging however, she is sending the plumber back to my house to have a look and to tell me that its not covered.

fek, have no clue what we will do now...someone in my office just said we are looking at about 8k to get someone to come in, remove tiles, lift bath..fix pipe and replace bath and retile. Will see if we can do it ourselves I guess. We wanted to revamp the bathroom anyway- just not so soon lol!
 
Carol35 said:
Nope. just called them. She called it a drainage pipe and they are excluded. I argued(while trying my hardest to remain calm lol) that its impossible to get to the pipe to maintain them but naturally not budging however, she is sending the plumber back to my house to have a look and to tell me that its not covered.

fek, have no clue what we will do now...someone in my office just said we are looking at about 8k to get someone to come in, remove tiles, lift bath..fix pipe and replace bath and retile. Will see if we can do it ourselves I guess. We wanted to revamp the bathroom anyway- just not so soon lol!
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have heard std bank is a bit questionable. mind you that's who covers my building as well. I have quotes for santam. will be moving over soon I reckon.
 
8k sounds like too much.
I would suggest you get those guys who work at complexes (new developments) to do the job for you after hours/weekends.
 
Carol35 said:
Nope. just called them. She called it a drainage pipe and they are excluded. I argued(while trying my hardest to remain calm lol) that its impossible to get to the pipe to maintain them but naturally not budging however, she is sending the plumber back to my house to have a look and to tell me that its not covered.

fek, have no clue what we will do now...someone in my office just said we are looking at about 8k to get someone to come in, remove tiles, lift bath..fix pipe and replace bath and retile. Will see if we can do it ourselves I guess. We wanted to revamp the bathroom anyway- just not so soon lol!
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Speak to her manager, escalate the issue.

If you don't get joy, then contemplate going to the Ombudsman, and also find a new insurer.
 
They are useless! I am still fighting them on a stuff up they made. Rain damage to our house, send in assessor...gets the whole thing wrong, so incorrectly reports back. Standard bank deny our claim and then change our policy according to the incorrect report so we have no cover for that anymore!

Taking them to the ombudsman. Oh...and dont get me started on the frickin issues with our home loan....

Granted, have had bad experiences with banks, retailers etc...but this is on a whole other level. :erm: :wtf:
 
By default in wall plumbing is NOT covered by insurance.

It's normally a value add that a good broker would have added for you without even asking...or recommended you take.

Just another reason not to use your bank for insurance...use an independent insurance company.

Whenever I hear a horror story about home owners claims it's almost always with the bank that has the bond.
 
This exact thing happened to me with SB a month ago. The waste pipe is disconnected under the bath. This is not covered by the insurance, they only see a pipe that is transporting water to a tap as something to cover.

I got a private guy to fix my problem for me for a third of the price that the people contracted by SB was going to charge me.

If the bath is close to an outside wall they will break in from the outside otherwise from the room next to the bath.

Takes about 3 hours to complete the job.
 
Happened to us as well. Waste pipe from kitchen sink corroded through where it enters the wall. Got told that it's not covered under warranty.

Drilled a hole and laid new piping. Total cost = drill bit, electricity used, and the PVC piping. Luckily the kitchen sink was close to the drain, so it was no biggie.
 
Carol35 said:
Nope. just called them. She called it a drainage pipe and they are excluded. I argued(while trying my hardest to remain calm lol) that its impossible to get to the pipe to maintain them but naturally not budging however, she is sending the plumber back to my house to have a look and to tell me that its not covered.

fek, have no clue what we will do now...someone in my office just said we are looking at about 8k to get someone to come in, remove tiles, lift bath..fix pipe and replace bath and retile. Will see if we can do it ourselves I guess. We wanted to revamp the bathroom anyway- just not so soon lol!
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This sounds exactly like something that would be covered by home-owners insurance.
 
Also, when someone fixes it, ensure that they sand the end of the new pvc pipe until it is rough, apply pvc weld and then only connect it to the trap.
 
SauRoNZA said:
By default in wall plumbing is NOT covered by insurance.

It's normally a value add that a good broker would have added for you without even asking...or recommended you take.

Just another reason not to use your bank for insurance...use an independent insurance company.

Whenever I hear a horror story about home owners claims it's almost always with the bank that has the bond.
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Someone told me insurance covered rising damp

I thought i can try with my insurance but the insurance is done by the body corp
 
This is pretty standard. Wear and tear is not seen as an insurable event whereas a burst pipe is. Since drainage pipes are not under pressure, they would be considered wear and tear. That said, most insurance's will cover resultant damage from such an event as long as the signs were not ignored for an extended period of time.
 
got confirmation from my broker that although the pipe is not covered (replacement) the water damage caused is covered.
 
Thanks everyone, well, guess we must just do the repair ourself, luckily we have a friend who has plumbing knowledge and he has told us it wont be that bad (and nowhere near 8k unless we get a someone in to do the entire job from some large company ie: the plumbers affliated to our insurance who have already been to the house ) and there is never a better time than the present to get rid of the 1960's tiles we have in there haha.

First thing i did after seeing some of the replies is get hold of my broker and told him I want a quote for homeowners that covers every concievable thing that could possibly go wrong with our house. Std bank can go get flucked.
 
1) Water damage is covered so claim from insurance.
2) The bursting of the pipe (or leaking) probably isn't covered on your policy but claim anyhow and see what they say.
3) I strongly suggest moving to a brokered policy and not a bank policy as they usually are cr@p compared to a traditional insurers policy.
 
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