Beware ! Saga will not deal with any claim you may be unfortunate enough to have to make. If you’ve just left a 5 star review for the ease of taking out a policy then keep your fingers crossed that you won’t have to claim. I did the 5 star review when I was renewing my policy with them in January and I opted for the 3 year no increase in price idea. If you’re reading reviews prior to taking out a policy then read on. Following 3 severe named storms I noticed some water ingress in my front room in the area of the chimney breast. Not an emergency but definitely something I felt was worth getting insurance involved with. So I started down the rabbit hole on the Saga website where I was pointed in the direction of Prestige Underwriting. I noticed they’re based in Northern Ireland which is where I’m also located so initially I thought great - we speak the same language in Norn Ireland!. Somebody called Diane took the details from me and advised me a company called Building Validation Solutions based in Bolton would be in touch with me as regards a surveyor calling with me. OK. As a retiree I have lots of time to check out companies online. All I will say as regards BVS is read the reviews . There are 29 or so on Yell.com and a few on Trustpilot - apparently an appalling company to have to deal with. So now I’m immediately concerned, an hour or so into my claim, about the prospects of having this dealt with in a manner satisfactory to me. Three weeks later and I’ve heard nothing. A couple of emails sent to a general enquiries @ email address the second of which was copied to one of Prestige management and the following day (the day after lockdown is implemented) BVS contact me to arrange a a surveyor to call with me. It appears Prestige didn’t inform BVS and then BVS want to send someone to my house for a non essential reason which by my interpretation of the law wBould be illegal never mind that as an older male the last thing I want is a stranger calling to my house in the midst of a public health emergency. Last week then I got a phone call from Pardeep claiming to be a surveyor appointed by BVS and that he was in the area and would call with me to inspect the damage. I queried wether this complied with lockdown rules but he assured me on the phone he knew that what had caused my problem was storm damage to the flashing resulting in water getting in. To quote “I see it all the time”. Pardeep duly arrived and took some photos with a telescopic pole and pretty quickly advised me my chimney was in poor repair. He didn’t anticipate there being grounds for an insurance claim.He did say the roof was generally in good repair. He was very reluctant subsequently to inspect the damage to the front room nor check out the attic where the ingress occurred. His job was done! He phoned me that evening to state there would be no claim -is he the broker?- stating that the storms had exposed an underlying problem with my chimney. I had him repeat this to me on 3 separate occasions during our conversation because for the life of me I have no idea how I would identify an underlying problem with any part of my premises unless of course that problem was exposed by storms and then I would hope insurance would come to the rescue. The next day I received an email from BVS stating there would be no claim- no evidence of storm damage - are they the broker?. As things stand I’ve heard nothing from Prestige who are the Underwriters. Saga whom I believed when I paid my premium would deal with this matter have sent me 1 letter from Dawna who claims to be part of the Claims Intervention Team who was” confident my claim was being dealt with effectively” - as usual no address or email, just an 0800 number.Wrong Dawna!. I should also add in an introductory letter from BVS they stated my insurance company was Fairmead. Who are they? There are lots of organisations and individuals involved in this but who is the only one who has spent any money ? ME ! Premium to Saga, repairs to my property and it doesn’t end there. In my mind for all intents and purposes my buildings and contents are uninsured and have been for the last year and a half. As soon as lockdown eases I’ll be straight into the town to get insurance from a more reputable company. Doubtless I’ll lose more money to Saga when I attempt to get some of my premium repaid -its in our terms and conditions! For Rachel or Damon here’s my policy no.992989242. Save you putting up the well worn email address for people who may have problems. Interesting to note also that BVS told me on 30th April there would be no claim. This is now 2nd June. Not a word from Saga!Beware ! Saga will not deal with any claim you may be unfortunate enough to have to make. If you’ve just left a 5 star review for the ease of taking out a policy then keep your fingers crossed that you won’t have to claim. I did the 5 star review when I was renewing my policy with them in January and I opted for the 3 year no increase in price idea. If you’re reading reviews prior to taking out a policy then read on. Following 3 severe named storms I noticed some water ingress in my front room in the area of the chimney breast. Not an emergency but definitely something I felt was worth getting insurance involved with. So I started down the rabbit hole on the Saga website where I was pointed in the direction of Prestige Underwriting. I noticed they’re based in Northern Ireland which is where I’m also located so initially I thought great - we speak the same language in Norn Ireland!. Somebody called Diane took the details from me and advised me a company called Building Validation Solutions based in Bolton would be in touch with me as regards a surveyor calling with me. OK. As a retiree I have lots of time to check out companies online. All I will say as regards BVS is read the reviews . There are 29 or so on Yell.com and a few on Trustpilot - apparently an appalling company to have to deal with. So now I’m immediately concerned, an hour or so into my claim, about the prospects of having this dealt with in a manner satisfactory to me. Three weeks later and I’ve heard nothing. A couple of emails sent to a general enquiries @ email address the second of which was copied to one of Prestige management and the following day (the day after lockdown is implemented) BVS contact me to arrange a a surveyor to call with me. It appears Prestige didn’t inform BVS and then BVS want to send someone to my house for a non essential reason which by my interpretation of the law wBould be illegal never mind that as an older male the last thing I want is a stranger calling to my house in the midst of a public health emergency. Last week then I got a phone call from Pardeep claiming to be a surveyor appointed by BVS and that he was in the area and would call with me to inspect the damage. I queried wether this complied with lockdown rules but he assured me on the phone he knew that what had caused my problem was storm damage to the flashing resulting in water getting in. To quote “I see it all the time”. Pardeep duly arrived and took some photos with a telescopic pole and pretty quickly advised me my chimney was in poor repair. He didn’t anticipate there being grounds for an insurance claim.He did say the roof was generally in good repair. He was very reluctant subsequently to inspect the damage to the front room nor check out the attic where the ingress occurred. His job was done! He phoned me that evening to state there would be no claim -is he the broker?- stating that the storms had exposed an underlying problem with my chimney. I had him repeat this to me on 3 separate occasions during our conversation because for the life of me I have no idea how I would identify an underlying problem with any part of my premises unless of course that problem was exposed by storms and then I would hope insurance would come to the rescue. The next day I received an email from BVS stating there would be no claim- no evidence of storm damage - are they the broker?. As things stand I’ve heard nothing from Prestige who are the Underwriters. Saga whom I believed when I paid my premium would deal with this matter have sent me 1 letter from Dawna who claims to be part of the Claims Intervention Team who was” confident my claim was being dealt with effectively” - as usual no address or email, just an 0800 number.Wrong Dawna!. I should also add in an introductory letter from BVS they stated my insurance company was Fairmead. Who are they? There are lots of organisations and individuals involved in this but who is the only one who has spent any money ? ME ! Premium to Saga, repairs to my property and it doesn’t end there. In my mind for all intents and purposes my buildings and contents are uninsured and have been for the last year and a half. As soon as lockdown eases I’ll be straight into the town to get insurance from a more reputable company. Doubtless I’ll lose more money to Saga when I attempt to get some of my premium repaid -its in our terms and conditions! For Rachel or Damon here’s my policy no.992989242. Save you putting up the well worn email address for people who may have problems. Interesting to note also that BVS told me on 30th April there would be no claim. This is now 2nd June. Not a word from Saga!