It can't happen to me

Background

The 20th September 2005 and laundry life is going on as normal with items to be cleaned, dried and finished before being despatched back to their rightful owners. One minute everything is O.K. then disaster strikes. An hour later there I am standing in the ruins of my burnt out premises. To say that this was a life changing moment is an understatement; I was simply not prepared for the learning curve I would need to climb in order to come through the experience with a business that still functioned.

Situation

Things went wrong early on when insurers decided to invoke a warranty in the policy and repudiate liability. To add insult to injury they took their time in arriving at this decision as a direct result of which the business was losing large amounts of money on a daily basis.

It is at times like this that you discover who your friends are and thankfully I had Peter Hattersley by my side every step of the way. He took control of the negotiations on the day after the fire and we were destined to speak several times a day, seven days a week for the next ten weeks. Through his interpretation of the wording backed by legal advice and a very confrontational meeting with insurers we were able to present our case and force them to rethink their position.

Results

The outcome was that some weeks later we were able to secure a compromise settlement, which has enabled us to continue in business and move forward.

Whilst I would never wish to be in this position again I can wholeheartedly confirm that the difference between success and failure is very much dependent on who is fighting your corner. In my opinion the support of Peter Hattersley and his team was crucial to the outcome. They demonstrated total commitment to our cause throughout and reinforced for me the real role of the insurance broker in these challenging times.

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