Family fury at insurers

A Great Wyrley family with a new-born baby hit out today at their insurers after being left with no hot water for three weeks.

Scott and Vickie Fisher were celebrating the birth of baby Cameron on May 4, but returned home the next day to find that their boiler had broken down.

Since then they have had to boil water for shallow baths for their new-born baby and five-year-old daughter Grace and have had to travel to relative's homes for hot showers while the wrangling with Royal Sun Alliance continued.

The company kept Scott, 43, on the telephone for an hour and left him on hold for more than 20 minutes.

A total of six engineers have been out to the family home in Anson Road, Great Wyrley, from two separate companies. Wrong parts were sent, and orders for the repairs were not posted.

The company has now apologised and agreed to pay the couple £75 compensation, but when the letter arrived this week there was no cheque with it.

Now Scott and Vickie are warning homeowners to check their insurance policies after the firm claimed their boiler wasn't covered from May to October.

Scott said: "It's just been a nightmare. We have looked at our policy and it doesn't say anything about not being covered in the summer.

They said they would honour it because of our situation with a new baby." Vickie said: "I was getting quite tearful because I didn't know how long it was going to go on for."

A spokesman for Royal and Sun Alliance, said: "We regret that, in this instance, there have been unacceptable delays and failures in communication, for which we can only apologise.

"The repairs to the boiler have now been made and the Fishers have hot water again. We will also be sending Mrs Fisher a cheque for £75 as compensation for the inconvenience."

By Shaun Lintern