Home Insurance Don't Get Done Get Dom

'I'm Dominic Littlewood,

'and I'm here to champion your consumer rights.

I'm looking for about £20,000 to sort this out once and for all.

'Any problem, whatever the size,

'I'll help you get the service you deserve.'

Waiting for them to ring me back, oh, so frustrating!

'Whether that involves getting your money back...'

It was just unacceptable as a customer to be told no.

'..or taking on your contract conundrums...'

The response I got was not satisfactory

because they failed to give me the information I asked for.

'..I'm here to help.

'And on today's programme,

'I'm making waves with a home insurance company

'after a homeowner finds herself in the soup.'

We decided to lift up an area that was once carpeted

and it had floorboards underneath. And when we raised those,

we found that both rooms had about two foot of water in.

The dog owner who wished she'd read the small print,

after her pooches pawed her sofa.

They just said the dogs had run over it, jumped all over it,

and it wasn't covered because you're only covered for one dog incident.

And when your battle with your trader has run its course,

I'll give you some tips on how to fight the case in court.

Ultimately it may be the only method of obtaining compensation.

I'm taking on your consumer problems to make sure YOU don't get done!

After our family, friends -

and in a few sad cases, our mobile phones -

our homes are our most precious asset

because they're our haven,

and we would do whatever we can to protect them,

which is why we take out home insurance,

in case the unexpected happens.

At least that's what Ros Rogers from Bristol thought

when she discovered water leaking into her home

from a neighbouring property.

There was actually water underneath the floorboards

in both the dining room and the living room area.

And the water had caused widespread damp throughout the ground floor.

You can visibly see where it's all blown

and the fungus, once again, down here in the recess.

Ros had insurance with NatWest,

who sent some builders round to rectify the problem.

But almost four years on, the issues are still there

and Ros is now in dispute with NatWest.

I want them to admit responsibility, for them

to hold their hands up and say, "Actually do you know what?

"We didn't give this person the customer service that she deserves,

"but we're willing to put it right now."

She first discovered the issues

when she began decorating her house in preparation for a move.

Now that my daughter had left home,

the house was too big for my son and myself,

so we decided we were going to downsize and sell the property.

But as she started to take the wallpaper off and prepare

the walls for painting, she began to notice some areas of damp.

Once the damp started coming through the two walls,

I decided to get a survey done.

And the survey showed

that in fact there was water coming into the property.

We decided to lift up an area that was once carpeted

and it had floorboards underneath.

And when we raised those,

we found that both rooms in fact had about two foot of water in.

Ros had no idea where the water was coming from,

so called her insurance company for advice.

My insurance company suggested to contact a builder

to trace it to the area where it's coming from.

Once the builder came in, it was found that the water was

coming predominantly from my next-door neighbour's soakaway.

A soakaway is a large, underground pit filled with gravel,

where surface water from your roof or driveway is piped.

The idea is for this water to then drain into the garden soil.

But Ros's neighbour's garden was made of clay,

which doesn't soak up the excess water.

It became apparent that the soakaway in my neighbour's house

shouldn't have been put there in the first place.

As a result, Ros was now left with water under her floorboards,

damp walls and tripping electrics,

AND a big repair job for her insurance company.

Keen to get the house on the market as soon as possible,

Ros asked NatWest to begin these repairs straightaway.

But NatWest's loss adjusters told her they couldn't repair the damage

to her property until the neighbour repaired her drainage system.

And in the meantime, Ros and her son would have to move out.

At that point, it was impossible for us to live in the house.

The whole of the dining area and the front room

was totally filled with water

and my insurance company offered to

put us in alternative accommodation

which we thought would be approximately six months.

Six months seemed a reasonable time

to get the house in a fit state to sell,

and Ros and her son moved out.

What they didn't expect was to be still living in alternative

accommodation years down the line.

Unfortunately, the contractor that my neighbour got

to do the soakaway failed to do the work correctly

and so therefore this led the case to go on and on

and subsequently we ended up staying out of our house for three years.

Ros's neighbour finally got another contractor to carry out

the work again.

Once this was done, repair work could at last begin on Ros's home.

My understanding was - right, the ball can get rolling now,

my house can get put back together,

it won't be long before we're moving back home.

NatWest appointed a building firm to address the damp issues,

replaster the walls

and install a new kitchen,

as the old one had been damaged by water ingress

and Ros felt confident they would do a good job.

I'd been with my insurance company NatWest for over 12 or 13 years.

I've never had a problem, so I have no reason to doubt them.

Being a big branded name, I thought I was getting the best.

Seven and a half months later, work was completed

and Ros and her son were finally able to move back in.

But it wasn't long before the problems began to

rear their ugly heads again.

I can remember coming in one day and being hit by this smell of damp

and we'd only been moved back in a short time

so it was still fresh paint which is what I was used to smelling

and it was a process of elimination.

So, I had a look in the electric cupboard and sure enough,

the smell of damp just came pouring out and you could see on both sides

of the cupboard that there was fungus growing in here.

So, I knew immediately that there was already a damp problem occurring.

And the more Ros looked for evidence of damp, the more she found.

Six or seven months ago,

this was all replastered and decorated,

and you can see it's quite near the electrics,

which is a concern of mine.

It's damp, it's fungus and the paint is falling off.

And this goes all the way along to the other recess where we can see

more fungi, the paint's coming off, peeling off all the way through.

And in addition to the damp,

Ros discovered a whole raft of other problems, including an uneven floor,

a poorly fitted kitchen

and serious bowing in the walls of the lounge.

Coming here into the living area, you can see the wall

and the skirting is out, the same as the other side of the wall,

which is totally bowed. The wall is all out of line there as well.

Appalled, she got straight on the phone to NatWest to complain.

But she didn't get the response she was hoping for.

When I contacted my insurance company, my loss adjuster,

quite often it was a voice mail and he wouldn't get back to me

for several days, sometimes a week.

It became very frustrating,

and then he would say, "I'll contact the builders",

then we'd have a meeting, then I'd go through the problems

with them and wait to hear their response

and I never did.

In January this year,

I met with the director of the building company,

he came round and we went through absolutely everything.

He said, "I'll be in touch, I'll write you a letter

"and let you know where we move forward from here"

and I never did.

NatWest did eventually agree that

if Ros sent in a surveyor's report, they would consider it, but they

would probably use the same building firm to rectify the problems.

Well, Ros doesn't have the money to pay for this report

and she wants to employ a different building firm.

It's now been seven months of toing and froing since Ros

reported the problems to NatWest and things are still at a stalemate.

What I'm hoping from Dom is for him

to be able to get the answers, to get the work done,

for them to admit the problems and communicate with me,

and give me the opportunity to find somebody else to put it right.

So we've got one very unhappy customer who's spent over

three years living in alternative accommodation while

the damp issues with her house are meant to be sorted out.

And what has her patience been rewarded with?

Well, nothing - because she's still got a load of problems,

plus a few additional problems she thinks were caused by the builders,

and she's reached stalemate with her insurance company.

Definitely time for me to get involved.

NatWest is a member of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group,

one of the world's largest financial services companies.

Its home insurance arm is

underwritten by UK Insurance Limited.

NatWest prides itself on being "helpful",

but one of its customers has found it to be anything but

and I want to find out why.

So I've sent an e-mail to NatWest's press office outlining

Ros's complaints and asking them to respond.

Let's see what they come back with.

It's so important that we protect our home with insurance

to hopefully cover us against structural damage

but some of us also want to

protect the goods we buy to insure us

against damage, loss or a break-in and give us that peace of mind.

And that's where extended warranties can come in.

It's a billion pound industry which can cover everything

from computers to televisions, washing machines to sofas.

And extended warranties can be a useful added extra.

An extended warranty basically extends that manufacturer's guarantee

for a period of anything between one year and five years.

So after the standard manufacturer's guarantee has ended, you can

still get your products replaced and repaired during that period.

But it's worth doing some research first to see if paying out extra

for that protection is going to be right for you.

The best practice that you will find from retailers is

when you're being sold an extended warranty, they'll explain

exactly what the terms and conditions of that warranty is.

There are lots of tricky terms and conditions within warranties.

The things you should be looking out for are whether or not

it covers accidental damage, whether or not it covers wear and tear.

That's good advice

and something mum of five Judith Clegg from Lancashire

probably wishes she'd heeded before spending £285

on an extended warranty for her new sofa.

When we were looking for the sofa, we all went as a family

because obviously it's a big purchase.

We were looking round, trying out all the suites,

trying to decide which was the nicest one.

The guy selling us the sofa came over

and said, you need to buy the insurance for it.

With such a big family, buying an insurance policy

seemed like a good idea to protect their £2,000 two-piece sofa.

But not just from the kids.

We have two chocolate Labradors.

When we were sold the policy, they said any damage that is caused

to your sofa would be rectified and put right.

He said anything your dog does to it, it's covered,

anything the children do to it would be covered.

Just ring us up, tell us and we'll come out and sort it out.

If it's not sortable, we'll replace it and get you a new suite.

That was the only reason I bought the insurance.

Judith's five-year extended warranty appeared to be

all singing and dancing peace of mind, covering everything from

"the cost of removing stains" or

"repairing damage caused by a sudden and unforeseen accidental event"

and "the cost of repairing defective or failed manual

"or electric recliner mechanisms."

And initially, the policy did exactly what it said it would.

When we first had the sofa delivered,

we noticed that there was scuffing on one of the chairs

and the recliner sofa wasn't sitting correctly.

So they said they would send somebody round, which they did,

and he put some paint on it and touched up the leather

and he just said they'd incorrectly fitted the recliners together

so he just redid that and then off he went.

But it was only within a couple of weeks when that happened.

But two and a half years later in September 2012,

the family had cause to contact their insurers again.

After we'd been on holiday,

we noticed that there were some scratches on the sofa.

When we realised we'd got the damage, we explained that we had

an extended warranty and they arranged to come out

and take some photographs and fill in a report about it.

Judith was unsure if the scratches had been caused

by a shoe buckle or one of the dogs accidentally scratching the sofa.

Either way, they weren't concerned.

We have chocolate Labradors, they only go on the furniture

when we are actually in the room because we have a gate

on the lounge to stop them coming on when nobody's in the room.

They've never ripped the sofa,

they've just jumped on the sofa which we thought would be covered.

But not this time, it seemed,

because three weeks after the inspection report,

the family received a call.

They just said the dogs have run over it, jumped all over it

and it wasn't covered because you're only covered for one dog incident.

Confused, Judith queried the response.

My husband said but we told you when we took the warranty out

we had two chocolate Labradors.

If you'd said to us you're only covered if one dog does any damage,

we wouldn't have taken the warranty out.

They just said no, you should have read your policy wording

and there's nothing we can do about it, you can't have your money back.

Sure enough, on closer inspection, the tiny terms and conditions on the

back of the policy document include the words...

I thought it would cover me for everything for five years,

but when it comes down to actually making a claim on the policy,

that isn't what you get.

And although Judith doesn't even know

if the scratch was caused by a pet or one of the kids,

she has no way of proving it wasn't caused by both dogs, either.

And the family is now having even more problems with their suite.

As you can see,

this one is all black where there's no hide left on it.

The cup holders just fall out.

This is all wickery wackery.

My other sofa is totally black where it's lost all its colour.

We've had this sofa for four years.

You'd think we'd had it for 20 years by the looks of it now.

The warranty company ruled these further issues

are down to wear and tear - another exclusion in their policy.

Judith was aware of that exclusion but assumed the leather on her sofa

would last longer than four years so she thought it was a defect.

But it's not

and it's been a tough and expensive lesson for Judith.

As things stand at this moment in time,

I'm left with a suite that I'm going to have to replace

and I'll be out of pocket

because of what I thought would have lasted me ten years

hasn't even lasted me five years.

If I was to buy something with a warranty,

I'd want to see the warranty in writing,

take it home and read it before I purchased anything.

And maybe she'll buy a bigger suite next time as there's been yet

another addition to this busy household.

Over the last 12 months,

my dog had puppies and we kept two

and so now we have four chocolate Labradors.

The dogs are absolutely gorgeous.

They're part of the family.

They're lovely.

Mischief.

Well, at least that's put a smile back on her face.

You being a good boy?

When you buy a product,

it is worthwhile having a little look at the warranty,

see what you are actually covered for

and what damage you're responsible for.

I've been looking into a complaint made against NatWest home insurance

by one of its customers, Ros Rogers.

She had to get her whole downstairs refurbished after her

neighbour's soakaway leaked into her house.

But she believes the builders that NatWest contracted

did a substandard job and she's been left with additional snagging

issues and a house that's still full of damp.

This area here was predominantly one of the areas where the water

first came through originally, so to see this back again really does

concern me because it's a lot higher than it was all those years ago.

Ros complained to NatWest seven months ago,

but they still haven't reached an agreement about what to do next.

Ros feels NatWest is not listening to her and is dragging its feet.

I've spoken to so many different people in the team.

Quite often, they say we'll get your loss adjuster to get in touch

with you or they apologise and say "I'll send you a £50 voucher",

which doesn't resolve anything at all.

But it always seemed to be passing the buck.

Nobody wanted to take the reins of it and say,

"I'm going to deal with this and I'm going to get you some answers."

She's also been left with an additional problem which she

believes her insurers should have foreseen.

My old wardrobes.

They were left upstairs while the water was still

coming into the house and over three years, the white wardrobes

then became green wardrobes so they had to be disposed of.

As NatWest failed to advise her to put her furniture into storage

while the work was carried out, she believes they should now

replace the wardrobes or reimburse her for new ones.

But when she asked for this, they refused.

My loss adjuster said, "No, it's nothing to do with them at all."

So then I went to the Financial Ombudsman, who were fantastic,

they communicated, they wrote to me, they spoke to me,

they answered every question and they found in my favour for my

insurance company to reimburse me for the items that were lost.

The Financial Ombudsman is a free, independent service which is there

to settle disputes between consumers and financial institutions.

Its decision is binding in law.

However, it can be appealed by the customer if they're not happy.

In Ros's case, the ombudsman ruled that NatWest should reimburse her

for replacement wardrobes

and other items that were lost or damaged during the building works.

But despite constant reminders,

six months later, Ros has still not received the money.

Following my e-mail to NatWest,

they have been in touch to say they're looking into Ros's case,

which is a step in the right direction.

So, I'm going to give them a call soon

to find out what they plan on doing about it.

But first things first.

I've recommended to Ros that she gets an independent surveyor

to identify all the problems with the property as it stands.

Enter chartered surveyor Chris Easton.

This morning, I'm going to Mrs Rogers'

and we're going to have a look

at the extent of the remedial works that have been undertaken following

this rather large amount of water that's come into her property.

The main problem with these types of claims is that you must allow

sufficient time for the property to dry out

and I think there are going to be problems where insufficient time

has been allowed for the building to dry.

Chris has kindly agreed to inspect Ros's property.

He will look for signs of damp

and also any indication that the building work carried out

does not comply with British industry standards.

Hello, I'm Chris Easton.

-Nice to meet you, come on in.

-Thank you.

Once inside the property, it doesn't take him long

to spot the telltale signs.

One of the problems that Mrs Rogers complains about is

an uneven floor and that's often an indication that the building has not

been allowed to dry out properly

and that we've still got large levels of moisture in the building.

And we can see in the cupboard here, there are fungi growing

and that's indicating that we've got high levels of moisture,

indicating the building did not adequately dry out.

Chris also finds clear indications of damp in the lounge.

These are prime areas where you'd be expecting the moisture to be

retained because the brick is quite thin at this point,

the brickwork holds the moisture

and then you have spoiling of the decorations

as we can see both in this recess and in the other recess here.

And we're getting situations where we're having plastering

that's now bubbling and blistering

and we're getting a mould growth and that needs to be dealt with.

In addition to this, he also spots some prime examples

of work that hasn't been carried out to a high enough standard.

I understand from Mrs Rogers that in fact all of this plaster

was hacked off back to the brickwork,

therefore it seems to me the contractor had

the opportunity of getting this plaster very level.

It isn't. We can clearly see that it's out of vertical

by potentially 40mm

and that certainly is outside the British standard.

And then we see the same situation with the skirting board

and the skirting board again is bowed

and that's easily visible from the front door and I think draws

attention to the lack of care and skill taken in the re-plastering.

Chris concludes that Ros is right to be unhappy with the works carried

out and is justified in making a formal complaint to NatWest.

Firstly, we've got a building that wasn't adequately dried out

and that's manifested itself in the defects that we can see.

Secondly, the quality of the work undertaken by the contractors

is not compliant, it breaches their statutory duty

and definite remedial works are required.

The main thing that must be borne in mind is that this building must be

dried out before any more remedial works are undertaken, otherwise

we will have a replica of the exact problems we've seen this morning.

In a nutshell, Chris has backed up everything that Ros has been saying,

and I will be putting all of his points to NatWest.

But first, I want to have a quick chat with Ros to find out

exactly what she's hoping to get from her insurers.

What do you want, in an ideal world?

I need it all rectified and not at a cost to my pocket.

When I first had it all decorated, my idea was to downsize

and sell the property and I just feel I can't move on any more.

I need it rectified, put right

so I can close this chapter and move on.

I ask her if NatWest's suggestion of sending the same building firm

in to rectify the problems is acceptable.

Not a chance!

If they couldn't get it right the first time,

what faith do I have in them doing it again?

If NatWest make you a financial offer,

would you want to accept that and sort it out yourself or would

you want them to supply a different team of builders to do the work?

I'm in two minds what to do, that is really undecided.

I just want somebody to say, "I'm going to do it right for you,

"I'm not going to let you down."

OK, Ros, I shall crack on with this

and see if I can ruffle a few feathers.

All right, I'll speak to you soon, thank you.

Ros has clearly lost all faith in the original building company

who carried out the work.

But she's not sure

whether to get NatWest to contract a different building firm

or to choose one herself and get NatWest to pay for it.

I'm going to meet Simon Lambert, the editor of finance website

This Is Money, to get his take on the best route to go down.

If you need to make a claim,

and let's say it's a substantial one, where do you stand with

the insurance company recommending their own repairers?

If the insurance company tells you about an approved repairers

or recommends a repairer, then you've actually got better

protection than if you choose them yourself.

Because if it's an approved repairer and the work's not up to

scratch then it's the insurance company's responsibility to

go after them and make sure that the job is done properly.

If you've chosen the repairers yourself, the insurance company

could turn around and say it's your responsibility to do that.

OK, let's say you go down the route of choosing one of the insurance

company's own repairers, where do you stand if you've got problems?

If you don't think the company the insurer has recommended is

good enough or is covering the job properly, then you should

challenge it with the insurer

because it is the insurer's responsibility to put you back

where you were before the incident that caused that claim to be made.

So you should be happy with what they're recommending.

What about if you're not? Because let's be honest, there are quite a few occasions

where people aren't in agreement with the insurance company,

they do complain and the insurance company dig their heels in. Where do people go then?

If you're not happy with the insurance company,

the first thing to do is go to the insurance company and try and pursue it with them.

If you're still not happy with what they're coming back with then

the Financial Ombudsman is the place to go

and they will look at your case, evaluate both sides of it -

both yours and the insurer's - and come back with a decision.

If there's a claim going through,

are you within your rights to say to your insurance company,

I'd rather have the cash and get it sorted out myself?

You might decide that you'd rather have the cash

from the insurance company and you can ask for it and they

probably would be quite happy to pay you out, but you've got to bear in

mind that you would then have less protection in terms of if that work

was not done to your satisfaction, it's going to be your responsibility

to deal with the repairer and make them come back and fix the problem.

You'd end up signing your rights away, wouldn't you?

Ultimately, yes.

Ultimately you may take the money, then find out the repairer

doesn't do a good job and you've got the problem of dealing with that.

So, according to Simon, the safest option is to

get your insurance company to employ the builders.

I'm now going to put in a call to NatWest to see if

A) they agree the remedial works need to be carried out and,

B) they're willing to pay for another building company to do the work.

Media relations.

-Oh, hi, Lisa, it's Dominic Littlewood from Don't Get Done Get Dom.

-Oh, hello.

Lisa has seen my e-mail, so is fully up to speed with the case.

Well, obviously what I want to do is get the ball

rolling as far as I'm concerned with... The lady's called Roslynne,

she doesn't mind being called Ros, of course.

She's asked us to step in and try and bring this problem to an end.

Obviously you're aware of it, aren't you,

-because it's been ongoing for a while now?

-Yes.

I wonder if you can give me your take from NatWest's side of things?

OK, my knowledge of the current situation is that we have to

let the customer know that we will cover the contents costs,

those costs can be met.

'Well, that's a step in the right direction.

'NatWest will reimburse Ros for her ruined wardrobes,

'so that's one box ticked.

'But are they prepared to allow another builder to rectify

'the work that's already been carried out?'

What happened is the NatWest Insurance recommended a contractor

and because of the recommendation, they did the work.

Now according to Ros, she believes the work is very substandard

and subsequently there's lots more problems been caused by the work,

hence the reason she got in an independent surveyor to do a report.

Now the big problem we have here is that Ros doesn't want them

stepping back onto her property.

-Right.

-Now what Ros ideally wants,

she's not somebody who's after a big pay-out and wants a big cheque,

she wants another contractor building firm to come round

and put right everything that, in her words, the builders haven't done correctly.

OK, I completely understand and appreciate that.

Obviously the contractors are willing to repair the damage

because they were involved from the beginning, but if that's not

going to work I am taking that back as something to look at.

Do you have all of these points in writing?

Anything that you can send over to me that I can go through

as a check list and make sure that I'm covering every single bit.

Smashing. I will get an e-mail over to you.

It does sound like we're starting to get somewhere and we can try

-and get this sorted out for her.

-Absolutely.

Lisa, in the meantime, it's been lovely talking to you, I do

like it when I speak to somebody who seems very efficient at sorting

out problems, so let's hope.

Well, I certainly wish to try to bring

things to a close, obviously this has been distressing for her.

Brilliant, I look forward to hearing from you, Lisa.

-Thank you, good to speak to you.

-Bye-bye.

I do like it when I speak to professional people

who are courteous, they take everything on board.

She didn't guarantee anything at this point.

But she did ask me to send over a list of the issues

highlighted by our independent surveyor and she did say

she would look into the possibility

of using an alternative building firm to rectify these issues.

I'd say things are looking quite hopeful.

Even if you've read it front to back,

from A to Z and know your consumer rights like the back

of your hand, it doesn't always mean that things are going to

go your way. But of course there is another option...

Where a consumer has exhausted all reasonable lines of complaint

with the trader and there's no trade association,

there's no other possible recourse to mediation, it may be

the consumer has to go to the County Court to resolve the matter.

But if you decide to go down the court route,

there are certain things you need to know.

Like how to start the process.

The small claims process can be online.

You can actually do the whole process without actually

physically going to court.

The small claims procedure would suggest that before you

actually go through that process you should seek mediation.

Mediation is when an impartial person

helps two sides work out an agreement.

It's viewed favourably by courts and the government, who see it

as a potentially quicker and cheaper alternative to going to court.

But if mediation fails and you do end up going down the court route,

how easy is it to get the court to accept your version of events?

A consumer must prove their case, as a lawyer would say,

on the balance of probabilities.

If they go to a small claims court,

they've got to show that it's more probable than not what they're

asserting, what they're complaining about - the goods were faulty,

they weren't fit for the purpose or they were not as described.

This is a lower standard of proof than in the criminal courts.

It's also a good idea to keep clear records of your complaint

with the company.

Consumers shouldn't go to extreme lengths to keep

records on products that they're buying, but as soon as a problem

arises they should start keeping notes of contact with the trader.

If it's a persistent problem with electrical goods for example, make

a note of what happens and when it happens and what's the extent of it.

Sound advice and worth remembering, especially for some of you

who have contacted me about your consumer battles.

A couple bought a television in March this year for their son.

They kept it in the box in their house for two months

until he moved in. When he opened it the screen was damaged.

The store says it is down to the couple, they say it was broken

when it was delivered. So where does the burden of proof lie?

In a case where the consumer says one thing and the trader says

another, it is often very difficult to prove which person is right.

In those circumstances I have to say, was it reasonable to

leave the item in a box for a period of two months without examining it?

Fair enough. So what about this lady?

She ordered a £300 Christmas hamper from a large online store.

She received e-mail confirmation that it was en route,

but it never arrived.

The online retailer maintains she must have received it.

She's refusing to pay

and the company is adding on the interest. She feels it's

time to go down the court route, but what are her chances of winning?

Consumers shouldn't be asked to pay for goods they've not

received, that's sort of very basic.

However, it's difficult sometimes for a consumer to prove that they

haven't received the goods.

In most instances a reputable retailer would accept what a consumer

has to say, but in the sort of circumstances of Christmas

hampers not arriving it may be advisable for the consumer to

draw this to the attention of their local trading standards association.

It may not be an isolated occurrence,

it may be a wider problem affecting a lot of consumers.

That may give them support for their own civil claim.

That's a very good point, always worth trying to find out

if others have had a similar complaint against the same

company. But before we all rush off and file a claim in the courts,

there are some things we should bear in mind.

In certain circumstances it would be strongly advisable to get

legal advice before embarking on what could be an expensive

exercise of going to court.

But ultimately it may be the only method of obtaining compensation.

They should consider the cost of the item,

how much it's going to cost them to pursue it

and they should take into account that they may not be successful.

And even if they are successful it may need an enforcement order

to get the money out of the trader.

Remember, think carefully, get your facts in order

and be prepared to stand up for what you think is fair.

So you don't have to be a consumer king to win, but

if you think you're right, put up a fight.

I'm on the case for Ros Rogers,

who had to claim on her home insurance after her house was

flooded by her next door neighbour's drainage system.

After two years of waiting for her neighbours to

rectify their problems, Ros's house was finally put right.

But within months the damp had returned and Ros started to

notice that some of the building work was not up to scratch.

It's very frustrating and it's heartbreaking.

This is our home, this is what we waited for three years to come

back to and still it's not right.

Ros employed an independent surveyor to identify all the issues that

need to be rectified and I've sent a list of those issues to NatWest.

I've also asked them if they're willing to pay for a different

building firm to carry out the work.

And I'm about to call them to see if they've made a decision.

I'm at a stage where I feel like I'm really about to nail home

this case with NatWest.

So I'm going to ring up their rather charming lady that

I spoke to a little while ago, Lisa,

and see if I can just cross the Ts and dot the Is.

Media relations, Lisa speaking.

Hello, Lisa, it's Dominic from the BBC, good afternoon.

-Hello, hi, how are you?

-I'm all right, thank you. How are you?

-Good, not too bad, thank you.

-Where are you with Roslynne, then?

So we're able to meet all of Mrs Roger's requests in terms of the remedial work required.

Brilliant.

We can arrange another builder and the costs will be covered

and either it can be one that Roslynne would like to appoint

or we can appoint another for her, whichever is her preference.

Right, obviously to put it into layman's terms a little bit, if you

guys recommended a builder and the work was substandard, then she can

go back to you and complain about it, and you probably appreciate

that. She'll be quite happy to choose her own builder

but we want to make sure she has the same level of cover

and protection if, hopefully it's an unlikely event,

but if that work turns out to be substandard some time in the future.

OK. I see what you're saying, I will check. OK?

So NatWest has taken on board all the issues the independent surveyor

picked up on and does appear keen to rectify matters for Ros.

It has also agreed to award her £1,229

to pay for replacement wardrobes.

But there is one thing it doesn't agree with

and that's the suggestion that the builders failed to allow

sufficient time for the building to dry out before starting work.

'I have been told that before the contractors

'started the work on the property, it was passed as dry

'and a drying certificate was issued so it would appear that the

'damp issue is separate to the problem with the drains.'

NatWest says it has examined the property externally

and identified a possible alternative cause of the damp,

but it needs to conduct an internal survey to confirm its suspicions.

OK.

I'll contact Ros and ask her to try and arrange a time to let you guys

have access and then hopefully we'll be able to get it all sorted out.

So we've certainly leapt forward in everything at the moment, haven't we?

Yeah, we're cooking by gas,

so hopefully once we get those wee bits sorted we can move on

and of course the next step will be arranging access for the other

contractor but hopefully that should happen quite quickly.

Smashing. Lisa, as always you've been lovely.

-Thank you, good to speak.

-Bye-bye.

You know, half the battle nowadays is getting somebody on the phone

to deal with you in a nice, polite and civil manner.

Lisa the lady from NatWest did that.

I would find it very hard to get angry with her.

But anyhow I don't need to,

because it looks like now we're finally going to get

the resolution that Ros needs and has been waiting donkey's years for.

All that remains now is for me to go and see Ros to break the good news.

I get the impression from Ros that she thought NatWest had gone

west, but I'm about to meet her now and hopefully put her mind at rest.

Look at that! I'm a poet and didn't know it.

Ros. hello there, nice to meet you.

And you got me a cup of tea in, you're my favourite.

-I've never had that before, you know.

-Well, there's always a first time.

Right, let's get down to the reason why we're here, your problem.

It started a long time ago, didn't it?

It did, it started the beginning of 2010.

Right, so we're talking about four years ago.

Well, Lisa at NatWest has confirmed to me now that you are able

to have a different builder round to rectify and put right all the works.

Right.

Now you are within your rights

if you want to employ your own builder or they will send you

a list of other approved builders, people that they've used before,

they're aware of their work and they know that it's going to be OK.

We're going to leave that decision down to you,

but certainly they're ready to move like tomorrow.

-They want to get this sorted out.

-Fantastic, at last.

Now, one of the things which she did tell me about which is quite

interesting is they think they now know where this water leak is coming

from, but they've only inspected it from the outside and what she needs

to do is gain access from you to the inside just to make sure 100% that's

where it's coming from.

And I'd very much doubt you're going to get a wrong

diagnosis at this point, I think they're going to be very thorough.

I also let Ros know that NatWest has agreed to make a payment to

her of £1,229 to cover replacement wardrobes

and that it has apologised to her for not making this payment sooner.

What you've done by bringing this to my attention is brilliant.

We're sorting it out for you, We're 99% there, I hope next time

we speak, the cheques are in the post, the builders are working

round your house and your problems will soon be a distant memory.

-I hope so.

-How are you feeling right now?

-I'm absolutely over the moon.

-You do look relieved.

Yeah, I really am, at long last there's some hope,

there's some light at the end of the tunnel.

It's a chapter I can now close

and move on to the next phase of my life.

So hopefully next time we speak that's it, a distant memory.

-Absolutely, and I can't wait.

-Good luck to you.

-Thank you.

-Can I buy you a latte?

-You most definitely can.

Come on, then.

NatWest have finally given Ros the resolution she's been

waiting for so long.

And they've sent us the following statement.

The most important thing here though is that my job is finally done

and, after four years of frustration and heartache, Ros can at last

move on with her life and enjoy some quality time with her family.

I'm really looking forward to it, it's been so long

waiting for it all to take shape, to feel like a home again, to look in

places and not see these damp areas all the time or all the problems.

It'll just be so nice to come home, close the door

and make it feel like home again.

Ros has decided to pick a builder from the list that NatWest

will send her, so that she's covered if - heaven forbid - things

go wrong again and she plans to gets things moving as soon as possible.

Good on you, Ros.

I'm going to get on it straightaway, I'm going to contact the chartered

surveyor, arrange a date for him to go over, go through the place from

top to bottom, get a work schedule in place and it's just a relief

knowing that somebody is out there ready to help and to move forward

and I'm really excited about seeing the final picture, I really am.