Are You Covered? (Tesco Home Insurance)

Member Name: shewhoguards

Product:	Tesco Home Insurance
Date:	29/04/08 (66 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Replaced laptop without hassle

Disadvantages: Did not inform of costs of retrieving data in advance

There wasn't a lot of thinking when I signed up for home insurance with Tesco - I just picked the cheapest provider. Currently I'm paying around £50 a month - obviously this will vary depending on how big your house is, how old your house is and whether you have a no claims bonus.

So far, in my first year, I've had to make one claim. I was on an overcrowded train from Leeds when someone stumbled and kicked my bag. It wasn't until I got home that I realised that the kick had had nasty consequences - my poor laptop had disliked the bump enough that it didn't want to turn on any more.

Luckily, on taking my insurance out I had selected the option that covered electronics outside the home to a value of £1000. My laptop fell well within this, so I called Tesco to explain the situation.

The gentleman I spoke to listened to my sad story, took notes, and arranged for someone to call me back. This happened a couple of days later, and it was arranged that someone would come out, pick my laptop up, and take it back to see if it were repairable or if it needed to be replaced.

I was promised I would hear back within a week. Being impatient, I called back three days later - and was happy to hear that it had already been looked at. It was indeed dead, which meant my policy would replace it as long as I paid my £100 excess. In fact, the laptop they offered - a Toshiba Satellite Pro - was actually a good deal better than my laptop.

I paid my excess over the phone, and delivery was arranged for the new laptop - it was sent to my mum's a couple of days later.

I only have one complaint here. It wasn't until they confirmed the machine was dead that they informed me that having any data on it would cost £50 to retrieve, or I could have the hard drive returned for £100. I do actually possess the skills to retrieve the data from the hard drive myself, and had they informed me of these costs before sending the laptop away I would have done so.

Otherwise well done - very good service!

Summary: A good insurer to have when things go wrong