[DanaC]

Chap calls through to our claims dept today, and after I've taken his name and policy number, I ask him what we can help with - he says 'well, this is going to sound really stupid....' - I laugh and ask 'go on, what's happened?'

Well, says he...in April my daughter's hamster escaped (ok, I thought - not what I was expecting) and we thought it was lost. Anyway, this week our washing machine stopped working, so we called out the repair guy and he came out and when we moved the washing machine we found the hamster (uh oh, I think, this story is taking a turn for the grisly) - 'Oh dear,' I say, preparing for the nasty part.

No, no, says he, the hamster's fine - he's a bit annoyed we've put him back in a cage, but he is fat and healthy as ever. But he's chewed through the wires - totally destroyed the loom and damaged the motor. The washing machine is beyond repair.

......................................................................................................................

Hamster, missing for 7 months. Alive and well and living in the washing machine. That was a file note I enjoyed writing.

And to make things even better - most policies exclude damage by pets - but his was a legacy policy that only lists a pet damage exclusion on the Impact peril (don't ask). There was no specific exclusion in any of the other perils, and no whole policy exclusion for damage by pets or animals (except for vermin). And because he was a longstanding customer with a clean claims record, I was able to offer him a cash settlement there and then.

His daughter is ecstatic because hamster is back. He's delighted because what he no doubt expected would be a ball ache of a claims process turned out to be one 15 minute phone call with a cash payout straight into his bank (less the excess obv)

And I got to write the sentence 'Hamster has been living in washing machine since April and has eaten through the wires' in the claim file description, which then appears in the green banner across the top of the claim file screen and will come up every time someone does a claims search on his policy.


Some days I love my job.