Camera Insurance… Part 2

Continuing on from my earlier post about my camera insurance claim on a damaged Phase One IR Filter.

The Results… Finally… or not.

After months of wrangling, writing letters and answering spurious nonsense created by the WFI legal team (and passed to me for comment by the ombudsman), WFI offered to pay half the amount of the camera insurance claim.  I considered carefully… for about 2 seconds, then told them (via the ombudsman) to bugger off!  It was long past being about the money, it was about them doing the right thing, the thing I had been paying large amounts of money for in good faith.

Several more weeks of fluff and noise ensued, before WFI finally capitulated and agreed to pay the full amount. (I think they just got sick of me)…  This was 25th March 2019, the initial claim was lodged 23rd July 2018… For a $3,600 claim on an item insured for around $60,000. All up I would estimate that rejecting my claim and fighting it for months used up several hundred hours of somebodies expensive time at WFI, which cost a hell of a lot more than than my initial claim.

Of course WFI cancelled my insurance (but only on my camera gear), and sent me a nasty letter that was an official refusal to renew my contract. This plays havoc with any future insurance applications as I have to disclose this in full when applying for a policy. I countered by cancelling my car insurance and my house insurance, which were also with WFI. Small things, but it felt good. And of course I tell everybody about it.

The moral of this story? It could be “don’t trust insurance companies” Or perhaps “always read the fine print…” or maybe a combination of both… “when dealing with insurance companies always read the fine print (and don’t trust them, especially WFI)”.  Are you sure your camera gear is really insured?