My fridge freezer defrosted over the weekend, will my insurance cover this?

June 29, 2009 3:36 AM

I've come home to a defrosted fridge freezer and all my food has defrosted. Can I claim this on my home insurance?

I went away for the weekend to see family and found all the food in my fridge freezer has defrosted. I'm a little worried that my electricit company may have cut my electric over the weekend because of a mix up and think this may be the cause. Otherwise my fridge is acting up and defrosted itself over the weekend.

Is there anyway to tell if my electric was cut? Is there a way I check to see if my fridge is working alright? Some of the food I fine, but a lot of it is no good now that it's been defrosted for a couple of days. Is there a way I can claim this on my insurance?

Thanks for your time and help.

posted by Sevenupcan to home & garden (5 answers total)

I know it's obvious, but you need to check your home contents insurance policy document. It's common to have cover for the contents of your fridge/freezer. Mine says: "We will pay... if the contents of your freezer or refrigerator are spoiled by: the accidental failure of the freezing unit or accidental failure of the electricity supply not caused by the deliberate act of the supplier."

However I can't imagine ever claiming for this as I have a £50 excess, and I wouldn't have much more than this in the fridge. Plus I'd lose my no claims bonus. It'd never be worth it for the extra I'd have to pay for the insurance in the future.

Also with my policy, the insurance won't pay out for your supply deliberately being cut off. I guess you'd speak to your supplier under those circumstances.

As for finding out if your supply was cut - if it was a temporary outage your neighbours may be able to help as they may also have experienced it. Otherwise call your supplier.
posted by brighton at 4:00 AM on June 29, 2009

Is there anyway to tell if my electric was cut?

Does your oven have a clock? Do you have a mains-powered clock anywhere? Did you notice any equipment left on standby having been switched off over the weekend?

It's pretty unlikely that your electricity would be cut off and then reconnected over the space of a weekend without any notification. Electricity companies usually disconnect as a last resort after several attempts to resolve the issue by other means. A more general power cut in your area seems more likely. Otherwise, I'd suspect the fridge-freezer.

Read your policy. It's definitely very standard in the UK to be covered for loss of fridge/freezer contents; your policy may also cover a new appliance. Mine did.

On preview, what brighton said.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 4:08 AM on June 29, 2009

I had this problem at a (U.S.) apartment once and it turned out that the circuit breaker had tripped, so in my case simply resetting the breaker got the fridge going again.
posted by XMLicious at 4:11 AM on June 29, 2009

Thanks guys. I think your all right. It's unlikely to be my electric company cutting me off. I guess part of me hoped it was them so I could have someone to blame. Basically I've been getting reminder letters telling me to pay my bill (which I have already payed) and if I don't they would disconnect my electric. But the thing is they already know about this issue and I'm annoyed that they send out these generic threats to loyal customers for pay on time.

Don't think I will bother claiming it on my insurance as brighton said, probably not worth the hassle.

Will have to ask the neighbors if they experienced a power outage. Although I thought normally that when there is a power outage the fuse box would trip, maybe it doesn't happen all the time?
posted by Sevenupcan at 4:28 AM on June 29, 2009

when there is a power outage the fuse box would trip, maybe it doesn't happen all the time?

No, this shouldn't ever happen. A short inside your house will trip a breaker or blow a fuse, which is likely to cause other stuff in your house to shut down, but a power outage originating outside your house won't affect your breaker / fuse box.
posted by jon1270 at 5:41 AM on June 29, 2009 [1 favorite]