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Cooker All Smashed UP! To claim or not to claim.....

(29 Posts)
yogitree Mon 07-Oct-24 13:15:13

The pot shelf above my cooker fell down today of its own accord and smashed up our ceramic glass-topped cooker! Poor doggie almost had a heart attack! I phoned insurer and there is a £250 excess so I am wondering if I should just buy a new cooker on credit. Any advice welcome.

NotSpaghetti Wed 09-Oct-24 16:20:46

Ha ha, Allira

Don't fall for it!

Allira Wed 09-Oct-24 12:34:52

DH thought it might be a good idea to get an induction hob, NotSpaghetti, then I wouldn't ask him to cook.

NotSpaghetti Wed 09-Oct-24 10:32:00

My son has both a pacemaker and an induction hob.

He spoke to his pacemaker team before the kitchen was refitted and they asked him if he was in the habit of lying on his hob. They apparently said just don't get too close (I think he said 30cms is fine but this was a while ago and i could be wrong!).

His phone though does not live in his breast pocket and he keeps his electric toothbrush well away from his chest.

Mt61 Wed 09-Oct-24 08:50:37

Oh never thought about pacemaker.
Tip if you are buying new pans, I carry a small magnet in my bag to see if pots/ pans are magnetic. Homesense have good quality ones, I managed to match up 4.

NotSpaghetti Tue 08-Oct-24 23:30:52

...or if it means you need a new set of pans too!

Allira Tue 08-Oct-24 23:08:02

JenniferEccles

One piece of advice I would give is to have a cooker with an induction hob.
They are wonderful! So quick and controllable, and so easy to keep clean as the hob doesn’t get hot in the conventional sense.

If you felt your budget wouldn’t stretch to a more expensive cooker then perhaps you could pay it off over a longer period.

One word of warning

Do not buy an induction hob if you or any member of your family who might cook has a pacemaker.

Mt61 Tue 08-Oct-24 23:02:20

JenniferEccles

One piece of advice I would give is to have a cooker with an induction hob.
They are wonderful! So quick and controllable, and so easy to keep clean as the hob doesn’t get hot in the conventional sense.

If you felt your budget wouldn’t stretch to a more expensive cooker then perhaps you could pay it off over a longer period.

It’s so safe I put paper towel under my pan to save the glass getting scratched but make sure you have something in your pan

Mt61 Tue 08-Oct-24 22:59:36

Just buy a new hob, unless, of course it’s a premium brand then I would claim

Cateq Tue 08-Oct-24 16:13:39

Yogitree: the saying if it wasn’t for bad luck , you’d have no luck springs to mind.

Cateq Tue 08-Oct-24 16:11:05

It’s a condition of most home insurance policies that you must make your insurer away of any incident that can lead to a claim, whether or not you make a claim. Insurance is a risk based industry so they use this information to calculate the risk a household pose to the business.

JenniferEccles Tue 08-Oct-24 14:24:36

One piece of advice I would give is to have a cooker with an induction hob.
They are wonderful! So quick and controllable, and so easy to keep clean as the hob doesn’t get hot in the conventional sense.

If you felt your budget wouldn’t stretch to a more expensive cooker then perhaps you could pay it off over a longer period.

Llamedos13 Tue 08-Oct-24 14:17:25

Auntieflo, to answer your question, yes they did replace the cooker,they had a new one delivered the very next day and it was nicer than the one they damaged.I have always hated having the microwave over the cooker and have since had it removed and replaced with a smart looking hood.

Rosie51 Tue 08-Oct-24 14:01:14

grandtanteJE65 If not, I understand why your insurance company cannot see their way to paying out.

If you read OP's post her insurance company would have paid out, she has decided not to claim to protect her premiums.

A shelf should be able to be positioned anywhere and have the structural integrity to bear the load placed upon it. Do you only place shelves in positions where it's OK for them to fall down?

grandtanteJE65 Tue 08-Oct-24 13:17:16

Is the pot shelf an integral part of the hob?

If not, I understand why your insurance company cannot see their way to paying out.

Who on earth was daft enough to put a shelf baring heavy objects, or indeed any shelf at all above an induction or ceramic hob?

The place for pots and pans is under the hob in a cupboard or on a shelf, of if you cannot get down easily on your knees to get them out, in a cupboard beside the hob at a level you can easily use.

Buy a new hob and re-organise your kitchen to obviate this kind of accident again. Modern hobs are unfortunately not cast-iron!

yogitree Tue 08-Oct-24 13:14:02

I swill add, as it was quite funny in a way, that the hob and the top oven were both damaged and then the oven door just fell off (under it's own steam) an hour later!

yogitree Tue 08-Oct-24 13:11:49

Thanks for all your advice ladies. I reckon I will bite the bullet, having spoken with the Insurers (who agreed not to process my claim to protect next year's premium). I have found a basic electric cooker for £259 and have a friend qualified to fit it for me. As I only have State Pension for income, I will pay it up in 3 instalments (interest free) with Paypal Credit and it will even help my credit rating! I hated that old cooker anyway. I was glad to see it being carted off the the dump.

David49 Tue 08-Oct-24 03:04:14

It depends how old the cookers is and what a new one costs, with a £250 excess there probably isn’t much in it. However one claim in say 5 yrs shouldn't put your premium up because with the excess deducted it’s going to be a very small claim.

Lovetopaint037 Tue 08-Oct-24 01:36:36

How old is your cooker? If elderly perhaps a new one would be better in that a fault could arise that would cost money. So sorry that this has happened.

Auntieflo Mon 07-Oct-24 19:08:37

Llamedos13, I do hope that your microwave installer paid for your new cooker. He must have been insured for that sort of happening.

MissInterpreted Mon 07-Oct-24 14:05:49

Georgesgran

Insurers will take the incident into account, even if you don’t make a claim. You’ve made them aware.

Yes, this is correct.

Georgesgran Mon 07-Oct-24 14:05:06

Insurers will take the incident into account, even if you don’t make a claim. You’ve made them aware.

Llamedos13 Mon 07-Oct-24 14:03:34

Same happened to my ceramic top, we were having a new microwave installed above the cooker and the installer dropped it smashing it to pieces. We couldn’t have it replaced, there was not an option to buy one so we ended up having to buy a new cooker.

M0nica Mon 07-Oct-24 13:52:00

Canot give any opinion unless I know how much it will cost to replace the hob, put the shelf back up and replace anything else that was broken.

I would sooner make an insurance claim than take on credit.

NotSpaghetti Mon 07-Oct-24 13:32:06

From Go Compare:

What happens if an incident is reported but I don’t make a claim?
If you tell your insurer about an incident that’s happened at home, like a burglary or breakage, but later decide not to make a claim – it will still be recorded.

Depending on the nature of the incident, insurers could take this into account when working out how much to charge you for a policy.

I have no idea how they decide - but do know it happens.

Cossy Mon 07-Oct-24 13:19:51

Only if a claim is made should premiums rise.

I’d look at seeing how much to replace before I made a decision.