Dear Nick
I understand your concern however the comments on the forum were started by one particular individual who attempted to put in a fraudulent claim and was caught out. Obviously the insurers refused to pay out. This individual has threatened northernreef with action however when they appointed their own solicitors nothing more was heared.
If you go to the Northernreef website at
www.northernreef.netyou will see testiment from clients all over the world who have been more than happy with the service they have received. Many of them I can vouch for as I work for Edward William Marine services and as main agents for Northernreef had to assist with some of the claims settlements.
The Northern reef policy is based on the Institute Yacht Clauses as are the majority of marine policies on the market. Northern reef also have
reinsurance placed in the international market in much the same way as the majority of insurance companies. This basically means that in the event of a large risk some of it is laid off on reinsurance. This both protects the insurance company from large claims and therefore is added protection for the clients. In addition the Northernreef policy is written subject to English law and therefore if there are any disputes they would be dealt with in the UK courts.
We have placed thousands of clients with Northernreef over the years many who continue their policies year after year even though some of them have had to make claims. From our point of view a legitamate and fair claim will be dealt with swiftly and efficiently.
I hope this puts your mind at rest although at the end of the day the choice is obviously yours to make.
Kind Regards
Malcolm Skinner
Edward William Marine Services.
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My comments
A quick and reasonably fulsome response. However, none of the quotes in the 'client feedback' section on the website are necessarily from people who have made a claim . . . and one of them is in fact
mine, lifted from a YBW forum post . . . so the jury is still out. I would like to hear from a genuine happy customer who had a claim paid quickly and fairly - but these may be as rare as happy Waterlog users . . .
No need to make a decision until the Spring, so let's see if any further information comes to light. I will be asking NR for a quote for our proposed trip, and will let the forum know what they are offering.