It’s a long story but I’ll try and summarise:
Had a water leak from a fish tank which ruined the floor boards. An assessor was sent out and rejected the claim on the basis of the floor boards ‘not being installed correctly’. Blamed the damage on the installation by the builder.

I rang Coles and complained so they sent assessor number 2. He agreed with my claim.

Coles then send out assessor number 3. This guy works for Coles parent company . Has all the credentials. Starts out by asking me who I want to do the repairs and I advised I didn’t have a preference. About 20min later he then backflips and says he tends to agree with assessor number 1. And denies the claim.

I ring Coles again to complain and they send out assessor number 3. He is some big burly guy
full of tattoos with the credentials of a building engineer. He comes with a water meter and a thermal gun trying to impress me with his gizmos. He does not know that I am a real engineer so I wasn’t fooled by his nonsense. He claimed the house wasn’t built correctly and lacked enough sub floor ventilation and water has come in from outside and caused the piers to become dislodged which caused the squeeking floor boards. The fish tank water would not have caused the damage. He wrote a 20 page report stating if the fish tank was the issue there would be water staining on the bearers and on the chip board under the floor boards. However we did not have access to the sub floor so there was no proof. Claim denied again.

I rang Coles again and asked if I got my own building report done would they review it and they said yes. My guys report agreed with me however before he came I cut a hole in the floor and got pictures of the under floor. The pictures showed water staining of the bearers and effervescence on the ground from the Fishtank water. Proving I was right.

However my guy wrote at the top of his report ’Without Prejudice’. This is a legal term which means he cannot be held responsible in a court of law. Why he did this I don’t know to this day. However Coles said to me his report was useless as it held no weight. They said if he removed those two words, then they would review the report and possibly pay the claim. I got them to speak with him directly and he refused to remove those two words.

By this time I was fed up and went straight to the ombudsman. Long story short the ombudsman reviewed all the reports and the photos and agreed with me.

The claim went from a $10,000 payout to a $76,000 payout. Had they paid out as per the second assessors quote it would’ve cost them $10,000. The ombudsman requested the first assessor come back and reassess, and his quote increased as he believed the whole floor had to be removed in the entire house. This now meant removing the kitchen and storing it off site. This then meant we had to leave the house for six weeks and Coles had to pay for this as well which meant the claim increased to $76,000.

The whole process took a year with the ombudsman, taking about six months to conduct their investigations not a fast process by any means, but well worth it in the end.

They also had to pay for my original report.

Don’t let Coles bully you with their assessors if you believe you are correct, go straight to the ombudsman and they will deal with the issue fairly.

Most people would’ve walked away after the first assessor denied the claim as they couldn’t be bothered dealing with the process. However, I’m glad I went through to the end as I had the last laugh. I got the floor fixed for $10,000, went on a went on an overseas trip while the work was being done and pocketed the remaining money and reduced my mortgage.

Thanks Coles.

What has happened to Coles Insurance? Up until a couple of years ago I had transferred all of mine and my families insurance to Coles, both cars and houses. Over the past 2 years I have had to dump most of these because my renewals had gone up so much and I got several other quotes from others. The final straw came when I received my home insurance renewal. Up from $1,755 to $8,331 in one year. No claims, no fires or floods or crime in our area and I am retired and at home every day. I switched insurance cover for $2,200 elsewhere.

Coles insurance have been delaying a settlement for almost 1.5 years now for our home insurance. My wife and I call every week and get delayed time and time again. Constant excuses, disrespect and going around in circles. The amount of mental strain this has caused let alone the fact that our kids and us have been living in mould this whole time which is spreading through the whole house. Every time we speak to someone they are shocked we have waited so long, they often pretend to help and say they will sort it out but nothing ever happens.
Their building team doesn't want to do the job because it's too hard but yet they offer a small percentage of what it will cost us to get it fixed by any other builder.
The premium has also gone up so much since we started with them. We just want this resolved!!!

Do Not I repeat DO NOT inshure anything with Cole's, the statement they read out on the phone is all a CON, they care nothing about you or your property, customer service is very poor and rude, Very unhappy and disappointed

I had an accident which was not my fault and needed to go through Coles Insurance as it as the other party's insurer. Multiple phone interactions were needed due to Coles not sending emails or texts that they had promised to do. I always needed to follow up. It also appeared that they only examined the claim when I was on the phone to them - this resulted in long delays and it was almost three moths before the car was actually booked for repair. This was a very simple situation where the other party backed into my parked car. I can only imagine the hassle if it had been more complicated. AVOID

After 6 months of waiting for my car to be repaired waiting on parts is all I continually got - staff absolutely do not care single mum of 4 kids & working full time anyway they wrote it off no compensation for my time or there stuff up of just writing it off in the first place I’d give 0 stars if possible will recommend anyone & everyone to stay away from this mob!

We damaged our motor to avoid a serious accident as we were sliding down a hill sideways in a storm and Coles spend countless dollars sending our car by tow truck to experts to avoid the claim.

Whilst in their care a rat got into the car and chewed through the seats and head liner and mats as well as urinated everywhere, the car interior is ruined.

We were away, when we returned there was a dead rat in the car and the interior was ruined. Rang Coles and was told they don't cover animal damage, even if it was caused by them. They actually told me their repairers and tow truck are secure sterile environments with no rats so they won't accept the claim.

After demanding they take the claim they did after 85 minutes on the phone, but the girl hinted I am wasting my time.

We have several policies we are changing away from them this week and will be lodging a complaint www.fos.org.au/.

What a horrible company, they seem totally focused on avoiding claims, no matter who is at fault or how genuine they are. I fully regret having policies with them.

Definitely would not recommend.

After 26 years of rating one with a major insurer I succumbed to the budget cost of Coles Comp Ins. I justified their cheaper cost due to their lack of TV advertising.
Last March my car was stolen and later found. Within 3 days Coles emailed me for my bank a/c details to process the claim .I never heard from them again until I contacted them 3 weeks later only to be emailed, "we have decided to review the claim".- Not why etc.
4 weeks later a Private Investigator turned up at my door - He had no ID to verify he was consulting for Coles & again Coles never bothered to let me know the claim was being investigated by a consulting company.
I happily sat through the 2 hour interview as ive nothing to hide..
It is now 7 months since I lodged the claim and Coles have not bothered to phone/email once re the progress. They have my car and my full premium and I am not in a position to purchase another car until they bother to approve the claim. Until then my life is greatly inconvenienced, my young daughter having to catch a train for school to Mill Park as I cant drive her.

Nice rewards with flybuys bit pricie with insurance but get quick resolution after car accident and assistance when you have road side assistance

Much cheaper policy. Insurance is insurance so i dont care who it is, it's backed by farmers union and unless there is just cause they will payout. Some companies charge 40% more which is just a rip off.