Insurance Backed… Smoke and Mirrors!

Monday, August 18th, 2008

I’ve written about this before and no doubt will do so again…..

We have recently asked our insurance company to carry out a survey of what our competitors are offering regarding warranties and guarantees… and can confirm that the majority don’t actually have anything at all!

If you go onto the search engine websites and request information on Japanese Knotweed you will be bombarded by companies who have copied our website, copied our text, copied our photographs and even copied the wording on our tagline! ‘Insurance backed guarantee’ seems a favorite catch phrase to pull people in…

However… do not be fooled, do not be taken in – check what their warranties really are! Ask the questions – how much does your warranty cover? Who is the guarantor? Are the company directors personally guaranteeing the work?

Professional indemnity cover will not pay for re-growth of Japanese Knotweed, public liability insurance will not cover for re-growth of Japanese Knotweed.

Each and every insurance backed warranty that we give is PERSONALLY GUARANTEED by the Managing Director Mike Clough and backed by HCC International Insurance Company PLC

This means that in the worst case scenario if Japanese Knotweed Solutions Ltd were to cease trading - then I personally would be liable for any costs incurred in treating re-growth of Japanese Knotweed on your site. If I were not able to fund these costs then our insurance company guarantees that funds will be available to cover any shortfall.

Compare that to what others are offering…then call us – the original Japanese Knotweed Solutions Ltd.

Where we lead others follow.

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The truth about warranties

Thursday, April 24th, 2008

There are a lot of statements made about warranties but what do they all mean? Professional indemnity, Public Liability… 5 millions of this and 1 million of that but what would happen if you actually had to claim and what would happen if your contractor ceased trading?

Professional Indemnity and Public Liability have to be taken out by Employers and companies giving ‘professional’ advice, however neither of these policies will cover you in the event of re-growth of Japanese Knotweed (JK) on your development site. In the event of Professional Indemnity you would have to prove that the advice given not only wrong but proven to be factually incorrect – very difficult to prove with JK.

Some companies cite a policy which covers for any damage to hard surfaces and buildings. This is simply not possible. No insurance policy could possibly cover each and every job to the value of a potential re-build should building foundations be damaged – imagine the premiums per project? How could a job of say £5K have an insurance cover of £25 million. Somebody is lying when they suggest that this is possible!

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