A PENSIONER’S home which flooded after a neighbour’s pipe burst has been left without a toilet for three MONTHS.
Mary Kelly, 65, has been forced to use the bathrooms of friends and family after extensive flood damage to her home of 30 years.
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An insurance company has been forced to apologise to the fuming pensioner who has been left without use of her £4,500 bathroom after a communal pipe in her block of flats burst.
She has even been forced to use buckets of water to flush her toilet as the draining system is “completely out of use”.
Mary had hoped that Lowther – an arm of Glasgow Housing Association (GHA) – would fix the pipe.
But bosses have fobbed her off, saying it’s the responsibility of the building’s insurer.
Mary said she has been left devastated by the mess.
Apart from the severe inconvenience, she’s had to fork out £200 on emergency repairs on the pipe, and a temporary ceiling for her waterlogged bathroom.
Mary said: “I can’t even wash my hands.
“My neighbour above me has flooded me a few times just through burst pipes.
“In November, the pipe that joins to both of our kitchens burst and the water poured down from his kitchen and into my bathroom.
“I was told the issue wasn’t communal even though it is a shared pipe.
“We have been paying for [management service] fees for about 34 years between us.
“They found more damage than what they initially thought there was.
“So they ripped the whole bathroom out – I don’t have floors, a ceiling, sink, or walls.”
We have been paying for [management service] fees for about 34 years between us.
Mary Kelly
Struggling Mary added that prior to the flooding, her “home was lovely – I had it just perfect and I had worked hard to make it that way”.
She added: “It has already cost me a lot of money.
“It cost me £4,500 to have the bathroom installed in the first place and now it has been ripped out.
“If you pay for services, you should have access to those services.
“When people have disasters they should know they will be okay.
“I’m not looking for the GHA to be a charity service, I’m looking for them to do what we have been paying them to do.”
FOBBED OFF
But she has been going round in circles trying to get someone to fix the ruined bathroom.
A spokesperson for Lowther said: “The leak was found in a waste pipe which has been rerouted through the extension to this customer’s home.
“To be clear, this customer’s home is not insured by Lowther.
“Lowther appoints an insurance company for the block and any claims are made directly by the owner to the insurance company.
“We understand the customer made a claim on the building’s insurance policy and this claim is in progress.
“Any complaints relating to that should be directed to the insurance company, but we are happy to contact them on her behalf and do all we can to help.”
The Davies Group and Ageas Insurance would like to offer sincere apologies to Ms Kelly.
Insurer
The Davies Group and Ageas Insurance – who are responsible for repairing Mary’s home – have apologised for leaving her without a functioning toilet.
A spokesperson said: “The Davies Group and Ageas Insurance would like to offer sincere apologies to Ms Kelly for both the delay in repairing her home and for not taking the time to explain to her what was going on behind the scenes to resolve her claim.
“We are now redoubling our efforts to secure suitable alternative accommodation for her to live in while her home is repaired.
“Ageas, who underwrite the policy terms will be reviewing this claim with Davies (the claims handler) to learn lessons from what went wrong and ensure all our customers receive the brilliant service we pride ourselves on.”
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Source: The Sun
