Sausage seller’s insurance beef
STORM DAMAGE ROW
A GEELONG sausage king has hit a snag after insurance giant AAMI reneged on a promise to pay him $24,000, four months after he lodged a claim.
Snagga’s Healthy Sausages founder Cory Becker said the insurer had promised the payout on July 4 but abruptly rescinded two days later.
Mr Becker’s claim for lost income comes after a freak gust of wind ripped the roof off his food truck during a drive between Melbourne and Geelong.
“We went under one of the bridges (on the Princes Freeway) about 50km out of Geelong and the whole roof was ripped off,” Mr Becker said.
Following the February 26 incident Mr Becker made a claim for his damaged trailer and AAMI has since paid him almost $15,600.
But a $49,000 claim — reduced to $24,000 by an external assessor — for lost revenue from the day of the wind damage to May 4 has left Mr Becker in an administrative quagmire.
“I’ve had to call AAMI about 45 times and the external assessor about 15 times to chase this up.
“We agreed to $24,000. I can’t change my policy after the fact so AAMI shouldn’t be able to change their offer.
“They don’t want to pay out the full amount and have delayed it as much as possible.”
AAMI told the Geelong Advertiser Mr Becker has raised “additional concerns”, which it was reviewing.
Following inquiries from the Geelong Advertiser, AAMI paid Mr Becker $5000 last Thursday. Mr Becker will now approach the Financial Ombudsman in a bid to recoup the $19,000 he claims he is owed.
Mr Becker, who runs Snagga’s Healthy Sausages in Market Square, has since spent $30,000 on a new food truck.
An AAMI spokesman said Mr Becker had made a claim for damage to his trailer and another for lost revenue.
“AAMI accepted and set- tled the claim for the physical damage to Mr Becker’s trailer and issued a payment of $15,592.23 on March 22,” the spokesman said.
AAMI said the documents to support the lost revenue claim were provided in May.
“We have accepted the claim for the lost revenue in line with Mr Becker’s policy. Mr Becker has raised additional concerns which we are reviewing.”
Mr Becker said AAMI has promised to complete its review of his payout by August 2.