My laptop got zapped by lightning over two weeks ago (Friday 13th storms). Got repair quote from Apple the following Monday and sent the claim off to the broker.

Hadn't heard anything back from them so called this morning. The answer? Ring back in two weeks. FFS, it's a laptop, how can it possibly take them over a month?

Am I being unreasonable expecting someone at the company to briefly remove their head from their arse and write a cheque?

Having experienced the NFU had you crashed a Tractor or your cow broke a leg probably have got the cheque by return of Post… that's probably the only Apple the NFU ensure that does not grow in a tree.. they probably are trying to work out what variety it is.

Yeah my defender was insured by NFU and I found them very good. Have you got a dedicated claims handler?

I have a feeling that they might be pretty busy at the moment after the flooding in Cumbria etc.

Not condoning their actions but worth considering.

I agree with Matthew_h…. after watching countryfile on sunday, most of their assessors are probably busy in the cocker valley..

they pride themselves on service and frequently come top in customer satisfaction surveys so i'd have a word with your claims assessor and see what the score is

How on earth did lightning 'zap' your laptop – was it up a tree?

måX h€åd$€†™ – well, our tractor did catch fire earlier this year after a bird helpfully built its nest under the exhaust, and they weren't exactly quick about that either, even though we had contractors booked and needed it sorted. About two months in the end.

Insurers are currently overwhelmed (my other half works for one in the claims department) – non-urgent claims are being shelved while people with holes in the roof and nowhere to live are being seen to.

Strangely I'd not even think of claiming on my house insurance for that sort of problem, it just wouldn't cross my mind. And I had 2 PC's taken out by lightning earlier this year!

Some inside knowledge for you (my wife works for them)…

They have recently changed their computer systems, and to put it in technical terms – the new system is crapper than a crap thing on a bad day. It is causing massive problems and things that should take a few minutes are taking hours.

Ta muchly, tmm.