If you have the policy and were kept in the dark and found out through other...

Hi Kelly, thanks for raising this issue, I appreciate that this has been a difficult period for holders of a CBL-backed Homefirst Guarantee. As soon as we became aware of the situation with CBL we contacted all 8,800 guarantee policyholders we had an email address for. Unfortunately, we did not have email addresses on file for every policyholder. All Homefirst Guarantees are currently still valid and in force, as CBL are being run by interim liquidators until a decision is made on their future (the case is due back in court in November). In the meantime, some eligible policyholders can choose to purchase a replacement warranty from our new provider. If you let me have your contact details I would be happy to look into your particular situation. You can also contact us on 0800 BUILTIN with any queries. Regards, Keryl.

Yes we had a home first policy with top end homes northland (platinum). Very poor communication from both platinum and builtin – we were offered an alternative if we paid something like $1500 – we felt we had already paid and did not want to spend further monies. We moved into our new build in march 2018 – this just added another issue to what was the worst experience building with platinum northland. Jenny bockett

Keryl, don’t you think you should be offering these poor people a free solution to this mess and not another insurance policy they have to buy at their own expense? This is hardly the forum you should be on toting for business I should think.

Forgive me Keryl if I seem a bit blunt here (I agree with MJ) but if you want to use this blog to scout for business fine, however, it should be noted that “BUILTIN” provided a faulty product to us policy holders, with an insurance company that couldn’t back itself! Why on earth should we invest and trust your organisation again? That you have the cheek to suggest we cough up even more money with your new provider when its clear “BUILTIN” couldn’t provide “Peace of Mind” with CBL? Keryl you stated that you had contact details for some but not all policy holders, really? No contact numbers, no physical address details? That you don’t have proper policy holder details on file? This is not very reassuring. Going by your 8,800 approximate figure of policy holders you “did” have contact details for, lets say at an average cost of $1200 per fee, an approximated $10 Million dollars of policy holder funds has already had the unfortunate misfortune of passing through BUILTINS hands. It’s distasteful of you to so quickly offer up an alternative provider as if you are washing your hands of any accountability so early in the piece when questions still need to be asked what, if any obligations/responsibilities BUILTIN and NZCB should be liable for here. Policy holders affected by this need to get their heads around all of this and should not be taking this issue lightly at all!

Hi Jenny, I was in the same boat but I didnt have to pay the extra cost for the new policy.

Well said

In fairness to BuiltIn, they are in no way culpable for CBL’s failure, nor should they be held to account for being unaware of the state of the business. They used them in good faith and it seems to me that they’re trying to sort the mess out as best they can. They don’t seem to me to be ‘touting for business’ here, but offering a solution to people who may be worried about having their cover disappear. I can understand your anger, but suggest it be directed at the idiots who ran CBL into the ground rather than those who have likely been even more disadvantaged than you.

In response to your comment Mark, from a high level perspective yes, Builtin could not be culpable for knowing this was coming, Fair point, however, Builtin makes a living through providing a product to consumers backed by a provider and just like any other product for example, a faulty hairdryer made through a manufacturer, when the unforeseen happens, if the product fails consumers get a refund or a replacement while its still under warranty. This product was guaranteed for 10 years. Under the Consumer Guarantees act, it states we are protected from “Contracts of Insurance” Questions will need to be raised as to whether this applies. My comment merely reflected the fact that Kerryl was promoting a new provider through Builtin and rather quickly in my view. It appeared self serving. To suggest that people pay for a new policy again when there is the possibility that the consumers guarantee act might come into play here, seems too quick on her part. People need to understand where exactly they stand in all of this. If someone has knowledge here please share? Depending on peoples situations whether they choose to use another provider through Builtin or not is purely up to the individual. A lot of policy holders will be in limbo until the announcement. Re your comment that Builtin is trying to assist those worried about loosing their cover, I don’t doubt that. But for those of us (Including myself Mark) who are innocent victims of abandoned builds/leaky homes/structural defects currently in the process of claims and cases pending with CBL, and if you have never had to go through something like this yourself then you couldn’t possibly understand the level of horror/anxiety we will all be feeling right now. Some of us Mark have been fighting the “fight” with CBL on going for months and years, cases pending. The horror of what one has to go through when filing a claim when it involves the maximum payout with CBL I could write a book on it. People took this policy out in good faith as well Mark, believing the guarantee could be relied on assisting us through our darkest hours! Should the outcome not be a good one, this will come as an even harder blow for those of us who have already suffered enough. This puts people in this situation at a huge disadvantaged. I’m pretty sure we dont fit the “eligible” list Kerryl mentioned they were assisting some people with. For Kerryl to imply so casually the guarantees were still valid, whilst that is still actually the case, let’s be honest, going by the amount of time it takes to be awarded any claim pay out, it’s comical for her to suggest this might still be a plausible concept right now, and that everyone with a claim lodged already might have something magical happen before the outcome. For anyone whose just discovered a major defect right now and need to lodge a claim good luck with that. If Builtin have plans to assist those in the most horrendous of circumstances mentioned above then by all means they might get my sympathy. But for them to make even more money out of this debacle while others are about to face the possibility of further despair doesn’t sit well with me I’m afraid. I guess we have to wait and see.