An Edgecumbe man who lost everything when the Rangitaiki River flooded his home has won an apology from his insurer.
For two months since the river burst through a concrete stopbank, Graeme Bourk has been dealing with insurers IAG.
He told Newshub he lost everything in the flooding.
"All your furniture, you know your lounge suites, all your beds, anything in the cupboards - everything," he said.
The 69-year-old plumber is now completely rebuilding the home which he built for his family 43 years ago.
He told Newshub he had contents insurance with IAG for just over $150,000.
But by Monday, nearly eight weeks after the flood, Mr Bourk said he had been paid out only $8000.
He told Newshub initially an insurance assessor said he'd be covered for "total loss". But then he was told by another assessor he'd have to "itemise" everything.
"I've got to go and try and remember everything in our house - 43 years of stuff and I've got to try and remember what was in the house?"
On Tuesday Newshub approached IAG to discuss Mr Bourk's insurance claim.
IAG claims general manager Garry Taylor apologised for the "miscommunication."
"We want to apologise for the error that we've made around [Mr Bourk's] claims process so far," he told Newshub.
He added IAG had paid Mr Bourk another $72,000 after Newshub made enquiries on Tuesday.
"We're extremely sorry for the miscommunication," he said.
"We know this is a very frustrating time and these miscommunications don't help so we really do apologise for that and we want to work through with all our customers in Edgecumbe to get customers back up on their feet as quickly as we can so we apologise for that."
Newshub.
