We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum. This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are - or become - political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.
How would you handle this situation?
Vital_Spark_2
Posts: 349 Forumite
Believe it or not, this post is a much abreviated version of events.
I have been left in what I think must be a most precarious situation by the insurance specialist at my bank: Lloyds TSB (Scotland).
In 2004 I was forced out of my home be severe concrete dust contamination which exacerbated my asthma to the point of near death. It became necessary for me to move into alternative accomodation, where I remained for most of that year: Early March to Mid March then again from Mid March to late September.
I approached my insurers, Norwich union Direct. They appointed teh loss adjusters, Cunningham Lindsey, in Cardiff to deal with the claim.
Munters, in turn, were appointed to clean my home of offending dust and hold my furniture in storage while the work was caried out.
The continued until August of 2004 but their cleaning methods never worked.
My claim was passed to the Glasgow office of CL. I expected an improvement in the handling and results of the cleaning as the man appointed was on hand, so to speak. How wrong can one be?
The young man who could see that I was stressed to the very end of my tether (I won't go into all the details of health and personal property damage etc here) also had letters from the doctors attending to me, throughout this experience, advising him of the urgency required regarding getting me back into my own home with that home free of concrete dust. He was an condecending bully.
Eventually I contacted the Health and Safety people who advised me on how the property should have been cleaned and it did not tally with what this Munters company were doing. I also approached a number of industrial cleaning companies to ask how they would tackle the cleaning of my home. Their advice tallied with that of Health & Safety and one such company said that they'd be happy to visit the house in question and give a free quote for the cleaning with advice on how it would be carried out.
I eventually persuaded Cunningham Lindsey to authorise payment of such cleaning which they did but it was hard work getting that authorisation. I had to go through managers etc. to achieve my goal.
CCS cleaned my house in one day. They took gallons of concrete slurry from the living room alone. The walls had to be stripped because the previous cleaners, Munters, had actually pressed the dust into the paper and had tried, in places, to clean it with a wet cloth which only smeared the resulting slurry across the walls in streaks. After CCS had been in and done their work, I knew the house was clean because I walked into my home and could breath easily.
Munters returned my furniture and personal items from storage. Much was missing includign such sentimental things as my father's original drawings of archaeological discoveries he had made when alive. The drawings are pubished in the Royal College of Antiquary but it was those ones he had done with his own hand that were precious to me. The folder was returned but not the drawings. Another sentimental loss were recipes written in the hand of my late mother and grandmother as well as that of my late mother-in-law. Again the folders were returned minus contents.
Many, many items were missing much of them irreplaceable and further items were damaged.
Needless to say, I wanted to change my insurers after this.
Cornhill telephoned with a sales pitch when my HC insurance was due for renewal. The first question they asked when I stated taht I DID want to change my insurers waws, "Have you had any claims over £3000 in the last year?" I told them yes, and in "hole in sandbag" style, of much stressed dyslexic, proceeded to explain that I'd had one of well over that sum which had overlapped with another one for over that sum from the previous year and that there was one way back in 1998, again over that sum.
Unfortunately their criteria demanded that I prospective clients were not to have had a claim of over the £3000 in the preceeding year. She was sorry.
I went to Lloyds TSB who were claiming to refund the difference if they couldnt offer a HC insurance poilicy cheaper than any other I/or any other could find.
I spoke with the specialist. First thing I asked her, explaining about the conversation with Cornhill, was if they, too, had the ruling about the £3000 claim in the preceeding year or any such criteria. She assured me that this was not teh case as Lloyds TSB (Scotland) plc did not offer initial discount but that those had to be earned by no claims.
As was the case at that time, and still is to some extent, I went off on one as soon as I started talking about the problems I'd had with the aforementioned matters: "hole in sandbag syndrome" I call it. I told this girl everything about the claims back to 1998: Heck, I almost told her the colour of my knickers, I gave her so much information.
Because my dyslexia is really bad when I am under a great deal of stress, as I was then and still am to some extent (but health improved,) and because form completion is one of the most difficult things to do, she completed the application for me.
Once done, she went over the form with me and I signed before she went off to discontinue my DD to Norwich Union Direct and I had to presuade her that I should, ethically, still make the last payment as I had made a claim, although she said that I wouldn't be required to do so. She also set up a new DD for monthly payments to Llyods Bank for the new insurance policy.
I went home feeling quite satisfied that I was well insured. I telephoned Norwich Union Direct and advised them that I was cancelling my policy with them and, although wihtout anger, avised them of my reasons.
A week later, I receive letter from Lloyds TSB insurance to say that my application for HCI had been declined because I ahd failed to disclose certain information: as if.
I asked her to which information she was referrign and she said that I had not disclosed the fact that I'd made a claim: AS IF!
I went over the conversation I'd had with the specialist in teh bank but she said that the girl had got it wrong. Lloyds TSB do have a similar criteria to that which I explained I'd come pu against with Cornhill.
I wen to teh bank to speak with the girl involved. She was flabergasted by the news of teh refusal but could't quite recollect our conversation. I mentioned a few pointers from my long spiel which I expected to jog her memory and it did. She said,, "Oh, that rings a bell but I don't rememerb the conversation clearly."
As soon as it dawned on her that she had made this drastic (for me) error, her face went scarlet and she could no longer look me in teh eye.
I was so upset, wnr ove to Nationwide to ask for insurance but their first question was, "Have you ever been refused insurance by any company at any time?"
The answer was obviously "Yes". That was enough. Despite my explaining, the rules were the rules: no go.
I went home and phoned Lloyds TSB's Customer Relations dept. They were not particularly helpful although not unpleasant until I asked how I should go about authorising any staff memebr of "The Record" to discuss freely, on my behalf, this matter. The tone changed to one of exceptionally sorry and the matter would eb dealt with as soon as....
I received a letter, from LB Cust Rels, the next day advising me that I would eb fully refunded for any loss due to this the Bank'd error and that, due to teh nature of teh complaint, the matter wa being passed back to my local branch.
In teh same post, I receiveda letter from a manager (don't know if it was bank manager or that of insurance dept). This letter claimed that the girl with whom I had set pu the insurance policy was now sayig that she rememebrd the meeting and conversation clearly and that I had not disclosed the relevant information but that I ahd answered, "No," to ehr question on the point of previous claims.
This is a blatant lie.
Now I am left in teh position of having no HC insurance and since that date, my new carpet in teh livingroom has been damaged , again by tradesmen appointed by FC. Also the carpet in my downstaris hallway was damaged when my hot water tank burst late Friday night of the first bank holiday weekend in May of this year:
Tough, huh?
Any suggestions as to how I should proceed?
I have been left in what I think must be a most precarious situation by the insurance specialist at my bank: Lloyds TSB (Scotland).
In 2004 I was forced out of my home be severe concrete dust contamination which exacerbated my asthma to the point of near death. It became necessary for me to move into alternative accomodation, where I remained for most of that year: Early March to Mid March then again from Mid March to late September.
I approached my insurers, Norwich union Direct. They appointed teh loss adjusters, Cunningham Lindsey, in Cardiff to deal with the claim.
Munters, in turn, were appointed to clean my home of offending dust and hold my furniture in storage while the work was caried out.
The continued until August of 2004 but their cleaning methods never worked.
My claim was passed to the Glasgow office of CL. I expected an improvement in the handling and results of the cleaning as the man appointed was on hand, so to speak. How wrong can one be?
The young man who could see that I was stressed to the very end of my tether (I won't go into all the details of health and personal property damage etc here) also had letters from the doctors attending to me, throughout this experience, advising him of the urgency required regarding getting me back into my own home with that home free of concrete dust. He was an condecending bully.
Eventually I contacted the Health and Safety people who advised me on how the property should have been cleaned and it did not tally with what this Munters company were doing. I also approached a number of industrial cleaning companies to ask how they would tackle the cleaning of my home. Their advice tallied with that of Health & Safety and one such company said that they'd be happy to visit the house in question and give a free quote for the cleaning with advice on how it would be carried out.
I eventually persuaded Cunningham Lindsey to authorise payment of such cleaning which they did but it was hard work getting that authorisation. I had to go through managers etc. to achieve my goal.
CCS cleaned my house in one day. They took gallons of concrete slurry from the living room alone. The walls had to be stripped because the previous cleaners, Munters, had actually pressed the dust into the paper and had tried, in places, to clean it with a wet cloth which only smeared the resulting slurry across the walls in streaks. After CCS had been in and done their work, I knew the house was clean because I walked into my home and could breath easily.
Munters returned my furniture and personal items from storage. Much was missing includign such sentimental things as my father's original drawings of archaeological discoveries he had made when alive. The drawings are pubished in the Royal College of Antiquary but it was those ones he had done with his own hand that were precious to me. The folder was returned but not the drawings. Another sentimental loss were recipes written in the hand of my late mother and grandmother as well as that of my late mother-in-law. Again the folders were returned minus contents.
Many, many items were missing much of them irreplaceable and further items were damaged.
Needless to say, I wanted to change my insurers after this.
Cornhill telephoned with a sales pitch when my HC insurance was due for renewal. The first question they asked when I stated taht I DID want to change my insurers waws, "Have you had any claims over £3000 in the last year?" I told them yes, and in "hole in sandbag" style, of much stressed dyslexic, proceeded to explain that I'd had one of well over that sum which had overlapped with another one for over that sum from the previous year and that there was one way back in 1998, again over that sum.
Unfortunately their criteria demanded that I prospective clients were not to have had a claim of over the £3000 in the preceeding year. She was sorry.
I went to Lloyds TSB who were claiming to refund the difference if they couldnt offer a HC insurance poilicy cheaper than any other I/or any other could find.
I spoke with the specialist. First thing I asked her, explaining about the conversation with Cornhill, was if they, too, had the ruling about the £3000 claim in the preceeding year or any such criteria. She assured me that this was not teh case as Lloyds TSB (Scotland) plc did not offer initial discount but that those had to be earned by no claims.
As was the case at that time, and still is to some extent, I went off on one as soon as I started talking about the problems I'd had with the aforementioned matters: "hole in sandbag syndrome" I call it. I told this girl everything about the claims back to 1998: Heck, I almost told her the colour of my knickers, I gave her so much information.
Because my dyslexia is really bad when I am under a great deal of stress, as I was then and still am to some extent (but health improved,) and because form completion is one of the most difficult things to do, she completed the application for me.
Once done, she went over the form with me and I signed before she went off to discontinue my DD to Norwich Union Direct and I had to presuade her that I should, ethically, still make the last payment as I had made a claim, although she said that I wouldn't be required to do so. She also set up a new DD for monthly payments to Llyods Bank for the new insurance policy.
I went home feeling quite satisfied that I was well insured. I telephoned Norwich Union Direct and advised them that I was cancelling my policy with them and, although wihtout anger, avised them of my reasons.
A week later, I receive letter from Lloyds TSB insurance to say that my application for HCI had been declined because I ahd failed to disclose certain information: as if.
I asked her to which information she was referrign and she said that I had not disclosed the fact that I'd made a claim: AS IF!
I went over the conversation I'd had with the specialist in teh bank but she said that the girl had got it wrong. Lloyds TSB do have a similar criteria to that which I explained I'd come pu against with Cornhill.
I wen to teh bank to speak with the girl involved. She was flabergasted by the news of teh refusal but could't quite recollect our conversation. I mentioned a few pointers from my long spiel which I expected to jog her memory and it did. She said,, "Oh, that rings a bell but I don't rememerb the conversation clearly."
As soon as it dawned on her that she had made this drastic (for me) error, her face went scarlet and she could no longer look me in teh eye.
I was so upset, wnr ove to Nationwide to ask for insurance but their first question was, "Have you ever been refused insurance by any company at any time?"
The answer was obviously "Yes". That was enough. Despite my explaining, the rules were the rules: no go.
I went home and phoned Lloyds TSB's Customer Relations dept. They were not particularly helpful although not unpleasant until I asked how I should go about authorising any staff memebr of "The Record" to discuss freely, on my behalf, this matter. The tone changed to one of exceptionally sorry and the matter would eb dealt with as soon as....
I received a letter, from LB Cust Rels, the next day advising me that I would eb fully refunded for any loss due to this the Bank'd error and that, due to teh nature of teh complaint, the matter wa being passed back to my local branch.
In teh same post, I receiveda letter from a manager (don't know if it was bank manager or that of insurance dept). This letter claimed that the girl with whom I had set pu the insurance policy was now sayig that she rememebrd the meeting and conversation clearly and that I had not disclosed the relevant information but that I ahd answered, "No," to ehr question on the point of previous claims.
This is a blatant lie.
Now I am left in teh position of having no HC insurance and since that date, my new carpet in teh livingroom has been damaged , again by tradesmen appointed by FC. Also the carpet in my downstaris hallway was damaged when my hot water tank burst late Friday night of the first bank holiday weekend in May of this year:
Tough, huh?
Any suggestions as to how I should proceed?
0
Comments
-
Have you thought about going back to your original insurers and say you made a mistake and want to continue the insurance. Some policies will allow re-instatement if you make up the back payments.
If you are not satisfied with the response from LTSB customer relations, they should provide the contact details of the ombudsman, which would be your next point of call.
I would warn you though that what is said is often viewed as 4 truths (what you say happened, what they say happened, what really happened and then how its interpreted). Documentary evidence is key here. The bank should have done a general insurance factfind and this should detail your past claim(s) and any other material facts which may influence the choice of insurance. If the factfind says no claims and the application says no claims, then its going to be a bit hard for you to prove otherwise. This factfind is provided to you (some may get you to sign it to say its correct). If you dont like the outcome from the ombudsman, then you can seek legal advice. However, the courts tend to put much more weight on the documentation, particulary if signed, than the complaints proceedure. The arguement that you didn't read it before signing the factfind and/or application doesn't hold much weight in court.
Perhaps another thing to note is that banks more and more do not offer real advice. They call it advice but what they are really doing is selling products. There is a progression at this time to gradually split real advice and sale of products (The Treasury Select Committee has just attacked the FSA for allowing this to happen. Doubt anything will change though as the banks are very powerful at lobbying). You should really avoid banks for any insurance or investments at the best of times and even more so when you have potentially difficult requirements.I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.0 -
Regarding the recent damage caused by the workman - you should ask them to claim on their insurance. They have to be covered by law in case thay damage property or hurt somebody accidentally.To infinity and beyond!0
-
The only thing which may help you is the form you signed in the bank which they should have given you a copy of. There will be a question on the form about claims ... if she ticked no, and you signed it, you are unfortuantely not going to get anywhere with Llyods TSB.
However, if she did note the claims on this form before you signed it, it is up to Lloyds TSB to sort it out for you.
Whichever, as dustonh said, the only people who will give you insurance are NU Direct (they're normally happy to take your money in order to balance your claim). You haven't really been 'refused insurance', but rather nobody is able to give you a quote. Insurance refusal is usually for fraud or criminal activity (it's where they could quote for you ... but won't).
Al0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 347.9K Banking & Borrowing
- 251.9K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 452.2K Spending & Discounts
- 240.3K Work, Benefits & Business
- 616.4K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 175.4K Life & Family
- 253.6K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16K Discuss & Feedback
- 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards