Insurer wants to charge more

rgtent

hiya all,

I took home emergency landlord insurance from HomeCall+ in Oct 2007 and was quoted £107.40 to be paid in 12 installments of £8.95 each via Direct Debit. They started collecting payments from Oct 2007 and so far taken 11 out of 12 payments.

They are now back again claiming that I should've been quoted £12 more in Oct 2007 and now want to charge another £12 on my present policy which is coming to an end. They claim to have charged homeowner price instead of landlord price although the policy document clearly shows my home address for correspondence and insured address separately.

After initially blaming me for applying for the wrong policy by error, they've now admitted their mistake saying they should've checked the details carefully (!!). However, claim I still owe them an additional £12.

It’s not the money but their attitude gets into my nerves and can someone pls clarify the following

(1) Is it legal for an insurance company to return back to the client after 11 months wanting to increase the premium for the existing insurance (& no claim has been made)?
(2) The insurance company accepts that the lower quote was their error and they should have checked thoroughly. However, wants me to pay the increased premium. Is this legal?
(3) When I accept a quote from the insurer and the insurer starts taking payments isn't there a binding contract between both parties and any price increase should be agreed with me rather than being enforced according to their will?

Thanks in anticipation

dunstonh

They cannot ask you to pay the extra money unless they took the wrong amount after telling you that the extra £12 was payable. So, if any documentation issued prior to commencement or part of the confirmation letters that are sent out shows you should have paid this money then yes, you have to pay it. If not, then no you do not.

What they are allowed to do is refuse to renew the policy if they wish (unlikely). Or ask you to pay the pro-rata increase for the final period of cover (so £1) or give you 30 days to find an alternative policy if you refuse.

rgtent

dunstonh wrote: »

They cannot ask you to pay the extra money unless they took the wrong amount after telling you that the extra £12 was payable. So, if any documentation issued prior to commencement or part of the confirmation letters that are sent out shows you should have paid this money then yes, you have to pay it. If not, then no you do not.

What they are allowed to do is refuse to renew the policy if they wish (unlikely). Or ask you to pay the pro-rata increase for the final period of cover (so £1) or give you 30 days to find an alternative policy if you refuse.

Thanks dunstonh

The policy document issued in Oct 2007 clearly states £107.40 for the whole year, to be taken in 12 instalments of £8.95 each. They've already taken 11 payments and only yesterday wanted another £12.

They have not given me an option to refuse to pay the £12 so far but threatening to collect by other means having accepted the error is theirs :cool:

dunstonh

Tell them that if with their current action that you will make a formal complaint and if they do not agree with you that you will take them to the FOS.

On an occasion like this, it is fair to "blackmail" them with the FOS threat as they are clearly in the wrong. If you were to take it to the FOS it would cost them £450 even if the FOS sided with them. So, the chances are they will cease to chase you over £12 if you show them you are determined to raise a complaints process that will cost them at least £450.

rgtent

dunstonh wrote: »

Tell them that if with their current action that you will make a formal complaint and if they do not agree with you that you will take them to the FOS.

On an occasion like this, it is fair to "blackmail" them with the FOS threat as they are clearly in the wrong. If you were to take it to the FOS it would cost them £450 even if the FOS sided with them. So, the chances are they will cease to chase you over £12 if you show them you are determined to raise a complaints process that will cost them at least £450.

I'll write a formal complaint with the points you've suggested. Thanks for your kind help dunstonh :beer:

rgtent

Received en email from the insurer :-

We sell our policies on ‘statement of fact’ and as you have purchased the policy via the internet we go by the information you have entered trusting this to be true. The difference in the correspondence address and the insured address doesn’t always mean this is a tenanted property and the policy has been set up as a homeowner as selected by you on the web-site. As we have now discovered you are a landlord and this is a tenanted property then we have no option but to charge you accordingly.

The terms have not varied as you have mentioned below however based on the information provided by you when you took the policy out and following our discussions the premium has been increased accordingly.

Still no mention of my rights to refuse a 'premium increase'; probably because there is just 1 month left in the policy and they've no grounds if a 30-day notice is served.

Cant beleive they've reverted back to blaming me for not choosing the right policy 11 months ago

dunstonh

with the way they have worded that, it does seem to swing towards the insurer now as it places the error with you, not the insurance company. If you are fault, then they can ask for the money. If they are at fault then they cannot pursue it as they have been.

When you buy direct, you do take on the liability for getting it right. That is why buying online is often cheaper. If you made the error, then you are responsible and they can ask for the money. If they made the error then they cant. You need to get the "blame" resolved.

rgtent

dunstonh wrote: »

with the way they have worded that, it does seem to swing towards the insurer now as it places the error with you, not the insurance company. If you are fault, then they can ask for the money. If they are at fault then they cannot pursue it as they have been.

When you buy direct, you do take on the liability for getting it right. That is why buying online is often cheaper. If you made the error, then you are responsible and they can ask for the money. If they made the error then they cant. You need to get the "blame" resolved.

My policy documents clearly states my home and the insured address separately. Not sure if there is any other way I could have made sure the documents were right.

They initially accepted the error via email

I appreciate your comments regarding the address details for the correspondence address and the insured address on the policy documents and this should have been picked up when the policy documents were sent to you at that time. This has since been passed on to the relevant manager for this training issue to be addressed.

raskazz

rgtent wrote: »

My policy documents clearly states my home and the insured address separately. Not sure if there is any other way I could have made sure the documents were right.

They initially accepted the error via email

But as the insurer has actually explained in the email you posted, a separate correspondence address and insured address does not mean that the policy is for a landlord. It simply means that the policy documents are sent elsewhere.

It looks as if you have been paying too low a premium thus far as for whatever reason they were not aware that you are actually insuring the property as a landlord. In which case they are perfectly entitled to adjust the premium to what it would have been had you taken the policy out correctly if it was your mistake, which it probably is as it was set up on the internet. There are two separate buttons clearly marked 'homeowner' and 'landlord', you probably clicked the wrong one I suspect.

rgtent

raskazz wrote: »

But as the insurer has actually explained in the email you posted, a separate correspondence address and insured address does not mean that the policy is for a landlord. It simply means that the policy documents are sent elsewhere.

It looks as if you have been paying too low a premium thus far as for whatever reason they were not aware that you are actually insuring the property as a landlord. In which case they are perfectly entitled to adjust the premium to what it would have been had you taken the policy out correctly if it was your mistake. How was the policy set up?

Do you mean payment?

Paying via direct debit in 12 instalments. They've already taken 11 / 12.

If I remember correctly, I went for the landlord one.

raskazz

Sorry, I've just noticed information elsewhere in the thread and edited my post!