Real life clown at the Halifax

stebiz

Popped into the Halifax today to pay my mortgage and something strange happened. The cashiers were wearing fifty pound notes clipped to them. There was also cheques advertising £50 made payable to customer. I don't want to advertise what it actually was advertising but the cashiers looked a joke. Long gone the days of children leaving school despertae for a bank job.

Also to make matters worth the experienced Customer Services Advisor (who I have seen working there for may years) took about 5 minutes to key my mortgage payment in. Why - you might ask? Well the reason being she was too busy trying to find out if my Insurance was with the Halifax. Hence the question ....... 'I note you haven't got your Insurance with the halifax................'

Rant Over.

Stebiz

minimike2

We get emails every other day from them trying to get us to sell thier home insurance. Fact is in most cases it costs a fortune. I have arranged Halifax insurance for less than 5% of my clients. It has its place, and that place, in most cases, is not for the "average" home insurance consumer.

mattymoo

If watched Credit Crash Britain (The Money Programme) tonight on BBC2 (should be on Iplayer as well). Dealt with the collapse of HBOS an subsequent rescue by LTSB.

Upshot of it was the compliance departments were under resourced / out of touch with the runaway demands of a sales orientated business.

Stebiz - doesn't sound like they are learning any lessons then does it?

minimike2

oooh I missed that one, im normally good at getting all these programs on record. Will check out Iplayer. Thanks matty.

Insco

mattymoo wrote: »

If watched Credit Crash Britain (The Money Programme) tonight on BBC2 (should be on Iplayer as well). Dealt with the collapse of HBOS an subsequent rescue by LTSB.

Upshot of it was the compliance departments were under resourced / out of touch with the runaway demands of a sales orientated business.

Stebiz - doesn't sound like they are learning any lessons then does it?

And what's worse is that the Financial Services Authority presided over it all and failed to act before it was too late

Insco

minimike2 wrote: »

We get emails every other day from them trying to get us to sell thier home insurance. Fact is in most cases it costs a fortune. I have arranged Halifax insurance for less than 5% of my clients. It has its place, and that place, in most cases, is not for the "average" home insurance consumer.

Not only that minimike - take a look at their new policy wording

http://www.halifax.co.uk/insurance/pdfdocuments/halifaxhomepb.pdf

There are just their general exclusions - there are pages of specific exclusions as well against each peril!

General exclusions

You are not covered under your policy for any of the following:
Failure of computers or
electrical equipment
Any loss, damage or liability directly or indirectly caused by:
• any computer or other electrical equipment or component failing to
correctly recognise any date as its true calendar date;
• computer viruses.
Loss of money Loss of money caused by confiscation, loss of value or loss due to
incorrect receipts, payment or accountancy.
Misuse of alcohol or drugs Any loss, damage or liability caused directly or indirectly by the misuse
of alcohol or you or any of your family being under the influence of
alcohol or drugs (except those prescribed by your or their registered
medical practitioner, but not when prescribed for the treatment of drug
addiction).
Non-approved costs Any costs incurred without our written permission.
Pollution or contamination Any claim or expense of any kind resulting directly or indirectly from
pollution or contamination which:
• was a result of an intentional act; or
• was expected or should have been expected; or
• was not sudden; or
• started or already existed outside any insurance period; or
• was from industrial business.
Prior loss, damage or
liability
Any loss, damage or liability (including distortions to your buildings such
as a sloping floor or leaning wall) that happened before your cover
began. If you have bought buildings cover as part of your mortgage
application, cover is provided for buildings from exchange of
contracts/conclusion of missives up to completion.
Radioactive contamination Any loss or damage caused directly or indirectly by:
• ionising radiation or radioactive contamination from any nuclear fuel or
waste which results from the burning of nuclear fuel; or
• the radioactive, toxic, explosive or other dangerous properties of
nuclear machinery or any part of it.
Sonic bangs Any loss or damage by pressure waves caused by aircraft or other flying
objects moving at or above the speed of sound.
Terrorism Any loss, damage, liability, cost or expense of any kind directly or
indirectly caused by, resulting from or in connection with any act of
terrorism.
For the purpose of this exclusion, ‘terrorism’ means the use, or threat of
use, of biological, chemical and/or nuclear force or contamination by any
person(s), whether acting alone or on behalf of or in connection with any
organisation(s) or government(s), committed for political, religious,
ideological or similar purposes including the intention to influence any
government(s) or put any section of the public in fear.
Uninsurable risks Any loss or damage caused by:
• wear and tear; or
• decay; or
• demise; or
• depreciation; or
• wet rot or dry rot, unless this was caused directly by any event insured
under this policy; or
• fungus, woodworm, beetle, moth, insects or vermin; or
• mechanical or electrical fault or breakdown; or
• any process of cleaning, dyeing, renovating, altering, re-styling, repair or
restoring; or
• anything which occurs gradually, or deteriorates over a period of time
or has reached the end of its useful life; or
• detention or confiscation by HM Revenue & Customs or any official
body; or
• river or coastal erosion; or
• any demolition, alteration or repair to your buildings; or
• the actions of chemicals on, or the reaction of chemicals with, any
materials which form part of your buildings.
War risks Any loss or damage caused by any sort of war, invasion or revolution.

Your claims costs Your costs of preparing, proving, agreeing or negotiating your claim.

If people bothered to read this before they were hassled or tempted by a £50 note they more than likely would not buy !

FlameCloud

Aside from the thing about alcohol, how are these different to almost all other household policies?

Insco

FlameCloud wrote: »

Aside from the thing about alcohol, how are these different to almost all other household policies?

Run a check with other Insurers Flame or seek the advice of professional insurance broker and the restrictions in your firm's cover both in terms of definitions and exclusions might become more and more evident to you Flame - there are many many differences in the Halifax policy to other Insurers.


- Halifax home insurance defines storm as;

" Winds of at least 55mph and / or 25mm of rainfall in any 24 hour period" !!!!!! - I was not aware that Halifax had weather stations that could identify wind speeds in every location in the UK. ( you will be aware of the BBCWatchdog programme on this)

- The definition of contents excludes many items covered by other policies.

- Accidental damage is defined as " damage caused a single external event which is suddent and unexpected and which is neither inevitable nor deliberate"

In addition to the General Exclusions, most perils have their own set of specific exclusions.

For example if you take out cover for flood, Halifax Home Insurance specifically excludes " loss or damage caused by a flood for an Environment Agency flood warning had been announced before the start of the first insurance period and loss or damage caused by a gradual rise in the water table - this would leave many people in Hull without cover who have suffered secondary flood incidents.


Hopefully if Lloyds TSB takeover goes through this will all be scrutinised in much greater detail as this is a product that - as other commentators have noted really does not meet many policyholders demands and needs.

cogito

Winds of at least 55mph and / or 25mm of rainfall in any 24 hour period" !!!!!!

Policies traditionally include storm damage without defining it in any way. Thus a period of prolonged heavy rainfall would not constitute a storm. The Halifax policy gives a clear definition of what is intended by the policy. This is a welcome improvement and I fail to see why Insco sees this as a negative.

Insco

cogito wrote: »

Policies traditionally include storm damage without defining it in any way. Thus a period of prolonged heavy rainfall would not constitute a storm. The Halifax policy gives a clear definition of what is intended by the policy. This is a welcome improvement and I fail to see why Insco sees this as a negative.

Missed the point - Flame was suggesting that there is no difference between the Halifax policy and other Insurers - when clearly there is

Windspeeds of less than 55mph can cause stuctural damage that would be dealt with by most other Insurers.

Its a definition that Halifax cannot enforce - the BBC Watchdog programme identified that - so that's hardly clear from the policholders perspective.

cogito

Watchdog? That clinches it then.