Building and contents cover - problem on renewal!

joncarpet

We took out buildings and contents cover last year with Liverpool Victoria (LV=) on the back of a cheap quote and low excess.
My other half is a childminder so i phoned them before we took the cover out to see if they coverered Childminders as they work from home.
They guy said yep, not a problem altohugh wouldnt be able to provide with Public Liability (already had it anyway so not a problem) and wouldnt be able to claim accindental damage to contents if done by a child (other than our own). Sounded fair enough so took the cover.
Policy docs came through and in the section about working at home it only said Clerical, paperwork etc so called them again to clarify the Childminder cover. Was told again the same as the 1st guy i spoke too.
Now, 12 months on, had the renewal quote and in about working at home it only said Clerical, paperwork etc so called them again to clarify the Childminder cover. Was told straight away that we werent covered as a childminder and never had been as we hadnt taken out business insurance with them. I explained about the calls i made last year and this fell on deaf ears. Insisted i changed the policy straight away to business cover and that i must take their Public Liability Insurance as i currently wasnt insured.

Strangely, this wouldnt cost any extra or change my renewal premium.

Im going to put a complaint in writing to them (very reluctant to give me the complaints dept address) and tell them where to put their renewal (got a much cheaper quote with More Th>N which includes childminder cover!) but was wandering as they said i wasnt insured, and cos i paid the policy premium as whole up front, could i ask for my (or some) money back??

dacouch

This is a very good example as to why we always say on here take the persons full name and make a note of the date / time of the call. In your case I would have also recommended sending them a letter confirming you are a childminder and refering to the phone call and then ring a week later to confirm they have the letter.

You have to be carefull with insurance call centre staff as they normally (Not always) have limited insurance knowledge and they are under pressure to keep call time to a minimum and answer so many calls.

If you have problems getting cover in future have a word with your trade organisation or the company you got the liability for your child minding from as they will normally have a scheme for home insurance for child minding

It is unlikely you could get any money back as you believed you were covered and would have claimed on their policy if you had a claim. Your call could probably have been traced where they told you that you were covered and they would have probably had to pay the claim. There could have been other claims under the policy that would not have been related to the child minding that would probably had to have been paid out even if they could not trace your calls

joncarpet

cheers for the response.
I didnt think i'd be able to ask for any money back but thought id check.

we're usually pretty good with writing down who we've spoken to aswell!!

I'm gonna take your advice and write to our new insurance supplier outlining the points raised in our calls to them. many thanks!!

zulumalanga

For policies that are not straightforward i always recommend using a local insurance broker that you can visit.