Lapsed convertible term life assurance - urgent help please

Mel2500

Hi there,
I took out a 25 year convertible term assurance policy with General Accident back in 1988 to cover my mortgage. I changed address in 1992 which they acknowleged and I have remained at this address ever since. They changed to CGU Life Assurance in 1998 and then to Norwich Union in 2005. They sent me an invoice in October every year, which I paid. I was horrified to notice a few weeks ago that I hadn't had an invoice since 2005. I contacted their (Indian) call centre who after a long wait said at first that the policy had lapsed and there was nothing they could do. When I objected they said they would call me back, which they did, saying that if I sent a cheque for the arrears to Norwich Union they would reinstate the policy. When I asked what had happened they said my address details had been missing or not transferred. I sent a cheque the same day which was cashed at the end of January but received a letter yesterday saying that in fact the policy had lapsed and they would be returning my cheque. I think the address problem arose when they migrated their systems to India and that the fault is on their side. Although I know I should have noticed that I hadn't received any bills, shouldn't they have made more effort to trace me? I have receipts for every payment since 1988.
Is there anything I can do?
I'm going in to hospital for a small op tomorrow which involves a general anaesthetic - small risk I know but I wouldn't want to leave my family with no cover.
Would be most appreciative of any advice.

dunstonh

I think the address problem arose when they migrated their systems to India and that the fault is on their side.

Their systems havent migrated to India. Some servicing has gone there but the data hasnt been removed from the UK and plonked in India.

More likely it was an issue with legacy contracts on obsolete systems. Something that is rather prone to problems with all insurance companies but NU in particular do suffer it because of number of old systems they have to run alongside newer ones (due to number of companies there have been in that group). Its not unusual to find your address needs changing in many different places and if one is missed it could be the important one.

Although I know I should have noticed that I hadn't received any bills, shouldn't they have made more effort to trace me?

No.

Is there anything I can do?

It should be straight forward enough to get this reinstated as it was their error. You will need to speak to someone higher up the line than the general telephone service line as they are unable to make such decisions.

The only reason they would refuse is if they believe they are not in the wrong and you are trying it on by trying to get an old policy back on force because you think you may now need it.

If their systems shows that the address was altered in some places and not others, then they really cant argue. If the address wasnt altered in any places on any of their systems and there is no record of that change of address request being logged then it looks suspect (basically you get the letter being logged on the system and then you get someone later being allocated the work to do it - so it should show an audit trail).

Mel2500

Many thanks for this Dunstonh, in particular for the insight into their systems.
It does seem that as I received bills for years after my change of address (1992-2005) then it was due to a later systems problem - perhaps something to do with amalgamating CGU & Norwich systems?
It was a coincidence that my massive file sort out leading to this discovery happened now. I've never believed that I didn't need it. We have several policies of this type taken out as we traded up the property ladder - all up to date - it was just this one that fell off my radar. I took the decision to take out convertible term assurance as I understood that it was the best type of policy to hold, due to its 'convertible' nature.
Any clues on how to get someone higher up the line? All the numbers given just filter thro' to the call centre in India. Perhaps I would be better off writing.

dunstonh

Put it in writing or if you have an IFA get them to do it. IFAs still deal with the UK and also have more local contacts.