Life Insurance Policy - Financial Advisor Error

Melanie_82

Hi,

I have all my insurance policies with Norwich Union which i set up through my financial advisor at a Your Move branch when i bought my house 3 years ago.

In April last year my life insurance and critical illness cover was cancelled and in its place another policy was taken out which was cheaper and have better benefits.

Well i thought my financial advisor had cancelled them anyways - turns out he cancelled my critical illness policy but not my life insurance policy so since April 2008 i have been paying for 2 life insurance policies.

I've contact Norwich Union myself to cancel the policy that should have been cancelled last April and they have advised me they are not liable to reimburse me the £400 i have paid out as they're not accountable for the error.

I've written to Your Move regarding the situation as i feel i should be reimbursed the £400 that i've been paying as they are accountable for the error as they start and are supposed to cancel all my policies!

I'm yet to hear anything - is it realistic that they should reimburse me as it's their error?

Thanks!

di3004

Melanie_82 wrote: »

Hi,

I have all my insurance policies with Norwich Union which i set up through my financial advisor at a Your Move branch when i bought my house 3 years ago.

In April last year my life insurance and critical illness cover was cancelled and in its place another policy was taken out which was cheaper and have better benefits.

Well i thought my financial advisor had cancelled them anyways - turns out he cancelled my critical illness policy but not my life insurance policy so since April 2008 i have been paying for 2 life insurance policies.

I've contact Norwich Union myself to cancel the policy that should have been cancelled last April and they have advised me they are not liable to reimburse me the £400 i have paid out as they're not accountable for the error.

I've written to Your Move regarding the situation as i feel i should be reimbursed the £400 that i've been paying as they are accountable for the error as they start and are supposed to cancel all my policies!

I'm yet to hear anything - is it realistic that they should reimburse me as it's their error?

Thanks!

Hi there

Write back and tell them if they don't resolve this for you, you will take this to the Financial ombudsman service (FOS).

Contact the FOS anyway by ringing them as the quickest method, see what they suggest, explain so far what you have done and the outcome of this, they may even suggest you complete a complaints form now, where they should send you this through the post, or you can download and print one online on their website, but please ring them first, good luck.;)
http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/contact/index.html

Do you think you could post back and let us know, cheers.;)

dunstonh

Who is accountable will depend on whether you sought advice or not and what you were told.

Norwich Union have no liability. They just accept applications but dont know if you want to keep the old ones going or not. They act on instructions given and not off their own back.

The adviser, if done under advice, has a liability to ensure the advice given is correct. However, they too cannot cancel your policy. They are meant to tell you to what to do once the new plan has been accepted though. If they did this then they have fulfilled their requirement. If they havent then they would have liability.