Brighthouse Insurance Scam

malcindebt

HI, posting this on behalf of a friend.

They have recently agreed to buy a Laptop from Brighthouse. Not a great idea but it is needed as my friend is going to college to try and get some kind of qualification to get back into work.

They have said that he MUST take their insurance to cover fire/theft/accidental damage. He was told originally that he could cancel this IF his home insurance covered this.

He went back today with a copy of his policy which clearly indicated that the item would be covered in all eventualities.

Brighthouse have said that he MUST still have their insurance as HIS insurance company would replace the item with a new one if lost/stolen/damaged and that instead of this they would need to be paid directly for the item as any replacement would invalidate the HP agreement.

So he has a valid insurance policy, and now has to buy a second one to cover the same thing.

Surely this is a money making scam?

Is there anything he can do (other than not deal with Brighthouse).

dacouch

You can cancel their cover under the 14 day cooling off period, make sure you put it in writing and ideally send it recorded delivery.

A lost of sales staff are on commission for insurance sales so may tell you that you cannot cancel to protect their commission.

You may well find that if you ring your home insurers they can note that the lap top is owned by Brighthouse and that if there is a claim the money goes to bright house. This should be sufficient for brighthouses requrements

McKneff

Brighthouse are scammers full stop.

The products are extremely expensive and cheap crap.
Their HP charges are way, way over the top.

Im surprised anyone buys anything from them.

WombleSW20_2

Brighthouse can't do this. If they are saying he must have this cover, then it is a conditional part of the higher purchase agreement and thus must be reflected in the APR. If it's not reflected in the APR the agreement could be legally unwound. Brighthouse will run a mile if threatend with this!

malcindebt

Hi,thanks for the many replies so far.

I've been down to Brighthouse with my friend today and here is what happened.

They phoned my friends Insurance company Royal Sun Alliance, and asked the following question.

'If an item is stolen and that item is under a HP agreement, would you refund the money direct to Brighthouse or would you pay out to your customer?'

The insurance company said they would do neither, they would replace the item.

The woman at brighthouse then said to my friend

You can cancel the cover with 14 days notice, or directly if you come in on a Saturday and do it. But at the point where the laptop is replaced the HP agreement becomes null and void as you will not be in fact paying for the item we gave to you, but the item that the insurance company have given to you. We would be unable to enforce reposession of this item should you fail to pay the HP agreement as it is no longer our property.'

Now I can see where they are coming from, they are trying to protect their asset, but how would they know the laptop had been stolen/damaged if my friend never told them and just claimed on his insurance if it happened?

They basically said they could not allow the sale to continue if the insurance was not taken.

There is also another point to this.

Imagine he took the insurance through brighthouse, his laptop is stolen/damaged, he calls brighthouse to advise this and THEY deal with all the paperwork, and the HP agreement ends there as they would be paid out for the cost of the (as advised by the women we saw today). What would stop my friend claiming on his own home insurance for the same item? Not saying he would but surely it could happen.

I think he's going to speak with various insurance companies (His policy ends within 4 weeks) and see if, as mentioned above, he can get an agreement for the insurance company to pay direct to Brighthouse and get it in writing.

Any further help appreciated

nomoneytoday

Why not buy the product elsewhere..?
There are other shops that sell laptops too, and many of them offer HP to fund the HP

thatsean

It must surely be a credit thing, with all due respect to their circumstances, I don't think it's the product range that attracted Bright Houses' customers...

malcindebt

thatsean wrote: »

It must surely be a credit thing, with all due respect to their circumstances, I don't think it's the product range that attracted Bright Houses' customers...

Unfortunately it is a credit thing. He won't mind me saying when he first lost his job he got into bad debt, but he's almost cleared everything now and BH is the only place he can get credit now. I'd happily lend him a laptop...IF I had one.

He know's it's a rip off but as he said, you have to speculate to accumulate, and if this helps him get through his college course and into paid employment then a little hurt along the way will soon be long forgotten.

nomoneytoday wrote: »

There are other shops that sell laptops too, and many of them offer HP to fund the HP

Now, I brought this up with BH. I've had items on HP before from places such as Currys and never been told to take their insurance for theft/damage before. i've taken their service cover/extended warranty, but never insurance. I've had a TV stolen from me that was on HP, and my insurance company simply replaced it old for new, curry's didn't care I just had to send them a letter from the insurance company. So what is the problem with Brighthouse.

maninthestreet

The loan is unsecured or.....??

malcindebt

maninthestreet wrote: »

The loan is unsecured or.....??

It's just a HP agreement so is unsecured.

Interesting development though.

I have just contacted Budget insurance for myself as we're renewing our H/C insurance and I asked them about this and they said.

They cannot make payment for any loss directly to a 3rd party under Money Laundering regulations,it MUST be paid to the account that payment is made for the policy. So in essence the insurance company would only repay to the bank account the direct debit is taken from.

So, assuming this is true, and the guy on the phone spoke to a senior manager and claims director to confirm so i have no reason to doubt him, then nobody would be able to use their own contents insurance and therefore BH are forcing people to have this cover. Could this ne a mis-selling case?

lisyloo

They have said that he MUST take their insurance to cover fire/theft/accidental damage. He was told originally that he could cancel this IF his home insurance covered this.

It doesn't sound like mis-selling to me.
The home insurance will only payout to the policholder who could run off with the money.

It sounds like a subtlety that was not apparent explained or even understood by shop staff.

But ultimately he cannot independently provide cover that covers them.