Broker didn't renew our policy, now need to claim

rjl194

Our house and contents insurance was up for renewal on 21Sept. We receieved a letter from the broker dated the beginning of Sept advising us that if we wished continue our existing policy we didn't need to do anything as we paid by direct debit. So I did nothing.

We now need to make a claim. Yesterday I called the insurance company to make the claim and found out that our policy was not renewed on 21 Sept so we're not insured (house or contents). So I called the broker and was assured that they would sort it (that was 1pm). I called the insurance company back at 4:30 yesterday and they still said I had no insurance so whilst I was on the phone they rang my broker and came back to me and said that because the broker had only updated the renewal a few hours earlier their system was not up to date and to ring back today when the computer system had updated overnight.

I forgot this morning and only called back at 5:45 to be told that their system is still showing that our policy lapsed on 21st September and that we're still not insured. I obviously can't get hold of the broker before tomorrow morning now which I will do as soon as I get home from the school run.

But what do I do? We're not insured at all at the moment. We need to claim for whilst we've not been insured. We obviously thought that we were insured though because the broker has issued policy documents and we followed the instructions to do nothing. We've checked the bank statements and we didn't pay insurance in September (which we should have noticed before yesterday I suppose) or October (which we couldn't have noticed before yesterday because the statement only arrived yesterday).

Who should we be chasing for this claim? We're assuming that the insurance company won't take it from the 21st September but from whenever the broker sorts this out. That means this claim is in an uninsured period. Can we demand the broker pays out? What a bloody mess. I won't be using these people again.

Also, should I go finding insurance now, tonight? I'm very worried that we're not insured.

Sally_A

Personally I would go in armed with the letter from the broker stating that you needed to take no action, as it was on ddm.

What is your claim for, and how much? as most brokers have to pay a fee upfront to the FOS if a complaint is made against them, irrespective of the outcome.

dunstonh

If you havebeen told by the broker you are covered and have that in writing then the broker has the liability if the insurer has not been correctly dealt with. The broker will be insured to cover mistakes like this.

I wouldnt do anything yet but if you dont get a positive answer by tomorrow, I would lodge a formal complaint with the broker. I would also ask their advice on whether you should have a new policy now or not and get that in writing as you need the protection of documentary evidence at this time.

It is possible that the broker is not at fault but the insurer is. e.g. the broker may have notified the insurer to renew but the insurer didnt act on it. Its impossible to say at the moment. So, ideally, I would try and find out from the broker where the problem is. If they are evasive on that front, then take it straight to formal complaint. If they believe the insurance company is at fault, they will put the complaint in for you.

bouncydog1

The other point to investigate I would have thought, is to see if any request for payment was made by either the broker or the insurance company.

If a request was made and the bank didn't pay you will need to find out why.

I would suggest two levels of enquiry to resolve - contact the broker first thing in the morning, speak to a manager and insist (politely) that the matter is investigated without further delay. Also contact the bank to investigate the payment situation.

If you find that a payment request was made to the bank, there were funds in your account and they simply didn't make the payment then I would suggest that liability may lie with the bank. If there were for instance, insufficient funds to pay the DD, then this will put a wholely different light on things (not suggesting this is the case but all avenues need to be investigated before it can be established where liability lies).

rjl194

Thank you. I will see what the broker says this morning. The claim is for something that has got lost out of the house and is valued at £410 (I have a quote for replacement). It sounds to me like the broker will have to sort this out, either by working it out with the insurer or by paying the claim themselves. I'll certainly complain if I get no joy from them this morning. Do I complain to them?

There has been no attempt to take the DD in September or October that we can see from our statements. If there had been there were enough funds to cover it.

Dangermac

rjl194 wrote: »

Thank you. I will see what the broker says this morning. The claim is for something that has got lost out of the house and is valued at £410 (I have a quote for replacement). It sounds to me like the broker will have to sort this out, either by working it out with the insurer or by paying the claim themselves. I'll certainly complain if I get no joy from them this morning. Do I complain to them?

There has been no attempt to take the DD in September or October that we can see from our statements. If there had been there were enough funds to cover it.

From what you have said, I am confident that the broker will sort this out for you. I wouldnt worry too much.

thorsoak

Did you not notice that a direct debit had not been taken in late September & October?

If direct debits had been paid to the insurance company, then surely cover still exists.

rjl194

thorsoak wrote: »

Did you not notice that a direct debit had not been taken in late September & October?

If direct debits had been paid to the insurance company, then surely cover still exists.

As I said in the original post, we didn't notice in September that they hadn't taken the money. We wouldn't have noticed the October one not coming out prior to the day I made the call for the claim because that was the day we received our bank statement and I do my checks with my paper statement once a month unless I'm worried something isn't quite right.

F_T_Buyer

Did your direct debit go out on 21st October 2010?

Matthew_W

I wouldn't worry.

While clearly this should not happen, speaking from experience the broker will have advised the insurance company that cover should have been in force and they will simply backdate to renewal.

It sounds as though this has been agreed but the insurers systems have just not been updated.

Area51_3

Don't worry if you have it in writing that you're covered and need not do anything

Even if your DD didn't go out, you didn't cancel it in writing, so this is your useless broker's problem, not yours.