Sheilas wheels - anyone else had problems? or policy cancellation?

sarahgail

Further to my previous post - I am trying to establish if this has happened to anyone else???

We had our building and contents insurance with Sheilas wheels.
We were unfortunately burgled earlier this year and obviously submitted an insurance claim (it's why you pay it!!). SW sent a loss adjustor to the house who stated that due to the size of the house, we were probably under insured so we had to detail the value of everything in the house. It turned out we are under-insured by 50% which was a genuine surprise to us.

We expected SW to pay a reduced amount to us for the theft and increase our premiums, however we have now, eventually, received a letter from them stating that they have voided our policy due to the fact we were under insured and they will refund the premiums we have paid to them since we took the policy out.

This means that we will get no pay out and are currently without insurance. (The letter was sent normal mail - what would have happened if god forbid our house had burned down before we got the letter?! Would we actually have lost everything?)

So in short, someone came into our house, took our things, put us through emotional turmoil and now the insurance company are making us out to be the criminals, are not paying us a penny for the loss and will now probably make it very hard/expensive for us to get alternative insurance.

Can they do this?

Has this happened to anyone else?

Thanks

Quentin

sarahgail wrote: »

Can they do this?

Yes they can do this.

They put this on their website regarding sums insured:

It is important that the sums insured represent the full values of the items covered by your policy. Failure to do so could result in your policy being invalid and we may reject or reduce any claim you make or even treat you as being uninsured. It is your responsibility to ensure you keep your sum insured up tp date

Also this is in their ts + cs which you will have accepted:

If you decide you want to buy a Sheilas' Wheels home insurance policy, then we'll ask you to confirm the information you've provided. If you fail to disclose any relevant information, or provide any inaccurate information, this may invalidate your insurance policy.

If they are adamant your policy is now cancelled, then your pressing issue today is to find a new insurer willing to take you on - (them cancelling your policy and the recent burglary will have to be declared, and could mean some problems in finding a new insurer willing to accept you).

mikey72

It's usual to reduce the payment by 50% if you have made a mistake.
Complain to the FOS, and ask for the policy to be re-instated as well. You would expect to pay the difference to bring the policy level up though.

Dangermac

sarahgail wrote: »

Further to my previous post - I am trying to establish if this has happened to anyone else???

We had our building and contents insurance with Sheilas wheels.
We were unfortunately burgled earlier this year and obviously submitted an insurance claim (it's why you pay it!!). SW sent a loss adjustor to the house who stated that due to the size of the house, we were probably under insured so we had to detail the value of everything in the house. It turned out we are under-insured by 50% which was a genuine surprise to us.

We expected SW to pay a reduced amount to us for the theft and increase our premiums, however we have now, eventually, received a letter from them stating that they have voided our policy due to the fact we were under insured and they will refund the premiums we have paid to them since we took the policy out.

This means that we will get no pay out and are currently without insurance. (The letter was sent normal mail - what would have happened if god forbid our house had burned down before we got the letter?! Would we actually have lost everything?)

So in short, someone came into our house, took our things, put us through emotional turmoil and now the insurance company are making us out to be the criminals, are not paying us a penny for the loss and will now probably make it very hard/expensive for us to get alternative insurance.

Can they do this?

Has this happened to anyone else?

Thanks

I am so sorry to hear about this. This is clearly a genuine mistake, therefore, it seems so out of proportion for the insurer to have taken this 'nuclear' approach.

I would definately complain - firstly via the insurer's complaints procedure, and then via the Financial Ombudsman Service.

In the past, insurers would generally have applied 'average' to the claim - i.e they would reduce the claim by the same percentage that you were under-insured by.

Good luck. My thoughts are with you.

DM

sarahgail

Any idea what insurers would consider us??

FlameCloud

All insurers have a limit though as to what they would consider innocent- 50% is below the limits of almost all insurers I deal with for them to consider it innocent. From their point of view- they displayed to you the sum insured before you purchased it, you did not change it and at claim time you have acknowledged that it is way too low.

As long as their underwriting criteria is clearly defined, which it will be, I do not think OP will get anywhere complaining.

foggytown

sarahgail wrote: »

Any idea what insurers would consider us??

In this instance the word "mugs" comes to mind. As dangermac said, there once was a time not so long ago when insurance used "average" or "co-insurance" principles in these circumstances. You only paid 50% of the premium you should have paid so you are entitled to only 50% of your claim. (You and the company become co-insurers.) Today's bright insurance sparks have decided that it is a lot kinder to their loss ratios if they pay NONE of the claim and pay you back the piddling premium instead.

Actually, I just had a thought, albeit an unlikely one. What is the basis of indemnifiication on your contents section? Is it "new for old" or "actual cash value"? If the latter, you can depreciate everything in the house to arrive at the appropriate insurable value.

PNPSUKNET

I cant honestly say I can guess my household contents value.

sarahgail

PNPSUKNET wrote: »

I cant honestly say I can guess my household contents value.

You should go around your house and value everything in it, room by room - I bet you will be shocked! I can honestly say we were gobsmacked! and I would bet that a high percentage of the country would be in the same boat - so are insurers mis-selling to us all???

sarahgail

foggytown wrote: »

Actually, I just had a thought, albeit an unlikely one. What is the basis of indemnifiication on your contents section? Is it "new for old" or "actual cash value"? If the latter, you can depreciate everything in the house to arrive at the appropriate insurable value.

How would I know?

Dangermac

FlameCloud wrote: »

All insurers have a limit though as to what they would consider innocent- 50% is below the limits of almost all insurers I deal with for them to consider it innocent. From their point of view- they displayed to you the sum insured before you purchased it, you did not change it and at claim time you have acknowledged that it is way too low.

As long as their underwriting criteria is clearly defined, which it will be, I do not think OP will get anywhere complaining.

I completely disagree. This is simply an innocent mistake. I wouldnt mind betting that 75%+ of the UK is under-insured. It is simply a question of extent.

Sure, the policyholder should be penalised. That's why insurers apply 'average' to their claims.

This action seems way over the top, unless the insurer is convinced that there has been deliberate fraud/mirepresentation.

Interesting enough, I understand that many Loss Adjusters have been asked (by insurers) to increase their 'fraud' identification by x%. If I was of cynical mind, it would be easy to think that the Loss Adjuster has beeen able to show this 'saving' within thier fraud identification figures.

This whole case shows why you have to be so careful if you decide to buy insurance direct. Who's going to fight your corner if it all goes wrong.

DM