mobile phone insurance miss selling advice

nut_house

Hi If anyone could help i would be gratefull, brief facts are that my 12yr old son was advised to buy and was sold a 1yr mobile phone insurance plan with his PAYG phone by a staff member at Car Phone Warehouse, he was accompanied by his grandfather. However on trying to use this insurance after droping his phone he has realised that the £70 policy has a £50 excess on it. Both he and his grandfather are absolutly sure this was not mentioned at the time of taking out the policy. (in fact the phone wouldn't have been purchased with insurance in the first place as it was a high cost model) The store manager is adament that his staff would have pointed out the policy excess. However I am arguing that the policy doesn't fit the customers needs as how is a 12yr old boy expected to find £50 also on the Insurance certificate (which is in my sons name) on the part where it has two check boxes to demonstrate that the customer has understood all the terms and why the policy has been recomended to the customer both of these have been left blank.
The customer top copy of this certificate has no marks on it at all to indicate the staff member has explained the policy, however on returning to store the carbon copy retained by the store has very clear marks in each of the check boxes, which is strange as the customer copy we have has no such marks or indentations on the paper!!!
Anybody have any idea where we stand leagally, my basic knowledge feels that both the policy has been miss sold as it doesn't meet the customers needs (a £70 policy for a 12 yr old boy with a £50 excess) and also that the policy wasn't explained properly, miss sold as we have proof that the sales rep of the company has not checked the boxes which demonstrates the policy has not been properly expalined to the customer, is this a legal requirement ? Sorry for the long post but any help greatly appreaciated

di3004

Hi and welcome

That is a lot of money and with him only be 12 as well, blimey!

I am not too sure about how the insurances work via mobile phone, but always assumed it was for theft or damage etc, but hopefully someone will be along soon at some point who knows more of how this insurance works, with some advice for you, good luck.

nut_house

If it helps anyone else then great, i found a solution to the problem and got a full refund of not only handset but also on the insurance.

Because the insurance was put in my sons name and the fact they hadn't followed the correct procedure in selling him the insurance. I had great pleasure in telling the jumped up rude manager from car phone warehouse in Stevenage that if i didn't get a full refund i would put a complaint in writting to the insurance omnisbund who if they investigated the complaint would fine them £250 irrespective of blame. Funny enough i recieved a full refund of £260 from car phone warehouse the next day !!

Hope this helps, beware of mobile phone insuurance !

zppp

nut_house wrote: »

i would put a complaint in writting to the insurance omnisbund who if they investigated the complaint would fine them £250 irrespective of blame.

Not quite correct. The case handling fee for the financial ombudsman is £500, and is not always paid by the firm. It depends on whether they feel the claim is vexatious and has grounds.

Still contgrats for your result.

roonaldo

nut_house wrote: »

insurance omnisbund who if they investigated the complaint would fine them £250 irrespective of blame.

If you mean the Financial Ombudsman (FOS), they dont fine anyone. FSA fine firms. FOS are independant arbritators, there to resolve complaints.

di3004

Well done on your success.:beer:

dmg24

nut_house wrote: »

If it helps anyone else then great, i found a solution to the problem and got a full refund of not only handset but also on the insurance.

Because the insurance was put in my sons name and the fact they hadn't followed the correct procedure in selling him the insurance. I had great pleasure in telling the jumped up rude manager from car phone warehouse in Stevenage that if i didn't get a full refund i would put a complaint in writting to the insurance omnisbund who if they investigated the complaint would fine them £250 irrespective of blame. Funny enough i recieved a full refund of £260 from car phone warehouse the next day !!

Hope this helps, beware of mobile phone insuurance !

I hope you didn't say this to the manager! :T