Home Insurance Lies

dacouch

nufc_fan wrote: »

Thanks. In the end it has not made any difference to me as it cost less to repair the computer myself. Its just a future warning to myself and anyone else who reads this to be aware. If they say no, dont just accept it, look into your policy fully and confirm what they are telling you.

Many people in my situation would have just accepted what the original operator said and not pursued it further.

As it was a Halifax claims telephone operator they were probably so used to advising customers the claim was not covered that they lapsed into auto pilot.

(Halifax are well known in the industry for their small print exclusions)

theJudge

With 41,874 complaints made to Lloyds Bank Group for General Insurance in the last reported 6 month period, Lloyds (which HBOS is now a part of) does indeed take the crown for the most complained to company that sells insurance. They are, of course, brokers rather than insurers and they may argue that they have so many complaints because they're one of the larger banks. Without more detailed FSA or FOS complaints data, which tells us how many complaints per claim occur and splits out product types more deeply, it's currently not possible to guage accurately who are the biggest rogues out there, however. Still it took years for FSA/FOS to allow us to receive the limited market data that they now publish.

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Library/Other_publications/commentary/firm_spec/table.shtml

opinions4u

theJudge wrote: »

With 41,874 complaints made to Lloyds Bank Group for General Insurance in the last reported 6 month period, Lloyds (which HBOS is now a part of) does indeed take the crown for the most complained to company that sells insurance.

As the biggest sellers of payment protection policies, mortgage related home insurance policies and insurances that form part of added value bank accounts it's hardly surprising that they also get more complaints.

They are, of course, brokers rather than insurers a

While some protection sold is provided by third parties Halifax home insurance, for example, is underwritten by St Andrews Insurance plc which is a wholly owned subsidiary of LBG.

they may argue that they have so many complaints because they're one of the larger banks. Without more detailed FSA or FOS complaints data, which tells us how many complaints per claim occur and splits out product types more deeply, it's currently not possible to guage accurately who are the biggest rogues out there, however. Still it took years for FSA/FOS to allow us to receive the limited market data that they now publish.

Like you, I find it amazing that these bodies have been unable to provide more meaningful information on complaints. Headlines like "Lloyds have more complaints than Ecology Building Society" don't really help consumers.

theJudge

opinions4u wrote: »

While some protection sold is provided by third parties Halifax home insurance, for example, is underwritten by St Andrews Insurance plc which is a wholly owned subsidiary of LBG.

True, but the FSA Complaints data seperates Lloyds Banking Group complaints from St Andrews insurance complaints, which would add a further 2533 insurance related complaints linked to LBG. The FOS complaints data does allow complaints to be aggregated up to the group rather than individual firm level. The difference between the FSA complaints data and the FOS version is that the FSA complaints data shows the number of complaints that a company has reported have been made to them, whereas the FOS version are only those complaints that have been taken on to the FOS after up to 8 weeks which a company has to deal with the complaint internally.

Both bodies have much richer information available to them which could be made public. One can only speculate as to why the UK regulatory authorities are so reluctant to provide data to consumers which would allow them to make informed choices.