MORETHAN...Vulnerable OAP Dad been refused insurance for the first time ever!

Lord_Gaga

And thank you people. I really do appreciate the help and support I'm getting.

2sides2everystory

It is very sad. The insurance company you refer to (<Than) was born out of Royal and SunAlliance group which in the time in their lives when current pensioners might have taken an active interest in who's who in the insurance world would have been recognised as two of the most respected insurers in the land. Even the Insurance Ombudsman (as was - predating FOS) used to know it and if any complaints were upheld in R or SA's name they were likely to apply a 10% or more uplift to the claim because these insurers were know to market themselves as 'a cut above the rest' offering premium products with premium service.

How times change

This would make me seeth if it had happened to my parents. I would probably be making my presence felt with some board directors by now but that's me ... your sober approach has probably been correct so far but if they do not soon play ball then it might be tme to refer them to this thread.

And you always have the option to Edit the title of this thread to get this insurer More air-time Than they might be bargaining for ...

If you do ask them to take a look at the views on MSE then you might ask them too what they are doing about this other thread where a no doubt "valued customer" seems to be in the process of extracting rather more than he put in ... Profitting From A Buildings Repair Insurance Claim ... and it isn't just the modest contents of a freezer, some false teeth and a new MK socket in the corner ...

Lord_Gaga

2sides2everystory wrote: »

It is very sad. The insurance company you refer to (<Than) was born out of Royal and SunAlliance group which in the time in their lives when current pensioners might have taken an active interest in who's who in the insurance world would have been recognised as two of the most respected insurers in the land. Even the Insurance Ombudsman (as was - predating FOS) used to know it and if any complaints were upheld in R or SA's name they were likely to apply a 10% or more uplift to the claim because these insurers were know to market themselves as 'a cut above the rest' offering premium products with premium service.

How times change

This would make me seeth if it had happened to my parents. I would probably be making my presence felt with some board directors by now but that's me ... your sober approach has probably been correct so far but if they do not soon play ball then it might be tme to refer them to this thread.

And you always have the option to Edit the title of this thread to get this insurer More air-time Than they might be bargaining for ...

I'm normally a bit of a fighter, 2sides, but I'm not feeling very strong myself at the moment. There's alot happening around here on a personal level, and to be honest I'm struggling to keep my head above water as it is. Just want to do what I can to help the folks out.

It’s renewal time on Saturday. How do I proceed? Comparison websites? Brokers? Do I tell them what’s happened? Some people say that technically Dad’s not been refused insurance – they just haven’t been offered renewal. But surely they’re the same thing?

What are your thoughts on this?

I agree about the thread title edit. How would I go about doing that? EDIT: Sorted.

If we weren't time limited I'd perhaps be thinking about contacting the Directors with a view to pointing this thread out - but Dad's insurance runs out on Saturday and they really don't want to be without insurance - even for a few days - which I guess I can understand.

Re: the thread you posted. Wow! Some people really do take the mick! People like that are the reason why people like my Dad aren't being offered insurance.

Anyway, just another thank you, to both yourself and the other people that are helping out. Thanks to the users of M.S.E I’m feeling very supported at the minute in relation to this issue - which is good because it takes a little bit of pressure off me knowing that there's somewhere I can sound off and maybe get a little help and advice.

magpiecottage

It sounds as though claims 1 and 2 are the same incident and it would be reasonable to expect them to be treated as such (which would normally mean just one excess too).

It is probably worth raising that as a point of dissatisfaction (which they will treat as a complaint) - but it needs to be in Dad's name, not yours.

He can write and tell them he is appointing you to deal with it for him though and that you are doing so voluntarily.

Lord_Gaga

magpiecottage wrote: »

It sounds as though claims 1 and 2 are the same incident and it would be reasonable to expect them to be treated as such (which would normally mean just one excess too).

They agreed on the phone that claims 1 and 2 should be linked but then failed to carry it out. I never thought about the excesses. Thanks for pointing that out.

Lord_Gaga

Here is the letter sent (recorded delivery) to Morethan on March 17th - to which I've not had a reply.

I sent them a reminder (again, recorded delivery) last week (including a copy of the original letter sent) asking them to respond promptly as time is of the essence. I've still not heard anything.

Obviously I've removed all personal details, policy references etc.

[FONT=&quot]Dear Underwriters,[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I write to you in the hope that you will take another look at my Dad’s situation with a view to overturning the recent decision to not offer them insurance renewal. Policy number listed above.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]There have been a total of three claims during their insured period, although really this should be listed as two – as claim one and two relate to the same incident and should have been linked together. This was agreed during a phone call by me to either ******* or ********* at Morethan a few weeks ago. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Dad‘s first claim (claim 1) was when he discovered that his electric sockets throughout the house weren’t working. Dad panicked as he relies completely on his electric stair lift to get him to the bathroom. Along with a recent heart attack, Dad also has a pulmonary oedema (fluid on the lungs) and is on several daily water tablets. This means that during the course of the day he has to make several trips to the toilet using his stairlift, as he cannot manage stairs. To not visit the toilet and empty this fluid could potentially prove to be fatal.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]In order to solve the problem as soon as possible, Dad contacted Morethan who sent an electrician to repair the electrical socket that was causing the power failure. The problem was reportedly repaired but exactly the same thing happened again the next day, with the same socket. – so although the problem was repaired it was not repaired to an acceptable standard as the Electrician had to come out to fix the problem again. This meant that Dad was again left without electricity overnight – and also that the entire contents of their fridge freezer were rendered useless (claim 2).[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Having recently spent time sorting Dad and **** filing system into something that makes sense, I discovered a number of areas that that helped me to realise that I need to take a more active role in assisting them with their financial and domestic affairs. For example: a completely unsuitable policy that covers him for loss of earnings which he purchased last year. Dad is 73 and retired many years ago and is living on state pension! [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Another example was an extended warranty purchased costing £200.00 to provide a warranty to cover an item that would cost less than this to replace – should the need ever arise. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]My point is that Dad isn’t as switched on as he used to be – and has now accepted that he needs help with both his financial and domestic affairs. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Both Dad and **, my stepmother, both pensioners, now realise that they shouldn’t make a claim on their House Insurance for everything that happens and know that claiming is now an absolute last resort. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]To this end we have agreed that in future any changes to anything on a domestic level will be discussed as part of a ‘team’ and actioned only if we all agree. This will ensure that this problem does not occur at any point in the future. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Being proud people, both Dad and ** are very embarrassed about what’s happened in terms of not being offered an insurance renewal. Having been model citizens for their entire lives they have never been refused anything. It has to be said that this refusal has come as somewhat of a blow to them.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]In light of my letter, as the Underwriters, can I please ask you to reinvestigate this case thoroughly and sympathetically with a view to re-insuring them for the forthcoming year?

Dad's a wonderful bloke and would never wish to do anything that either upsets anyone else of causes either him or his wife to be compromised.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Kind regards[/FONT]

2sides2everystory

If they don't soon respond to that letter, LG, then the world is worse than I thought.

Your from the heart letter surely should get a personalised reply by someone taking a good look at the case.

You best know the exact amounts and excesses involved and their significance to your Dad's financial situation. but if you have to remind More Than again might it be worth asking if perhaps it would have made any difference or will help the position if one of the two claims can be reversed out? I see from the policy wording that you can contact Customer Relations by email at crt halifax@uk rsagroup com .

The Policy Wording can be seen onlne here but the excesses that apply will be on the individualised paper schedule that came with the booklet.

There really are only two claims as it very much looks like the Home Emergency Assistance electrician they sent unfortunately did NOT leave the installation safe om his first visit which is what they promise to do in their Policy Summary document (Table 6 / page 4 of the PDF)

Or (again - if a further reminder becomes necessary) you might mention that your father may have dual cover for the electrical part of the problem and that More Than would be welcome to contact the other insurers for a contribution (my parents have HomeServe "insurance" which doubles up I am sure on some of the cover given by their householders insurance and which I think is probably a waste of money but I haven't tempted them to ditch it even though the only time they tried to claim on it was apparently not covered.)

Thinking further about the second insurance, your father didn't make the mistake I am sure of claiming under both policies for the same thing, did he? (In this age of big brother computers following our every move that would not look good).

It does all seem a bit of a mountain out of a molehill that More Than have made to date, and I am sure all of us reading your thread will be glad when you have had a proper considered response from More Than.

somalt

If they haven't got authority to speak to you, they may not reply or they may be trying to contact your Father for permission to do so. Maybe ring them and see if they will take authority from your Dad over the phone.

You're probably best to just go online or to a broker to get a new policy.

Check the wording of the correspondence they sent but it sounds like they haven't refused or canceled his insurance, they have declined to offer a renewal because he no longer meets their acceptance criteria. The policy is still ending at it's natural point, it's just the same as if you decide not to renew because you have a cheaper quote.

They are entitled to do that as it is an annually renewable contract and they can set whatever criteria they like.

If you do manage to get them to class the two claims as one they may then offer a renewal, but do you actually want to give them more money in this circumstance? But until it is sorted you have to declare it as three claims or you risk having the new policy canceled or any claim refused for non disclosure. And that would be something to avoid as that is the kind of thing you do have to declare.

Lord_Gaga

2sides2everystory wrote: »

If they don't soon respond to that letter, LG, then the world is worse than I thought.

Your from the heart letter surely should get a personalised reply by someone taking a good look at the case.

You best know the exact amounts and excesses involved and their significance to your Dad's financial situation. but if you have to remind More Than again might it be worth asking if perhaps it would have made any difference or will help the position if one of the two claims can be reversed out? I see from the policy wording that you can contact Customer Relations by email at crt halifax@uk rsagroup com .

The Policy Wording can be seen onlne here but the excesses that apply will be on the individualised paper schedule that came with the booklet.

There really are only two claims as it very much looks like the Home Emergency Assistance electrician they sent unfortunately did NOT leave the installation safe om his first visit which is what they promise to do in their Policy Summary document (Table 6 / page 4 of the PDF)

Or (again - if a further reminder becomes necessary) you might mention that your father may have dual cover for the electrical part of the problem and that More Than would be welcome to contact the other insurers for a contribution (my parents have HomeServe "insurance" which doubles up I am sure on some of the cover given by their householders insurance and which I think is probably a waste of money but I haven't tempted them to ditch it even though the only time they tried to claim on it was apparently not covered.)

Thinking further about the second insurance, your father didn't make the mistake I am sure of claiming under both policies for the same thing, did he? (In this age of big brother computers following our every move that would not look good).

It does all seem a bit of a mountain out of a molehill that More Than have made to date, and I am sure all of us reading your thread will be glad when you have had a proper considered response from More Than.

Thanks, kind person.

I always think writing from your heart can be helpful in giving the reader a little insight into the emotion behind the problem. It doesn't work for everyone, but...

Someone else on this thread mentioned the excess - and to be honest I'd not given it a thought. So if they agree to merge claims one and two then I'll be dropping them a letter about that.

I'm actually lasing with the underwriters at the moment, so would prefer to deal with what I believe is the horse's mouth. I wonder if I start emailing Customer Services, it might get a bit confusing. But thanks for your suggestion.

I agree with everything you and everyone else has said about the claims being merged. I can't see how they could do otherwise, given that it was their engineer that caused claim 2 in the first place.

No, he definitely didn't claim on the other policy. Thankfully.

I'm feeling kinda pressured to sort this before Saturday (renewal date) Dad and stepmum are coming down to mine on Saturday in order to get insured with someone else (assuming we don't hear from Lessthan before then) and I don't really know what to do. Should I use comparison websites and not mention this problem (as someone says that they have not technically been refused insurance, they just haven't been invited to renew)

The biggest issue I have at the moment is that due to the future potential implications of insuring with another provider, I would REALLY like for Dad to be patient and give Lessthan time to get back to me with a detailed response. Hopefully the decision will be overturned and they can then get back to some sort of normality quite quickly. If they don't change their mind then it won't be want we wanted to hear, but at least we'll know. At this point I'm loathe to start looking around for alternatives until we've exhausted this one. What do you think?

Problem is that they don't want to be without insurance - even for a few days. I want to tell them that getting this situation resolved in a positive way with Lessthan is an absolute priority and will be worth potentially going without cover for a few days. There are many more positives than negatives to being patient for another week or two. The likelihood of anything major happening within this period is mighty slim - but getting this problem sorted so that they won't be penalised in future is an absolute priority. What are your thoughts on this? Any helpful advice?

Again, thanks for your continued support - and to all the other helpful parties too.

silvercar

Sticking with Morethan and being without insurance for a few days or longer or changing to a new company??

Bit of a no brainer, get insurance with someone else.