Change of address payment

smartpicture

My daughter's insurance was around £900. She phoned and told them she'd be living in Wales during the Uni term and it was immediately put up to £1500!!! Even though she'd still be at home for 6 months of the year.

lisyloo

I agree with dunstonh.
I think genuine complaints should go ahead.

But encouraging people to put in a complaint for the sake of a fiver at a cost of at least £500 means that mikey loses the moral high ground over the ambulance chasers, because this is simply driving up (everyone's) premiums for no justifiable reason.

mikey72

It's ok saying "don't challenge, it only only a fiver of someone elses money, but the £500 will affect me", but the op has already said the policy wasn't clear on the fees, and if no one challenges the "only a fiver" attitude, it'll be only a tenner next time.
And £500 between all the customers is a lot less than a penny each, so you can afford it.
If the insurer doesn't want to have to pay the £500, it's easy for them, - don't keep pushing for the little amounts off the customer, settle for what has been said is reasonable previously.

dunstonh

but the op has already said the policy wasn't clear on the fees

That would be extremely unusual nowadays. Normally they appear in a charges document supplied or in a charges section of the policy doc. The most common reason for thinking that is that the person couldnt be bothered to read it.

If it was badly written then fair enough and a few years ago you could believe it was. However, nowadays that would be unusual.

And £500 between all the customers is a lot less than a penny each, so you can afford it.

That assumes that only one person complains. What about all the others making pointless complaints?

If the insurer doesn't want to have to pay the £500, it's easy for them, - don't keep pushing for the little amounts off the customer, settle for what has been said is reasonable previously.

Who has said that £55 is unreasonable? The FOS publications of a handful of complaints to give you an idea of what is going through and how they ruled. Just because one complaint published shows a figure of £50 as being acceptable does not mean that £55 isnt. It would be nice if they published more so we can identify trends but a sample of one is not good enough. All it says is that we know at least £50 is acceptable some years ago.

mikey72

dunstonh wrote: »

Just because one complaint published shows a figure of £50 as being acceptable does not mean that £55 isnt. It would be nice if they published more so we can identify trends but a sample of one is not good enough. All it says is that we know at least £50 is acceptable some years ago.

We'll know if £55 is or isn't now as well if the op complains.

dunstonh

I still think that creating a £500 charge for raising a complaint that is effectively about the policyholder not reading the documentation is unfair. Not only that, it clogs the system up with pointless complaints which makes those with genuine more important complaints suffer delays and further anguish.

Just to be clear, If the documentation showed an amount different to £55 or the disclosure wasnt there then I think a complaint is fair enough. However, if its in black and white and published, then stop wasting everyones time.

Maybe the OP can name the company as some of us here will be able to check what they actually say.

mikey72

I think we'll just have to agree to differ.

You and Lisyloo agree that £55 is a reasonable amount to charge to change an address on a computer, and send out a new policy (if they did send new paperwork).
I don't. (I also think £50 is too much, mine can affor to do it for free) but I'll accept the FOS have set a limit in a previous ruling.
I don't therefore accept an arbitary increase by an insurer, to any number they think they can impose.
The insurer may be ok, the FOS may agree £55 is ok, in which case I'm sure they can afford the next hundred customers they charge to pay it. They may even decide to increase it to £60 if they get the ok for £55. It's only £5 more after all.

lisyloo

You and Lisyloo agree that £55 is a reasonable amount to charge to change an address on a computer, and send out a new policy (if they did send new paperwork).

I never said that but I think arguing over a fiver is petty.
I have no issue with the fees for genuine cases, but this is taking the mickey :-)
I understand your argument about precedent and there is a point I'd draw the line, but if I was moving house, I'd have a few more things to think about than a fiver.
Encouraging someone to make a complaint probably won't stop the insurer charging £55.
They will probably make a "one-off good will gesture".
The OP probably could have earnt more money if they'd done a paper round or washed someones car for a £5 than spent their time on a petty complaint.

We won't agree on this so why don't we agree to disagree. After all it's been offered up so it's up to the OP.

But it is interesting that when it comes to paying more for complaints you are all for it and we can afford it, but when it comes to raising premiums they are all capitalist pigs :-)))

dunstonh

I understand your argument about precedent and there is a point I'd draw the line, but if I was moving house, I'd have a few more things to think about than a fiver.
Encouraging someone to make a complaint probably won't stop the insurer charging £55.

It doesnt set a precedent. It just told us that in July 2006, that the FOS did not consider £50 as unreasonable with that provider.

If we assume inflation at 2.5% since 2006, that would make a £55 acceptable now



Case 54/5
cancellation of house insurance by policyholder – whether firm correct to charge an administration fee

Mr Y thought it unfair of the firm to levy an administration fee, since he considered that administrative costs should already have been built in to the amount he had paid for his insurance.

Mr Y insured his house with the firm in June 2005. When he married in December that year, he sold the house and cancelled his policy. In accordance with the cancellation condition in the policy document, the firm made a pro rata refund of his premiums, less a sum of £50 to cover its administration costs.

complaint rejected
We agreed with Mr Y that the firm had allowed for administration costs when it calculated the price of its policy. However, since the policy had only – in the event – lasted for six months, the firm would not have recouped all of these costs; it had only received half the annual premium. And we were satisfied that it had also incurred additional and unexpected costs in cancelling the policy. We therefore rejected the complaint.

mikey72

lisyloo wrote: »

But it is interesting that when it comes to paying more for complaints you are all for it and we can afford it, but when it comes to raising premiums they are all capitalist pigs :-)))

Corporate capitalist pigs.

And if all they wanted to split was a £500 premium raise between us all this year, I don't think anyone would object.