Home insurance cancelled by insurer

nmagowan

Hi All,

I have just received a letter from my insurer (Royal and Sun Alliance) cancelling my home insurance from 13 Sep. I put in a claim for a loss of wedding and engagement ring on 25 July and received a letter from my insurer asking for receipts etc. As the rings were bought 11 years ago I could no longer find this and as a result thought nothing more of the claim.

You can only imagine my surprise when I received a letter in the post on Monday saying that as a result of my non-cooperation in the claims process that they are no longer prepared to continue to underwrite my policy. The insurer is saying that they sent a letter to me dated the 10 August explaining the implications of non-coperation. Of course I never received this letter but it is me against this big company.

I have put in a complaint but to no avail.

Can anyone offer any advice on how I should proceed? Where should I go to get another home insurance policy now that I have a cancellation on my file?

Thanks

Voyager2002

Appeal.

Do you have any other evidence of possession of the rings -- were they ever valued, or perhaps they are clearly visible in photographs? Do you possess any cases that they came in?

It was reasonable for the insurer to ask for evidence that you really did possess the jewellery that you say you lost. A refusal to provide some such evidence suggests that the claim was dodgy, and for obvious reasons insurers do not like to have dodgy customers. You should be able to explain the situation, at least sufficiently well to convince them that you did not submit a fraudulent claim.

magpiecottage

Tell us more about this complaint.

How did you make it and has it been referred to their complaints procedure?

magpiecottage

Obvious spam - ignore Lolypoly!

david39

If you have given up on the claim itself, then you are obviously dissatisfied with RSA and I would have thought you would want to change companies anyway, irrespective of whether they wrote to you on the subject or not.

Just shop around and find another company.

Quentin

david39 wrote: »

Just shop around and find another company.

Poor advice.

(Easier said than done in these circs!)

The OP should follow the earlier advice to appeal this, and escalate the issue along the complaints procedure should the appeal fail.

If the OP cannot get this cancellation reversed then they will have great difficulty in finding "another company" willing to have them.

OshayAway

The problem you will find, as you refer to in your op, is that most insurers for household insurance ask if you have had insurance cancelled elsewhere. Therefore, you will need to disclose this forever more.

Typically, this is an eligibility criteria so most insurers will not cover you if you answer yes to this question. However, some will ask you for additional information such as a letter from the insurer. Any provider would be concerned about any suggestion of fraud and would want to rule this out.

What was the result of the formal complaint? What reason did they give for their decision?

huckster

Suggest that you make a complaint to RSA Head office, addressed as CEO complaints. CEO Email address andy.haste@gcc.rsagroup.com

RSA Switchboard : 01403 232323
Leadenhall Court
1 Leadenhall Street
London
EC3V 1PP

OshayAway

huckster wrote: »

Suggest that you make a complaint to RSA Head office, addressed as CEO complaints. CEO Email address [EMAIL="andy.haste@gcc.rsagroup.com"]andy.haste@gcc.rsagroup.com[/EMAIL]

RSA Switchboard : 01403 232323
Leadenhall Court
1 Leadenhall Street
London
EC3V 1PP

If the matter has gone through the formal complaint proceedure and the op has received a final response, is there any advantage in writing to the CEO?

I ask because I'm dealing with something uncannily similar to this at the moment on behalf of a client but I have no frame of reference. The insurer have stated that the next step would be to take the matter to th FOS. We are perfectly prepared to do this but I understand the process is quite lengthy and in the mean time can't get the customer cover.

System

nmagowan wrote: »

Hi All,

I have just received a letter from my insurer (Royal and Sun Alliance) cancelling my home insurance from 13 Sep. I put in a claim for a loss of wedding and engagement ring on 25 July and received a letter from my insurer asking for receipts etc. As the rings were bought 11 years ago I could no longer find this and as a result thought nothing more of the claim.

You can only imagine my surprise when I received a letter in the post on Monday saying that as a result of my non-cooperation in the claims process that they are no longer prepared to continue to underwrite my policy. The insurer is saying that they sent a letter to me dated the 10 August explaining the implications of non-coperation. Of course I never received this letter but it is me against this big company.

I have put in a complaint but to no avail.

Can anyone offer any advice on how I should proceed? Where should I go to get another home insurance policy now that I have a cancellation on my file?

Thanks

I have highlighted the bit of your post which may look suspicious to the insurance company. You cannot simply ignore such a request and expect the insurance company to know what you were thinking.

In your complaint, you need to appologies for not responding to their legitimate request for information, explaining why you did not respond and explain that you would hope they will agree to reinstate the policy.

If you have any suitable photos (wedding, portrait or holiday snaps etc.) that show someone wearing the rings that were lost, send to the insurance company, those photos may be all they need to prove you had the rings, although value would be more difficult to assess.

huckster

OshayAway wrote: »

If the matter has gone through the formal complaint proceedure and the op has received a final response, is there any advantage in writing to the CEO?

I ask because I'm dealing with something uncannily similar to this at the moment on behalf of a client but I have no frame of reference. The insurer have stated that the next step would be to take the matter to th FOS. We are perfectly prepared to do this but I understand the process is quite lengthy and in the mean time can't get the customer cover.

FOS = Atleast 6 months to review. Probably between 12-24 months before any decision.

I always prefer referral to the CEO or senior exec. My experience from working within Insurance and dealing with some CEO complaints, is that they tend to look at them slightly differently. I was often surprised that a CEO would look to side with the customer if there was scope to do this, rather than let a complaint drag on through the FOS. But each case is on its own merits. I don't know whats happened with the OP's case. The claims process they have been through appears to be rather detached, with letters not being received and the Insurers becoming suspicious of a fraudulent claim. I would want to know exactly what communications there had been.