Home Insurance Cancellation

nagscuthbert

Hi all

Hope you can help me. I have recently purchased home contents insurance and have received various policy documents; schedule, terms and conditions by email following payment.

On examination of the documents there are a couple of clauses which make this policy unsuitable for my needs;
a) they require proof of ownership in the event of a claim
I have several items which I no longer have proof of purchase for as they are no longer under warranty etc. plus I have several items of jewellery I inherited when my mother died, and
b) the policy is not index-linked
What's the point of that? I'll need to have enough to replace stolen items now - not get what they cost me three years ago!

I have sent an email back within the 14 day period but they have indicated that they will charge £50 administration costs. Is this unavoidable?

This information was not made available to me until after I received the terms and conditions so I was unaware of this information until after I made my purchase. Surely under these circumstances they cannot charge me?

You don't get sight of your policy documents until after you have made a decision to buy so surely it's unreasonable to make a charge just for the privilege of viewing the documents?

If this is correct and they can do this then how on earth are you supposed to evaluate any policy prior to making a purchase without it costing you a fortune?

Thanks for your time and all responses will be gratefully received.
Nags

bouncydog1

Are you sure there is no link on the site to see the policy conditions prior to purchase? Most sites I have looked at do have that so you can make an informed choice.

Also be aware that most all insurers will require proof of purchase or evidence of ownership in the event of a claim. For jewellery a valuation and photographs will usually suffice. How can you put a value on the items and expect insurers to do the same if you have no idea as to what they are worth? In addition if they are high value items insurers need to charge accordingly.

(Read the thread about the lady who had her mother in law to be's ring and found on valuation it was worth £19k)!

Insurance is a two way contract and to be properly covered you need to make sure you meet your side of it!

Faith177

With proof of purchase some companies in the event of a claim will accept photos of you with the jewlery items being worn or they can accept instruction books ect so may be worth checking if they would allow this before cancelling.

Also index-linking basically means that every year you will need to call them to increase your cover if you feel necessary this isn't that difficult to do and most companies dont index-link any more.