Can car insurance be retrospectivley cancelled

vaio

Given that having considered the case already Diamond are chasing the daughter for £20k I find it hard accept your suggestion that involving the FOS is a bad idea especially as the FOS seem to think there is enough of a case to "take up a complaint against Diamond on her behalf".

On the subject of FOS not getting the information required to pass to Diamond, presumably Diamond have everything they needed to consider it first time round and, if they don't, they can ask.

dunstonh

Given that having considered the case already Diamond are chasing the daughter for £20k I find it hard accept your suggestion that involving the FOS is a bad idea especially as the FOS seem to think there is enough of a case to "take up a complaint against Diamond on her behalf".

The FOS do not think there is enough of a case to "take up a complaint against Diamond on her behalf". That is not what the FOS do. The unqualified telephone team will take details of the complaint and forward them to Diamond. That is where the work of the FOS ends.

Until Diamond give their response the FOS can do nothing. If the daughter thinks Diamond's response is wrong, then the complaint can be referred to the FOS and at that point it will be allocated to an adjudicator. That is when the FOS involvement becomes worthwhile.

On the subject of FOS not getting the information required to pass to Diamond, presumably Diamond have everything they needed to consider it first time round and, if they don't, they can ask.

You cannot involve the FOS until the firm has had a chance to deal with the complaint first.

Unlike you, I have seen complaints that have come in via the FOS. The quality has left a little to be desired. There is a cover letter from the FOS giving name and address and any reference numbers involved. There is then a form which contains a few boxes where the person on the phone at the FOS records what they have interpreted the complaint to be. Examples I have seen have been a few short sentences in the box.

For example, looking at one copy example, I have the cover letter which shows a sort code and account number of a bank account and says the "product/service" is current accounts. The complaint summary says the complainant is unhappy with the advice they received in relation to a bond account. The few scrawled notes on the complaint form barely expand on that. The complaint was actually about a pension, not bond or current account and the information recorded by the telephone person at the FOS was not at all consistent with the actual complaint.

The problem is that the FOS telephone staff are not qualified in the required areas. They are not trained as adjudicators and they are not ombudsman. They often dont know the subject being complained about. So, you are asking someone that doesnt know about something to record information from a consumer who probably is low knowledge in these areas as well to pass this information onto a third party. It is a recipe for misinformation and missing information.

Whereas going direct to the firm allows people that do know the area involved to record the information needed to then make a decision on the complaint. It would also be quicker as the clock starts ticking upon receipt of complaint at the firm. It adds a few more days for the FOS letter to get to the firm.

vaio

Obviously I don't know for sure but see no reason to disbelieve the OP who certainly thinks the FOS are going to "take up a complaint against Diamond on her behalf".

I'd also have thought that before chasing the OP's daughter for £20k the insurer would have examined the case pretty thoroughly. From the OP there has certainly been discussion about the circumstances during which I presume the daughter made it clear that she wasn't aware of the points and had trusted the BF when he said he had a clean licence.

Hopefully contact from the FOS containing words like "innocent non-disclosure" will concentrate their minds and ensure they arrive at the right decision.

dunstonh

Obviously I don't know for sure but see no reason to disbelieve the OP who certainly thinks the FOS are going to "take up a complaint against Diamond on her behalf".

The fact that you cannot bypass the complaints process would be the obvious reason.

vaio

who knows, maybe the decision to chase for the £20k is their final decision, maybe it's a fishing expedition to see if a concerned parent/grandparent will bail her out.

Either way, it can't do any harm to let the insurer know that the policy holder is aware of the FOS and the concept of innocent non disclosure

Hopefully the OP will let us know the outcome

mikey72

Dunstonh.

I'm curious.

Why are you so keen the FOS aren't involved at this stage?
What downside do you forsee that the op will have by asking their advice now, and what will it cost them by involving them at this stage, as opposed to asking for their intervention later?

dunstonh

Why are you so keen the FOS aren't involved at this stage?

Because it has as much use of asking Tesco to submit your complaint on your behalf. So, why waste time?

What downside do you forsee that the op will have by asking their advice now, and what will it cost them by involving them at this stage, as opposed to asking for their intervention later?

No cost to the company. The Op will suffer a delay of a few days and probably have to repeat information that may have been given or be asked information that could have been supplied in the first place.

mikey and vaio, why do you think it is worth putting in a complaint via the FOS seeing as it has no advantage to the consumer and only negatives?

vaio

dunstonh wrote: »

........mikey and vaio, why do you think it is worth putting in a complaint via the FOS seeing as it has no advantage to the consumer and only negatives?

Pretty much covered by my previous post, particularly the second paragraph

vaio wrote: »

who knows, maybe the decision to chase for the £20k is their final decision, maybe it's a fishing expedition to see if a concerned parent/grandparent will bail her out.

Either way, it can't do any harm to let the insurer know that the policy holder is aware of the FOS and the concept of innocent non disclosure

Hopefully the OP will let us know the outcome

mikey72

dunstonh wrote: »

Because it has as much use of asking Tesco to submit your complaint on your behalf. So, why waste time?



No cost to the company. The Op will suffer a delay of a few days and probably have to repeat information that may have been given or be asked information that could have been supplied in the first place.

mikey and vaio, why do you think it is worth putting in a complaint via the FOS seeing as it has no advantage to the consumer and only negatives?

£20k.

That's enough reason for me.
But I'm interested in what you think is worth more than £20k negative by speaking to a free service?

(edit - for £20k, I'd ask Tesco, Asda, and Sainsbury's tbh)

dunstonh

But I'm interested in what you think is worth more than £20k negative by speaking to a free service?

I'm sorry but I see no value in speaking to low knowledge individuals that are not qualified in the subject and are not the ones making the decisions and then delaying the complaint and creating more work for the individual.