AIG Direct Home insurance - Read if you have/had this

cosmicnet

Hi All,
I've had a rather nasty experience with AIG home insurance. The policy didn't autorenew like it was supposed to. I received absolutely no contact from them about it and was blissfully unaware that my house was no longer insured. It's only because of a burst pipe in January that I gave them a call to discover this.

They were terribly rude on the phone, each person I spoke to. At first they denied that policy would auto renew, but I checked the policy and it clearly states it will auto renew unless I cancel. Then they claimed they contacted me about it. I never received anything from them, no letters, no calls. They said they would send out a copy of the letters they sent, they never did.

I've received the final response letter from them and am now about to take them to the ombudsman. They've sent me a copy of their Terms of Business Agreement that clearly states:
"If you are paying by monthly direct debits, we will seek to automatically renew your existing policy..."

But underneath it is the line:
"Irrespective of whether you receive a renewal reminder, it remains your responsibility to ensure that your insurance is valid and in force."

I'm 90% sure they've added this line and it wasn't present in the original terms I received. The problem is that I have the policy document, description, etc., but it looks like I threw away the terms

When I spoke to them on the phone they actively tried to discourage me from going to the ombudsman. I'm thinking there was some systems cockup that they aren't admitting to. I can't imagine I was the only one to be affected.

Any chance someone here took out AIG Direct home insurance in 2009 and has the original Terms of Business Agreement?

If anyone thinks they have home insurance with them, I urge you to please double check at you may find yourself uninsured as I was.


Lyle