Mis-sold contents cover

pyuicd

Dear moneysavers,

I have figured today that I have had contents cover for nearly two years that I didn't even know I had. If i can give a bit of background-

Purchased property in spring 2012. Insurance was arranged by estate agent who of course tried to offer me both buildings and contents cover. I said I didn't really need contents cover and she still tried to convince me. She then said I could always go for the buildings cover and if i change my mind contents cover could be added later. I went for that option, believing i was taking out buildings cover only.

My insurance is up for renewal at the moment and I called them up, and on the phone the representative asked if i still wanted contents cover, at which point I told him I didn't have contents cover. He then informed me that I do and i have been paying for it for nearly two years. The contents cover started 15 days after the cover started for the buildings insurance- they were not set up on the same date.

At this stage I should answer the question 'how can you not notice you are paying extra every month?'. The building insurance and contents cover are billed separately, and when i moved into the property i had to set up a lot of different direct debits, so it didn't look out of place on my bank statements at all. I do feel a bit stupid not to have realised earlier, but there we go.

Sorry for the essay, does anyone have any advice what i can do at this point? I don't have any idea where to start, and what would my chances of success be? I was clearly mis-sold this product, but i'm worried I would be unable to prove it.

Thanks in advance.

Goldiegirl

Is your house completely empty?

Or could you replace ALL of your belongings, clothes, furniture, personal effects, pots, pans, plates, mobile phone, computer.....etc, with your own personal funds?

If not, I'm not sure how contents insurance could be mis-sold

You have belongings, if they aren't insured, you'd lose everything in a fire, and be left with the clothes you stood up in

pyuicd

My flat is not empty, but my contents are not particularly valuable, it was a first time buy for me so my contents are mainly hand-me downs and cheap goods. It is my decision whether to be risk averse or risk taking, even if you don't think it is sensible.

Goldiegirl

Everybody who says they don't need contents insurance always says things like 'my contents are worth nothing' or similar.

You'd be surprised how it adds up.

My challenge to you is, add up the value of EVERYTHING you own. It's not just furniture - clothes, DVD's, CD's, the contents of every cupboard, carpets, curtains, electrical appliances, the list goes on

Then think how you'd feel if you lost all that, because you didn't pay a few quid for the insurance policy

And then you'd have to start from scratch again

pyuicd

My question relates to me being signed up to an (expensive) insurance policy without my permission. I'm sure contents cover is brilliant, but that is immaterial to this discussion.

Paulaviki

Did you not get any paperwork regarding your policy? If so then isn't it really your fault for not reading it? I'm not sure how much come back you can have after nearly two years which would have included at least on renewal with new documents being sent out.

-taff

It was up to you to chekc what cover you were paying for, and for how long.

You can tell them you didn't agree to it if you're sure there are no documents with your signature on them, but they chances of it being refunded are not good.

If you were paying for contents cover elsewhere and had duplicate cover they may have refunded, but all your essentially omplaining about is that you didn't know you had it because you didn't check your direct debits, which is not a particularly strong reason.

pyuicd

Paulaviki wrote: »

Did you not get any paperwork regarding your policy? If so then isn't it really your fault for not reading it? I'm not sure how much come back you can have after nearly two years which would have included at least on renewal with new documents being sent out.

Thanks for the reply. I appreciate I haven't helped myself here by taking my eye off the ball. I will have to dig through all the paperwork. If i did receive a letter regarding home insurance from the insurer, I would have scanned it and assumed it was for my buildings cover i had purchased.

pyuicd

-taff wrote: »

It was up to you to chekc what cover you were paying for, and for how long.

You can tell them you didn't agree to it if you're sure there are no documents with your signature on them, but they chances of it being refunded are not good.

If you were paying for contents cover elsewhere and had duplicate cover they may have refunded, but all your essentially omplaining about is that you didn't know you had it because you didn't check your direct debits, which is not a particularly strong reason.

Well the reason I didn't know I had it is because I explicitly told the estate agent I wanted just the buildings cover- no one would think any more of it. My direct debit for the contents insurance does not state the company name on the bank statement. So i'm pretty frustrated to find out about this today, but maybe you're right I don't have much to go on at the moment.

DevCoder

Did you state this explicit instruction in writing? Otherwise its a he said /she said case which is very very weak.

You must have signed both insurance policies in some medium.

I don't think your chances are too great tbh.

roonaldo

pyuicd wrote: »

I don't have any idea where to start, and what would my chances of success be?

None

I was clearly mis-sold this product, but i'm worried I would be unable to prove it.

You're right you can't.

Lets be honest you weren't mis-sold this, everyone has a need for some contents cover even if its just to replace carpets, kitchen and curtains or even windows?? If there was a fire, how are you going to replace everything? Contents cover is more than just insuring a TV or jewellery.

You did agree to it if there is a direct debit going from your account as you authorised this! You would also have been given a Key Facts Illustration and policy insurance relating to each policy you took out.