Elderly Uncle Ripped Off

horsewidow

Here's a quick summary of a horrible story; my elderly uncle has just gone into hospital, so he asked me to handle his financial affairs. First up was his home insurance. He has a normal 3 bed detached house in Chandlers Ford. His local friendly insurance company branch had sent him renewal instructions which he passed to me.
I am not making this up; he only has building cover, nothing else. Never made a claim. Does anyone want to take a guess how much these toerags were charging him? I'll post the answer in a few minutes.

Robin9

My guess £750

horsewidow

Robin9 wrote: »

My guess £750

Good guess Robin, but.....I wish!:)

Peter999_2

£1200?, don't forget to tell us who it's with

Stevie_Palimo

The thing is and I do not wish to condone the thieving toe rags but if they see a individual that just auto renews so to speak they never address the costs and it is always high on the premiums, I'd personally be going back to them if he was charged a high amount previously and tell them straight :- Put this right or else.

horsewidow

Peter999 wrote: »

£1200?, don't forget to tell us who it's with

You're getting there Peter. If you add Robins guess to your guess then knock off £100.......
I am not joking.... evil or what?

Keep_pedalling

Hardly a horrible story or a rip off, no one forced him to keep renewing his policy. Some parts of Charndlers Ford are also high risk flood areas which could be a factor in the high premium.

horsewidow

Stevie_Palimo wrote: »

The thing is and I do not wish to condone the thieving toe rags but if they see a individual that just auto renews so to speak they never address the costs and it is always high on the premiums, I'd personally be going back to them if he was charged a high amount previously and tell them straight :- Put this right or else.

True, but they were telling this elderly man that he lived in an area of high risk for subsidence so the rate they charged was the going one. First off, this is B/S, no other company loads their premium in any way at all for this postcode... nobody. I checked on confused.com, comprethemarket.. and asked his neighbours. Secondly, he'd have to be living smack on top of a particularly irritated spot of the San Andreas fault to get a loading like this. Just to recap... the quote didn't even include contents.:mad:

Stevie_Palimo

horsewidow wrote: »

True, but they were telling this elderly man that he lived in an area of high risk for subsidence so the rate they charged was the going one. First off, this is B/S, no other company loads their premium in any way at all for this postcode... nobody. I checked on confused.com, comprethemarket.. and asked his neighbours. Secondly, he'd have to be living smack on top of a particularly irritated spot of the San Andreas fault to get a loading like this. Just to recap... the quote didn't even include contents.:mad:

Well then you need to go elsewhere for it and if you are 100% sure he has been ripped off then get it addressed also, First off by writing to them and if that fails then to the correct governing body. Make sure that you are 100% prior to doing this.

horsewidow

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

Hardly a horrible story or a rip off, no one forced him to keep renewing his policy. Some parts of Charndlers Ford are also high risk flood areas which could be a factor in the high premium.

Hi keeppeddaling, maybe you're thinking of a different place (spelling?). There is evidence of flooding there, I was at Southampton Uni and our geography department found there had been significant flooding during the late jurrasic period.

Nobody forced him to renew??? An 87 year old man being told this was the going rate???? Is that good practice?

Sorry KP, I'm still a bit miffed. It was one sixth of his work pension.

horsewidow

I got him cover to include also contents, emergency call out, accidental damage and boiler cover for £181.00 with Saga. So that's down from £1845,74 to £181. One tenth of the premium with considerably more cover.