Financial ombudsman complaint

JJF182

Hello,

I've recently left a previous employer (a nationwide insurance company) and I feel they've mugged me off a bit.

I took out my car insurance with them for two consecutive years; during the first of which I had a claim - this was later settled and found in my favour.

However, as I had the claim towards the end of the first year of insurance - I ended up paying an inflated amount for the second - on the promise that when the claim was settled I would get the amount refunded.

This issue is, I left. Now they've sent me the refund and its around £500 less than it should have been.

I know there is little I can do about this, they will say the change of occupation has meant that the rate has changed - fair enough, I know the industry well enough to know that I cant argue with this.

My issue is, and what I am questioning is, can I claim to the Financial Ombudsman that they have miss-sold the policy, as at no point while purchasing the policy were any of the terms of the policy explained to me - thus meaning the policy was miss-sold?

The fact that I am aware of the terms of the policy is irrelevant surely? A company has to sell the same way to everyone - whether an insurance expert or someone with no clue?

Any advice on whether it would be worth putting in a complaint would be great, thanks.

[TLDR - Former employer didn't go through and FCA compliance with me when selling me insurance, can I take them to the financial ombudsman for it?]

-taff

I'm sure their booklets say that you can download any policy documents so that you can read and understand them yourself.

I an unaware of the necessity for any telephone operator to list each and every policy item and check against them that you have understood them.

JJF182

While on the phone there is a long listing of things they have to go through, for example -

- Total amount payable and the breakdown of this
- The basic terms of the policy so the excess and any other limitations
- The breakdown of monthly payments and the details of the payment plans

But as I said, none of this was done

dunstonh

This issue is, I left. Now they've sent me the refund and its around £500 less than it should have been.

Change of occupation. Loss of staff discount. A claim on your file (non-fault claims hit premiums). General pricing changes etc....

My issue is, and what I am questioning is, can I claim to the Financial Ombudsman that they have miss-sold the policy, as at no point while purchasing the policy were any of the terms of the policy explained to me - thus meaning the policy was miss-sold?

Did you buy it through a broker and take advice?
Or did you buy it online or over the phone or other direct method?

What policy terms are you alleging that they missed? (as they are obviously not required to go through all the terms on the phone).

The fact that I am aware of the terms of the policy is irrelevant surely?

Knowlege and understanding is taken into account by the FOS.

A company has to sell the same way to everyone - whether an insurance expert or someone with no clue?

Not true.

Edit below as above post was made at same time.

While on the phone there is a long listing of things they have to go through, for example -

- Total amount payable and the breakdown of this
- The basic terms of the policy so the excess and any other limitations
- The breakdown of monthly payments and the details of the payment plans

But as I said, none of this was done

So, you are saying that you bought an insurance policy without knowing the premium you were paying?
They are not required to go through the terms other than key things. At renewal, the renewal notice would have covered most of these.
Why do you think they have to do this at renewal?

societys_child

[TLDR - Former employer didn't go through and FCA compliance with me when selling me insurance, can I take them to the financial ombudsman for it?]

Seriously?


I've been buying insurance products for many, many years, a policy booklet has always been provided, along with the advise to check that the policy is suitable for my needs.


Never expected anyone to go through it with me . . .sentence by sentence, good heavens . .

-taff

JJF182 wrote: »

While on the phone there is a long listing of things they have to go through, for example -

- Total amount payable and the breakdown of this
- The basic terms of the policy so the excess and any other limitations
- The breakdown of monthly payments and the details of the payment plans

But as I said, none of this was done

How do you intend to prove this?