Law/Rules regarding insurance company charges for policy cancellation?

dacouch

vladman said:

dacouch said:

The Ombudsman would generally require the Insurer to provide a pro rata refund less any admin charges unless the Insurer can prove a business reason to the Ombudsman for them not providing a pro rata refund

Are you saying that, at least in theory, even after agreening to their T&Cs, the requirement to provide a business reason for their policy on this to the Ombudsman still stands, so to speak? If I were to attempt to take this further? I'm not sure it's worth the time and effort, but I'd still like to understand.

Many thanks for your help.

I made a complaint about two years ago about not receiving a pro rate refund after cancelling in my ten month and after my complaint I received a pro rate refund less the broker's standard cancellation fees.
I documented it in full on this forum if you can find it.
If you can't I recommend you write a complaint letter to the broker and insurer and cite relevant cases from the Ombudsman's website. There are plenty on there, but choose ones that are relevant to your case. If the they do not relent (I would be surprised if they don't) you can then take it to the Ombudsman
You can search on this link, try terms such as "Pro rata cancellation" and "Short term rate cancellation"
https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/data-insight/ombudsman-decisions
I can't be bothered to spend time searching but here are a couple I found quickly, it's important you find cases that are similar to your own

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/files/29977/DRN0586113.pdf

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/files/133188/DRN5251658.pdf

Here is an example of the Ombudsman's view of a policy that just justify a short period cancellation 
https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/files/120220/DRN4722997.pdf

You really would need to spend some time searching for relevant decisions (There are plenty) it's a case of finding the right search words. You'll probably need to expand the year back to 2017

If you can find my case review of my own complaint it has a copy of my letter, relevant Ombudsman cases with reasonings as to why they are relevant to my complaint.
If you have not got round to it in a couple of weeks time and we have a lock down, I might draft it for you if I'm stuck indoors for a few weeks

dacouch

I've found my complaint letter, here are the cases I used

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/files/98776/DRN3820533.pdf

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/files/142215/DRN5614510.pdf
My post would have been May or June 2019

vladman

dacouch said:

I've found my complaint letter, here are the cases I used

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/files/98776/DRN3820533.pdf

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/files/142215/DRN5614510.pdf
My post would have been May or June 2019

That's all very useful, many thanks!

dacouch

Here is my case study on my own cancellation, I received a pro rate refund before the matter went to the Ombudsman
Which Insurer are you with?
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6004361/case-study-offical-complaint-re-short-period-cancellation

vladman

Should I say the name of the broker/insurer here (publicly)? Yes, I managed to find your thread, but many thanks for finding it and sending the link. However,  I couldn't find a copy of your own letter of complaint, could you possibly forward that to me, as I think it would be very useful in drafting my own complaint. 

Thank you for your help with this. 

dunstonh

Should I say the name of the broker/insurer here (publicly)?

No.  Some companies do not like being mentioned and may take action against you.

vladman

Hi,

I have an update, and I thought I'd share here, in case it helps anyone else in a similar situation.

After complaining to my broker, and mentioning the FOS and that they largely rule in the favour of a complainant, and saying I could provide links to many similar real-life cases, etc, the insurer agreed to refund me a pro-rata sum, rather than their original short-term cancellation offer. The broker themselves still took their cut from that amount, but also waived a portion of their fee.

I'm quite pleased with that result, and a biggest thanks goes to @dacouch for encouragning me to pursue this, and providing me with many useful links.

It's still not over for me, I have another case I'm pursuing, it's not insurance, but it's very similar, but in this case I paid for 2 years in advance, in full, had to cancel after 4.5 months (returning their equipment) and they're refusing to refund me ANYTHING! I'm trying to use the same approach, no result so far, but I will be patient and persist.

dacouch

Great news and thanks for the update, it may help someone in future who is in a similar position and finds this page via google.