Family Legal Protection 24 May 2022 at 5:42PM in Insurance & life assurance 6 replies 63 views

scagage

Hi 

Just wondered if anyone has had problems with Family Legal Protection. We have purchased this through our house insurance and 2 moths ago put in a claim. So far any progress has been fraught with delays, Insurance company looks at the claim to see if we are covered, passes this on to a claims handing company (which has legal in its name, we were therefore under the impression they were legal people (not the case) and then on to a firm of solicitors (phone call service only several hundred miles away). They are still assessing our claim. Whilst we appreciate that they have to check cover, chances of success etc, 2 months seems unreasonable and we do not even know if they will cover us yet. Additionally they refused to cover us in the past as it was not deemed 'an immediate threat'. Given the 2 months delay it feels like this clause in their policy should not exist as they are not able to provide immediate assistance. Our home insurance company also refused to take a complaint from us as advised the contract is not with them despite the fact we are insured through them and we paid the insurance premium and family protection to them as 1 sum. Personally I do not feel that this is selling fairly as the time to process claims may mean the claim itself becomes invalid. 

Sandtree

FLP is normally a bolt on product which is underwritten by the likes of DAS and Arc rather than by your home insurance provider.

If you wanted to complain about the sales process you'd complain to your broker or home insurer (depending on how you bought). If you want to complain about the claim process you complain to the insurer for the FLP... this is normally spelt out in the complaints and/or FLP section of your policy book.

Personally I think the legal advice line that comes with FLP is useful, I am less convinced by the claims side of the product unless its a simple slip/trip type personal injury claim.

NorthYorkie

My old boss used to say "People think insurance companies exist to pay out claims; they're not, they're there to collect premiums". 

Sandtree

NorthYorkie said:

My old boss used to say "People think insurance companies exist to pay out claims; they're not, they're there to collect premiums". 

Exactly the same could be said of any commercial enterprise... a gym isnt there to help you get fit, its there to collect membership fees etc. 

There are probably more mutual insurers left in the UK than gyms, banks, supermarkets etc and so the picking on insurers -v- all other business types is questionable. 

Weighty1

NorthYorkie said:

My old boss used to say "People think insurance companies exist to pay out claims; they're not, they're there to collect premiums". 

So even though Aviva just released their 2021 claims stats showing the paid out over £1bn in claims you think your old boss was correct?

Brie

We had a similar problem with home repair bolt on a few years back.  The insurance company kept referring us to the home repair company who kept saying they would deal with the issue when they had a chance but knew it wasn't urgent so knew we would be happy to wait. 

This was for a broken toilet, the only one in our house, so no toilet for over 2 months!!  And they kept repeating that it wasn't urgent despite me phoning them daily. 

In the end I went back to the insurance company and complained.  When they tried to push back I pointed out that my contract was with them, that I had paid the money to them and that that made them responsible for ensuring I was satisfied with a service that they were providing.  The fact that it was some independent bod doing the repair work was immaterial. Eventually it was resolved and the toilet fixed an a suitable compensation was paid for our lack of convenience.

Sandtree

Brie said:

In the end I went back to the insurance company and complained.  When they tried to push back I pointed out that my contract was with them, that I had paid the money to them and that that made them responsible for ensuring I was satisfied with a service that they were providing.  The fact that it was some independent bod doing the repair work was immaterial. Eventually it was resolved and the toilet fixed an a suitable compensation was paid for our lack of convenience.

This is the problem though... there are two insurance companies involved in this case.

The OP bought a policy made up of, for example, buildings and contents insurance from Axa and FLP from Arc Legal. The OP is saying they bought from Axa and so Axa should be on the hook for the actions of Arc Legal but the FOS and regulators dont see it like that when you are talking about two fully authorised/regulated companies.