Paid for home insurance twice - can I recover costs?

ringley

Hi folks, not sure if this is the right place to put this, as it's an insurance/current account/complaint type query! I'll try it here, someone can always move it!

In May, my wife returned to work after maternity leave, and should have received a full month's pay at the end of the month. An admin error by her employer meant that she wasn't paid, and will now get double pay at the end of June. (The employer will not accept liability for the error, it was mostly their fault but partly ours).

May was also home insurance renewal month, and I duly sorted this out at a cost of £369. The policy began 2 days before my wife's pay day so I was unaware of the pay problem at that time. When we realised that she wasn't going to get paid, we immediately rang that bank to explain the situation and they extended our overdraft to £500, but anything over £100 was subject to interest charges.

When I checked my account online a few days later, i discovered that the £369 insurance payment had gone out, but they'd taken the payment twice!, taking us from £100 in credit to over £200 in debit, i.e. into our charged overdraft. The insurer rectified the mistake, but we will still pick up a small charge for these days spent in our overdraft. Can we realistically claim that expense back from the insurer as it was their mistake and we wouldn't have incurred the charges but for their error? Any thoughts?

Thanks

telly-addict

Simple answer is yes, IMHO.

The insurer's error, so they should compensate you for any charges incurred as a result. Suggest that you get in touch with them by phone asap to notify them of the problem and then follow up by letter. Don't let them fob you off, which they will probably try to do unless you stick to your guns.

dunstonh

inform both of dual insurance send to proof to each other and ask them to decide who will pay back. Often they share 50/50

telly-addict

dunstonh wrote:

inform both of dual insurance send to proof to each other and ask them to decide who will pay back. Often they share 50/50

I don't think that this is a cases of dual insurance, rather the same insurer has collected the premium twice! The insurer's error has resulted in the overdraft charge.

dunstonh

Sorry, misread the bit on the same insurer. In fact I misread quite a lot. That will teach me to post when I'm in a hurry.

The insurer should be responsible for the error and costs incurred.