House fire; found out home insurance not autorenewed

DullGreyGuy

Owlypebble said:

I am surprised though that email is deemed sufficient, and enough duty of care, for something so life shattering when a letter is so much more likely to be seen.

Do you know if there are professionals who support with complaints etc, and what type they would be?

Most insures these days ask how you want communications and then follow the request. Less so these days but I used to spend months from home with work so a letter was totally useless to me but I can pickup email from anywhere in the world hence always ask for email comms. 

Having been in consumer insurance before email was a big thing... people missed letters just as easily as they miss emails. Obviously we'll never know if Royal Mail lost them or they assumed it was advertising and threw it as junk etc. 

The likes of the Citizens Advice will help but I'd struggle to call them "professional"

Emmia

Unfortunately I think the costs of non-insurance must fall upon you.

Not on the insurance company,  you didn't pay, you failed to notice the email reminders... I'm sorry if that's harsh but this is the risk you run by changing your cards and being inattentive to your email.

Owlypebble

@Aretnap I completely missed your comment yesterday, but have just found it now - so glad I did. I don't know anything about the insurance industry/complaint process/FOS, and it sounds like it would be useful to get up to speed. I haven't yet read the thread in full (but I will do that).
But, in brief, it seems that FOS decisions are a good place to start for understanding the kind of arguments that might be possible. Are they binding like court decisions (obviously understanding that no two cases are likely to be the same)? Are you able to point me in the direction of what the starting point for FOS decisions is based on, e.g. statute (which one(s)), industry guidelines, consumer law. For example, where does the basis of the question 'Did they do all they reasonably could?' come from?
Would it be a type of solicitor that could help with this sort of complaint?

Note your thoughts on arguing on similar principles to the case you linked. We didn't receive a letter. We received 1 email saying our insurance had been renewed (ahead of the renewal date); then one alerting us to the payment issue in which the subject line appearing on my phone is 'Your Home Insurance p...'; and then the one saying that our insurance had been cancelled with the subject line appearing on my phone being 'Your Home Insurance c...'

Thanks so much for your help.

DullGreyGuy

The FOS prior decisions do not form precedent and so whilst they tend to be fairly consistent in their findings they aren't bound to like a lower court would be by a higher court. 

The FOS's formal remit is to find fair outcomes, they are guided by statute etc but are not bound to come to the same conclusion as a court will. You will see this commented often in their S75 decisions. There are two tiers of complaints process, the first is an adjudicator/investigator and if either party dont agree it then goes to tier two of an Ombudsman (not THE ombudsman). All decisions from an Ombudsman is published on their website and can be searched. 

[Deleted User]

I think you have good grounds for a complaint here, if they didn't send any letters or call you. The FOS has tended to judge that in cases where insurance is cancelled, the insurer needs to make a good effort to contact the customer, given that the consequences can be dire. In the case of motor insurance it can result in the customer unwittingly committing a crime.

You can turn that feature in Gmail off, I suggest everyone does.

Unfortunately it's a very long and drawn out process, so I'm the short term you will have to pay for everything yourself and hope to claim it back. Keep receipts. Start by calling the insurance company and explaining that had you seen the notification you would have updated your payment details, and if they refuse start a formal complaint.

Owlypebble

Thank you so much @[Deleted User]. We weren't sure what was best re: incurring costs now. In theory, if a complaint was found in our favour, and we had receipts, could costs of remedial work be claimed back? We didn't want to jeopardise being able to claim later by starting things now but equally, given the length of the process, if we don't start remedial work the house will get in a worse state in the meantime.

I had over 50 emails that day, so I"m not sure turning off that feature in my email would have helped. As another poster has said, putting them as a safe sender could help, if one had the email address communications about renewal would come from. But tbh I, and I suspect many others, don't know how to do this, which is another reason I think email only, without a postal letter, is inadequate due this scenario. I don't get 50 letters btw. I'm not arguing with you btw & more jotting down thoughts for anyone stumbling across this thread in the future.

@DullGreyGuy Thanks for all the info, really useful. 

DullGreyGuy

Not to be a negative Nancy but arguments over emails not being received etc are not viewed well by the Ombudsman, the below are a pair classic cases where the policyholder states they lost access to their email address or emails were filtered to junk and so didnt receive the request/chasers for the NCD, the threat of cancellation nor the notice of cancellation. The Ombudsman didnt uphold the complaints. 

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decision/DRN4057821.pdf
https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decision/DRN7753100.pdf

As to doing repairs whilst the complaint is being handled... make sure you have decent photos of all the damage before repairs start, ideally get more than 1 estimate for the repairs to show the one you've selected is reasonable and keep all the paperwork. 

Owlypebble

Thanks @DullGreyGuy. Really useful to see the previous decisions, and where differences lie.
I suppose I also feel that a) introducing autorenewal, a device which people, especially families like ours in crisis mode, will rely on whilst b) using email to notify of cancellations for something so life shattering has significantly reduced the care given to consumers, whilst providing huge benefits to insurance companies. Appreciate it might not be an Ombudsman decision, in that it probably relates to the insurance industry as a whole, rather than the individual company we are dealing with.

twopenny

For the future you could try asking for a paper copy of bills/renewals. 
It's still possible. They may argue and whine a bit but (so far) I've managed this.
You still get the emails as well so it's belt and braces for those of us that have a bit of a whirlpool going on.

[Deleted User]

Get the urgent work done that can't wait, to make the house habitable. The stuff that can wait they will want to save money by using their own people.

Good luck with your complaint. It really isn't unreasonable to expect a letter for home insurance, given how important it is.