Home Insurance Cancelled Without Notification

unknownlad

Hello all.

We had home insurance with the same provider, paid by DD, for a number of years. Upon moving house, I called and arranged change of address.

I received email notification that cover was in place on the new address, schedule of cover in the post to the new address, confirmation of the new premiums and even a survey to ask how my experience was.

Some months later, we had a flood in our property from a burst pipe, and when I called insurance to claim I was told that our policy was cancelled on the date that I asked for it to be switched to the new property.

I made a complaint to the insurance company, and they stated that they had changed it to an annual policy on that date in error. They claim to have then sent me numerous emails asking for an annual premium to be paid, before then cancelling the policy. I have asked for copies of these emails to be forwarded, which they confirmed they will do, but these have still not been received. None of this should have been necessary as they should simply have updated the direct debit.

The end result is they are taking no responsibility for the error and insist that I should be checking my direct debits monthly to make sure that it is being paid, and are now asking that I close the complaint.

Since no premiums were being paid, I have no cover in place and will now have to finance the repairs myself. Should there be any liability in place for the insurer? If not to pay out and arrange repairs on the claim, then at least as compensation for their error causing this issue?

TELLIT01

If you were previously paying monthly why did you not notice that the DD was no longer going out?

Seasalt3

It's your responsibility to check the monthly dd payments being collected

DullGreyGuy

Generally speaking if the insurer can prove emails were sent and you confirm the email address they were sent to was correct (and on the basis you got the other materials I'd assume it is) then the ombudsman will consider that the insurer has acted reasonably and any over zealous spam filter you or your email provider uses is your own fault. 

Ultimately you have nothing to lose by escalating the complaint/not accepting their response but you need to be realistic of the likely outcome. You'd probably argue a token payment for a general mistake being made but I doubt they'd consider anything towards the loss. 

Your other consideration is the two factors of 1) now having to declare a cancelled policy and 2) having to say you have continuously held insurance for 0 years both will have impact on your future premiums. They may be more amenable to allowing you to buy cover starting from today with the credit of ignoring the period of uninsurance. This next year at least will give you a schedule you can use to take your business elsewhere. 

dunstonh

The end result is they are taking no responsibility for the error and insist that I should be checking my direct debits monthly to make sure that it is being paid, and are now asking that I close the complaint.

I suspect you are going to need to raise a complaint.  The complaints team will have more discretion to handle things than the front line staff who will largely work off scripts.

Expectations will depend on the phone call recording.   If the phone call gave the impression you were covered at the new property then I would expect the complaint to be upheld and the claim accepted with any premiums you should have paid either requested or deducted from the claim settlement.

Did you receive a policy document/schedule for the new address?

DullGreyGuy

dunstonh said:
Did you receive a policy document/schedule for the new address?

unknownlad said:

I received email notification that cover was in place on the new address, schedule of cover in the post to the new address, confirmation of the new premiums and even a survey to ask how my experience was., then at least as compensation for their error causing this issue?

Seems like it... was then cancelled for non-payment

unknownlad

dunstonh said:

The end result is they are taking no responsibility for the error and insist that I should be checking my direct debits monthly to make sure that it is being paid, and are now asking that I close the complaint.

I suspect you are going to need to raise a complaint.  The complaints team will have more discretion to handle things than the front line staff who will largely work off scripts.

Expectations will depend on the phone call recording.   If the phone call gave the impression you were covered at the new property then I would expect the complaint to be upheld and the claim accepted with any premiums you should have paid either requested or deducted from the claim settlement.

Did you receive a policy document/schedule for the new address?

I have raised a complain with the insurer, and they are the ones who have advised that two emails were sent. They confirmed that these have been sent again, but also not received (although I have received a newsletter and feedback request from them so no issue with the email address).

The call stated that we were covered and documents would be received soon, and I got a follow-up email confirming as much. We received a schedule of cover to our new address confirming everything that is covered, so at this point we considered it sorted.

We don't religiously check that each individual DD is still in place, in this world of Consumer Duty then it should not be on the consumer to check that the providers are taking their premiums when they state.

At the end of the day, we're not expecting them to cover the cost of the claim, as premiums were not being paid. Additionally the property is a new build, so the contractor should be responsible for putting it right as there was no fault on our part for the damage and the property is less than 2 years old.
But we do expect some kind of recompense from the insurer given their errors and the additional hassle and stress this is causing.

bluelad1927

unknownlad said:

dunstonh said:

The end result is they are taking no responsibility for the error and insist that I should be checking my direct debits monthly to make sure that it is being paid, and are now asking that I close the complaint.

I suspect you are going to need to raise a complaint.  The complaints team will have more discretion to handle things than the front line staff who will largely work off scripts.

Expectations will depend on the phone call recording.   If the phone call gave the impression you were covered at the new property then I would expect the complaint to be upheld and the claim accepted with any premiums you should have paid either requested or deducted from the claim settlement.

Did you receive a policy document/schedule for the new address?

We don't religiously check that each individual DD is still in place, in this world of Consumer Duty then it should not be on the consumer to check that the providers are taking their premiums when they state.

It absolutely should be and is the consumers duty to manage their own finances

sheramber

unknownlad said:

dunstonh said:

The end result is they are taking no responsibility for the error and insist that I should be checking my direct debits monthly to make sure that it is being paid, and are now asking that I close the complaint.

I suspect you are going to need to raise a complaint.  The complaints team will have more discretion to handle things than the front line staff who will largely work off scripts.

Expectations will depend on the phone call recording.   If the phone call gave the impression you were covered at the new property then I would expect the complaint to be upheld and the claim accepted with any premiums you should have paid either requested or deducted from the claim settlement.

Did you receive a policy document/schedule for the new address?

I have raised a complain with the insurer, and they are the ones who have advised that two emails were sent. They confirmed that these have been sent again, but also not received (although I have received a newsletter and feedback request from them so no issue with the email address).

The call stated that we were covered and documents would be received soon, and I got a follow-up email confirming as much. We received a schedule of cover to our new address confirming everything that is covered, so at this point we considered it sorted.

We don't religiously check that each individual DD is still in place, in this world of Consumer Duty then it should not be on the consumer to check that the providers are taking their premiums when they state.

At the end of the day, we're not expecting them to cover the cost of the claim, as premiums were not being paid. Additionally the property is a new build, so the contractor should be responsible for putting it right as there was no fault on our part for the damage and the property is less than 2 years old.
But we do expect some kind of recompense from the insurer given their errors and the additional hassle and stress this is causing.

in this world of Consumer Duty then it should not be on the consumer to check that the providers are taking their premiums when they state.

What does Consumer Duty mean if not it is the the consumer’s duty to do it?

XRS200

Consumer duty is a concept in insurance, regulated firms must act to deliver good outcomes for customers

DullGreyGuy

sheramber said:

unknownlad said:

dunstonh said:

The end result is they are taking no responsibility for the error and insist that I should be checking my direct debits monthly to make sure that it is being paid, and are now asking that I close the complaint.

I suspect you are going to need to raise a complaint.  The complaints team will have more discretion to handle things than the front line staff who will largely work off scripts.

Expectations will depend on the phone call recording.   If the phone call gave the impression you were covered at the new property then I would expect the complaint to be upheld and the claim accepted with any premiums you should have paid either requested or deducted from the claim settlement.

Did you receive a policy document/schedule for the new address?

I have raised a complain with the insurer, and they are the ones who have advised that two emails were sent. They confirmed that these have been sent again, but also not received (although I have received a newsletter and feedback request from them so no issue with the email address).

The call stated that we were covered and documents would be received soon, and I got a follow-up email confirming as much. We received a schedule of cover to our new address confirming everything that is covered, so at this point we considered it sorted.

We don't religiously check that each individual DD is still in place, in this world of Consumer Duty then it should not be on the consumer to check that the providers are taking their premiums when they state.

At the end of the day, we're not expecting them to cover the cost of the claim, as premiums were not being paid. Additionally the property is a new build, so the contractor should be responsible for putting it right as there was no fault on our part for the damage and the property is less than 2 years old.
But we do expect some kind of recompense from the insurer given their errors and the additional hassle and stress this is causing.

in this world of Consumer Duty then it should not be on the consumer to check that the providers are taking their premiums when they state.

What does Consumer Duty mean if not it is the the consumer’s duty to do it?

https://www.forbes.com/uk/advisor/personal-finance/2023/07/31/consumer-duty/

Read the above, its about FCA regulated companies' duty to their customers