Building + contents insurance: opinions of Acorn Insurance?

Sumarokov

I have been with Acorn Insurance for a year since becoming a home owner and finding them using the Go Compare website. It is now time to renew my policy for another year and, to be honest, I am not terribly impressed.

It turns out that their customer portal does not work (is not operationable), but there is no message on the website about this. I was sent an email to say that the policy will be automatically extended using the same means of payment as before, unless I contact them - but they are hard to get hold of. There is no email address and, when I called, I get the standard (dreaded?) "we are experiencing a higher volume of calls than usual right now" message. There is a "call back" service, which I activated, but I was not called back.

I would have thought that an insurance company would have been just a step down from the emergency services: on hand right away if you need them. This attitude of "hiding from the customer" has put my back up and I would be interested to know of anyone who insures their home with a company that is good on response time and general reputation?

TuppenceHapenny

Were there no replies to this post? I'm in a similar position to the OP so would also be interested in opinions of Acorn Insurance.

TuppenceHapenny

If there's nobody out there who has used Acorn Insurance, does anybody have an opinion about the reliability of Trustpilot? The insurance company seems to get a good report on Trustpilot whereas the OP reports a less than good experience with the insurance company, so can Trustpilot be trusted?

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81907363#Comment_81907363

I dont find trust pilot a good source for insurance reviews, a large number are simply a statement on who's selling cheap insurance. Cheap insurance can end up being very expensive when it comes to claims stage and you find its cheap because cover is much less than the more expensive policies.

Claims comments need to be taken with a pinch of salt; many negative comments are because people bought something that, for example, doesnt cover bikes over £500 and so they then post a negative review saying they declined a claim for their £750 bike… thats really a review of their own ability to buy appropriate insurance than the insurer.

Acorn's home insurance is mainly aimed at non-standard risks and is written by their sister company out in Gibraltar. Personally not keen on most Gib based offerings but there are a small number of big names out there like Admiral - plenty more small names and many more bankrupt insurers there than the UK.

TuppenceHapenny

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81907384#Comment_81907384

If I went with Acorn and their sister company in Gibraltar did indeed go bankrupt, what would that mean for my insurance? Would my policy automatically be taken on by another insurance company and continue to be honoured?

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81907511#Comment_81907511

The FSCS would step in, they may find another insurer willing to take the book on or they may deal with it themselves.

For non-mandatory insurance the FSCS provides 90% protection, so if you had no claims and no one wanted to step in you'd get 90% of a partial refund for the time left on cover. If you had a claim that was inflight then they'd pay 90% of the claim less your excess.

Motor is complex because the TP is mandatory and so gets 100% coverage whereas cover for your own vehicle is discretionary and so it only get 90% protection so depending on the blend of the two if you had a motor claim on a failed insurer then it will depend on the blend of 1st and 3rd party elements