HomeProtect cashbacks never materialise

dllive

Hi,

I was told when I renewed my policy Id get cashback, paid into my bank account. It never arrived. 3 times over Live Chat theyve promised it will be in my account with 24 hours. Its never arrived. Its been well over the 90 days since I took out the renewal.

I suspect some of these cashbacks 'go missing' and its only the more 'attentive' customers that notice the cashback not arriving. How often do cashbacks never happen? I could hazard a guess. 

Is there any further recourse? Ive made a note of the dates/times and the Live Chats Ive had. Is there a 3rd party (ombudsmen?) I can go to? Its just the principal of the matter.

Thanks

DullGreyGuy

Insurance is covered by the Financial Ombudsman. To be able to escalate to them you need to have logged a complaint with the company in question and either received their final response or 8 weeks have passed since the complaint was logged, which ever happens first. 

Was this an offer directly from HomeProtect or are you talking about going via a cash back site like Quidco? 

Can't say I've heard of companies doing cash back on a renewal but ok, just make sure you are using the right language, a renewal would be the acceptance of the renewal quote whereas many will lapse their existing policy then buy again as a new customer and obtain cash back that way which technically isnt a renewal.

dllive

@DullGreyGuy - youre right. Im probably not using the right language. When my renewal came up, and the quote was substantially more than what it was - I phoned them to negotiate it down. They said they cant offer reductions on the quote (its 'against regulations' apparently!) but they could give me cashback of £10 within 60 - 90 days of the renewal date, which I accepted.

I havnt raised a complaint. I shall do that quickly. Im pleased I have record of date/time and exactly what was said in each of the Live Chats.

Cheers

DullGreyGuy

It's against regs to offer new customers a cheaper price than renewing customers via the same channel, product etc but not the other way around. Cashback or vouchers directly from the vendors, rather than via Quidco etc all have to be considered whereas non-cash like gifts (eg cuddle teddy bear) doesn't. So £10 off or £10 cash back is the same though there may be a slightly different accounting treatment for them which may explain why they prefer one over the other.