Hasting Direct - Rejected Claim for Boundaries Overturned through FOS

unhappyc0nsum3r

Hi Everyone, hope this helps someone being scammed by Hastings.

I wanted to share a rather unhappy exchange with Hastings Insurance (Advantage Insurance Company Limited) for a recent and valid insurance claim, which they rejected and I had to go through FOS to get approved (it was).

My neighbor was sadly scammed by a roofer and during the garage roof installation they purposely damaged my roof beyond repair resulting in a large hole in the roof and needing replacement. I am a single parent and luckily have insurance to cover such eventualities. I also could not afford to replace the roof due to my situation (its also why we have insurance)

The day it happened, I spoke with Hastings, had a call with the claims assessor and straight away they rejected my claim. The reason given was they said it fell outside of the boundaries of the property, which was a very obvious error on their part.

During the initial exchange, I sought some legal advice and reviewed the policy booklet and fine print and could not find any language in the policy that defined borders in they way they were presenting to me. what was very funny was the specific definition for Garage(s) mentioned within the boundaries of the property (indicating they acknowledge multiple boundaries on a property. Several other terms made a similar reference to boundaries.

Hasting rejected the claim again and stuck to their guns and said if I don't like the outcome I can submit a complaint through their complaints team.

I submitted a complaint straight away and Hastings again rejected the complaint stating it does not fall within the boundaries of my property. Yet again I provided them a copy of my land registry plot proving the garage was very much within my property boundaries. after multiple requests for Hastings to highlight where in their policy booklet is defines the boundaries or in the exclusions they could not. Their response again was if I don't like the outcome I can complain the to financial ombudsman.

I submitted a claim against Hasting with the financial ombudsman service waited the appropriate time, and essentially as soon as the case was picked up it was awarded in my favor because the claim was so very clearly valid. In the FOS investigation it was noted they agrees with a comment that corrective actions and training should be implemented by Advantage to ensure cases like these are avoided in future, and I would ask that they prioritise doing so. Unfortunately FOS are not a regulatory they are a mediation service so cannot force them to do anything other that pay a claim.

The claim was settled in full and I was offered £400 compensation. This was honestly not enough but I have no other recourse. because the claim was <£10k no solicitor would pick up the case and the FCA does not look to take on complaints from individuals.

As a consumer I followed the appropriate internal processes, was not rude or demeaning in any of my exchanges and essentially treated it like a business transaction. Hasting claims assessors, the claim assessment manager, and their complaints team all failed in their duty to respond to my complain and honor their legal obligations to cover my claim

It's frustrating that Hasting clearly have a structural design in their claims process that is designed to deny coverage for valid claims and essentially defraud innocent consumers by denying claims that are clearly valid and just hoping people don't bother to follow up or report them to the FOS/FCA.

Essentially this is just a rant post but one I hope helps give others confidence to challenge Hastings and call them out for the fraudulent practices they are currently employing. If your claims rejected then go through the FOS

Anyone who has advice on further action I can take against them either though legal or consumer avenues I would be open to. 

Isthisforreal99

What other compensation do you think would be appropriate? Your claim has been settled in full and £400 awarded. Do you have any financial losses beyond this?

You won't get compensation for stress and inconvenience.

unhappyc0nsum3r

Isthisforreal99 said:

What other compensation do you think would be appropriate? Your claim has been settled in full and £400 awarded. Do you have any financial losses beyond this?

You won't get compensation for stress and inconvenience.

Appreciate you answering a question that was not asked and responding to a post that wasn't really looking for advice on how to claim more compensation, thanks anyway though.

Really what I am looking for, if you are genuinely interested is to make sure Hastings is held to account for its clearly deficient and deceptive practices that impact innocent consumers. Shock horror, this post was about protecting others and not just own interests.

MyRealNameToo

Isthisforreal99 said:

What other compensation do you think would be appropriate? Your claim has been settled in full and £400 awarded. Do you have any financial losses beyond this?

You won't get compensation for stress and inconvenience.

The £400 is the compensation for stress and inconvenience. 

unhappyc0nsum3r said:
The claim was settled in full and I was offered £400 compensation. This was honestly not enough but I have no other recourse. because the claim was <£10k no solicitor would pick up the case and the FCA does not look to take on complaints from individuals.

If you are unhappy with the award as presented by the Adjudicator at the Financial Ombudsman then tell them you dont accept it and request that it is escalated to an ombudsman to review. You will then be asked to provide more details and any supporting evidence.

The compensation you've been offered fits into their third tier which is described as:

 considerable distress, upset and worry – and/or significant inconvenience and disruption that needs a lot of extra effort to sort out

To get into the next tier its:

 substantial distress, upset and worry – even potentially a serious offence or humiliation. There may have been serious disruption to daily life over a sustained period, with the impact felt over many months, sometimes over a year.

You dont say why you dont think £400 is enough but from what you do say it doesnt sound to meet the requirements of the next level of disruption to daily life over months. 

unhappyc0nsum3r

MyRealNameToo said:

Isthisforreal99 said:

What other compensation do you think would be appropriate? Your claim has been settled in full and £400 awarded. Do you have any financial losses beyond this?

You won't get compensation for stress and inconvenience.

The £400 is the compensation for stress and inconvenience. 

unhappyc0nsum3r said:
The claim was settled in full and I was offered £400 compensation. This was honestly not enough but I have no other recourse. because the claim was <£10k no solicitor would pick up the case and the FCA does not look to take on complaints from individuals.

If you are unhappy with the award as presented by the Adjudicator at the Financial Ombudsman then tell them you dont accept it and request that it is escalated to an ombudsman to review. You will then be asked to provide more details and any supporting evidence.

The compensation you've been offered fits into their third tier which is described as:

 considerable distress, upset and worry – and/or significant inconvenience and disruption that needs a lot of extra effort to sort out

To get into the next tier its:

 substantial distress, upset and worry – even potentially a serious offence or humiliation. There may have been serious disruption to daily life over a sustained period, with the impact felt over many months, sometimes over a year.

You dont say why you dont think £400 is enough but from what you do say it doesnt sound to meet the requirements of the next level of disruption to daily life over months. 

Compensation is not the issue here. It's the fact I went through all their processes and they rejected my claim. This is clearly not a one time issue or occurrence and I am getting tired of companies and services screwing over innocent consumers.

Claim rejected, requested review, review rejected, complaint submitted, complain rejected. FOS contacted, claim approved straight away.

My issue is this companied clear default mode is screw people over and I honestly would like to make sure they do not do this to others. I will never go with them again so this will never be an issue for me but companies like this annoy me and want to make sure they do continue to screw other over

MyRealNameToo

unhappyc0nsum3r said:

MyRealNameToo said:

Isthisforreal99 said:

What other compensation do you think would be appropriate? Your claim has been settled in full and £400 awarded. Do you have any financial losses beyond this?

You won't get compensation for stress and inconvenience.

The £400 is the compensation for stress and inconvenience. 

unhappyc0nsum3r said:
The claim was settled in full and I was offered £400 compensation. This was honestly not enough but I have no other recourse. because the claim was <£10k no solicitor would pick up the case and the FCA does not look to take on complaints from individuals.

If you are unhappy with the award as presented by the Adjudicator at the Financial Ombudsman then tell them you dont accept it and request that it is escalated to an ombudsman to review. You will then be asked to provide more details and any supporting evidence.

The compensation you've been offered fits into their third tier which is described as:

 considerable distress, upset and worry – and/or significant inconvenience and disruption that needs a lot of extra effort to sort out

To get into the next tier its:

 substantial distress, upset and worry – even potentially a serious offence or humiliation. There may have been serious disruption to daily life over a sustained period, with the impact felt over many months, sometimes over a year.

You dont say why you dont think £400 is enough but from what you do say it doesnt sound to meet the requirements of the next level of disruption to daily life over months. 

Compensation is not the issue here. It's the fact I went through all their processes and they rejected my claim. This is clearly not a one time issue or occurrence and I am getting tired of companies and services screwing over innocent consumers.

Claim rejected, requested review, review rejected, complaint submitted, complain rejected. FOS contacted, claim approved straight away.

My issue is this companied clear default mode is screw people over and I honestly would like to make sure they do not do this to others. I will never go with them again so this will never be an issue for me but companies like this annoy me and want to make sure they do continue to screw other over

The facts simply dont back up your perception fortunately. 

There was over 950,000 Home insurance claims last year, 8,992 complaints were registered with the Ombudsman of which the Ombudsman upheld (inc partially upheld) 3,570 or in other words 0.38% of all home claims were at least partially overturned... that doesnt sound like the default mode is to screw people over does it?

If you look at Hastings alone they have 4.2m customers but only received 18,123 complaints, Direct Line by comparison has 9m customers and had 42,802 complaints so its not even as if Hastings is a massive outlier and all the complaints the FOS is receiving is theirs (though even if that were true it would still be a modest proportion of claimants)

user1977

unhappyc0nsum3r said:

Essentially this is just a rant post 

In which case the appropriate place for it is Praise, vent & warnings — MoneySavingExpert Forum

sheramber

The OP is asking if there is a way she can get the FOS recommendation  followed up 

I.e.  In the FOS investigation it was noted they agrees with a comment that corrective actions and training should be implemented by Advantage to ensure cases like these are avoided in future, and I would ask that they prioritise doing so.

lincroft1710

unhappyc0nsum3r said:

MyRealNameToo said:

Isthisforreal99 said:

What other compensation do you think would be appropriate? Your claim has been settled in full and £400 awarded. Do you have any financial losses beyond this?

You won't get compensation for stress and inconvenience.

The £400 is the compensation for stress and inconvenience. 

unhappyc0nsum3r said:
The claim was settled in full and I was offered £400 compensation. This was honestly not enough but I have no other recourse. because the claim was <£10k no solicitor would pick up the case and the FCA does not look to take on complaints from individuals.

If you are unhappy with the award as presented by the Adjudicator at the Financial Ombudsman then tell them you dont accept it and request that it is escalated to an ombudsman to review. You will then be asked to provide more details and any supporting evidence.

The compensation you've been offered fits into their third tier which is described as:

 considerable distress, upset and worry – and/or significant inconvenience and disruption that needs a lot of extra effort to sort out

To get into the next tier its:

 substantial distress, upset and worry – even potentially a serious offence or humiliation. There may have been serious disruption to daily life over a sustained period, with the impact felt over many months, sometimes over a year.

You dont say why you dont think £400 is enough but from what you do say it doesnt sound to meet the requirements of the next level of disruption to daily life over months. 

My issue is this companied clear default mode is screw people over and I honestly would like to make sure they do not do this to others. I will never go with them again so this will never be an issue for me but companies like this annoy me and want to make sure they do continue to screw other over

I think you omitted the word not. However there is absolutely no way you can achieve this

eskbanker

unhappyc0nsum3r said:

It's frustrating that Hasting clearly have a structural design in their claims process that is designed to deny coverage for valid claims and essentially defraud innocent consumers by denying claims that are clearly valid and just hoping people don't bother to follow up or report them to the FOS/FCA.

unhappyc0nsum3r said:
Compensation is not the issue here. It's the fact I went through all their processes and they rejected my claim. This is clearly not a one time issue or occurrence and I am getting tired of companies and services screwing over innocent consumers.

[...]

My issue is this companied clear default mode is screw people over and I honestly would like to make sure they do not do this to others.

What makes you believe that it's clear that your case is representative of everyone else's and that you can legitimately generalise like that?

born_again

sheramber said:

The OP is asking if there is a way she can get the FOS recommendation  followed up 

I.e.  In the FOS investigation it was noted they agrees with a comment that corrective actions and training should be implemented by Advantage to ensure cases like these are avoided in future, and I would ask that they prioritise doing so.

In a word no.
Any changes will be internal & not for public consumption.