Making an income protection claim with Bestinsurance (via Claimscog)

Djelibabyy

Hey!

Not sure if this is the best place to ask this or not. Mods, please delete if inappropriate :)

Tldr; making claim (30 day excess) for a Bestinsurance policy via Claimscog for income protection insurance, which is dragging on. Cover should of started already (first payment due end of this month)

Read reviews for Bestinsurance and they're dreadful. Claimscog positive. Wondering if anyone has had a positive experience when it comes to actually claiming income protection with this company and your experience with it.

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I took out a income protection policy via Comparethemarket 4 years ago, the policy admin was Howden insurance at the time. Then, a few years go by, and it would appear my policies were sold off to Bestinsurance (I didn't notice/care really at the time, i had the same deal i agreed to years earlier at the same price).

I was made redundant from a long term (8+ year) job towards the end of last year.

Has anyone got any experience with Bestinsurance (or Claimscog, who are in the same building, but handle the claims for Best) in regards to claiming?

My heart sank when i saw their trustpilot score, especially as i'm sat here waiting for a decision. Quite a few reviews are 1 star (although to be honest, reading them, i'd say 80% of them tried to claim when they clearly couldn't. Not realising they had an excess period, or an initial exclusion period, or tried to claim accident insurance for a bad back, etc).

I'm hoping to hear from someone who had a positive experience with them, basically.

It's worth noting after reading my policy document about 10+ times, i absolutely qualify for this insurance, i tick every box. I was 99.9% confident mid-way through my claim, just in the last few weeks have i discovered the shocking reviews.. They do claim to have a 95% claim acceptance rate on their site tho :shrug:

When i call them for an update it's a case of "I cannot comment on individual claims, when i have an update from the underwriter i'll let you know"

I'm going to go back to twiddling my thumbs while i await my decision. Been twiddling my thumbs for about 2 months.

:shrug:

MyRealNameToo

Howdens are an insurance broker, dont know Best Insurance but they arent PRA authorised so they arent an insurer either.

Howden are still selling ASU and Income Protection so would be odd for them to have offloaded a book to another intermediary and certainly one as small as Best Insurance. If the actual insurer had changed there is a long legal process for that as the High Court has to approve it (Im assuming it's not an ASU policy).

Intermediaries can have delegated authorities to handle claims but many dont. On the basis they are saying its with the underwriter (aka the insurer) it sounds like they dont so are just awaiting the response from them. As you say, many give bad reviews because they didnt get what they want and dont balance that with the fact they weren't entitled with what they wanted either.

Djelibabyy

Just going through my emails and Howden Life & Health bought my plan with Bestinsurance:

It's Nigel from Howden Life & Health. Just to confirm we have set up your accident, sickness and unemployment policy with Best Insurance and your cover has now started. 

So i'm a bit wrong there. Eitherway, i'm after any positive experiences from people who've had to claim for unemployment via Bestinsurance / Claimscog, if any of those people exist 🤣

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81921883#Comment_81921883

Ok, so your broker sold you a policy from another intermediary… fairly common, there can be a long chain of companies in the supply chain before you get to the actual insurer, you get "wholesale brokers" who never sell to the end customer but sell to other retail brokers.

Also good to clarify it's an ASU policy rather than income protection (though they often are marketed as income protection after PPI became a toxic phrase).

ASU are effectively underwritten at the point of claim rather than the point of purchase, its not so unusual therefore for things to be slower when a claim is made as more checks are done -v- IP which can require you to have medicals and a host of other stuff before you can even buy a policy but then claims can be faster as thats all on record

Djelibabyy

That makes sense re: intermediary brokers.

Yep it's ASU (a product called Income anchor to be exact). They've dug deep into the story behind my redundancy and the company i worked for, got references from a senior figure in the business to corroborate the business decision to lay me off after 9 years, etc. They mentioned they'd done all their research etc, and had submitted it to the underwriters for a decision (which can take a week or so max, i'm only on day 3 of waiting).

As i mentioned i fully tick every box, so i'm 75% confident, originally 99.9% prior to reading reviews and the claim handlers going quiet over and over again over the last few months. Didn't realise the amount of work that goes into it when you make a claim, ha.

Fingers crossed.

MyRealNameToo

My ex used to do ASU claims (not the miss selling claims) though not for Best Insurance. They were the underwriter so didnt have that last step and yes, never goes as fast as you would hope but the vast majority of claims were paid out and 99% of those that weren't the person would have known that before they submitted the claim had they actually read the policy book

Because they were owned by the bank selling the policies they even paid out on the cases where the bank had grossly miss-sold the policy, and there were a fair few of those.

The only slight quirk was that the policy excluded self inflicted harm however they would pay out on a suicide but wouldnt payout on a failed suicide attempt. She did nearly tell one customer to try harder next time when they attempted their 3rd claim for a failed suicide and threatened to kill themselves if she declined the claim.

Djelibabyy

that’s grim regarding suicide! Eek!

Thats cool to hear your ex worked in claims and folks who qualified for got approved :) thanks!

MyRealNameToo

Contrary to popular belief insurers do simply apply the terms as stated in the policy. Claims advisors arent rewarded for declining claims but for making correct decisions, they get equally penalised for paying a claim that should have been declined as they are for declining a claim that should have been paid.

If claims are outsourced there is often a conflict of interests because actually the TPA gets paid more for handling higher value claims and often a declined claim is paid at 50% the fee so arguably they are incentivised to accept more with the possible exception of a claim they can deny on day 1 where the time/fee ratio maybe outweighs the higher money of actually handling it.

There are a lot of people who dont read their policybook, or do and decide to take a punt anyway. Thats why classes like Home and Travel have much lower payouts as things like Storm or Delay are precisely defined and a quick check shows you were delayed 10 hours whereas the policy states you get paid £X for each full 12 hour period of delay.

Djelibabyy

I got a call from Bestinsurance/Claimscog together and both my policies have been accepted. Took about a week from submitting my final claim, to underwriters accepting it. So that's good news.

No more sleepless nights worrying about my long term financial commitments. Hooray

Thanks for everything mate :)

PainfulRecovery

I’m going through this with them right now and honestly the whole thing has been beyond frustrating.

I had my accident at the beginning of January and started the Best Insurance claim process about a week later. Towards the end of January I started filling out the ClaimsCog form, which was 48 pages long. The problem was I had multiple serious injuries and was severely incapacitated, so trying to complete a monster form like that was not exactly straightforward.

I contacted both Best Insurance and ClaimsCog by phone and email and explained I was struggling to complete it because of my injuries. I specifically asked whether there was any rush and whether delay in returning it would delay the first payout. I was told no rush, and no, it would not delay any payout.

So I eventually got the form submitted at the start of March, along with ID, bank statements and everything else they wanted.

Since then? Near impossible to get hold of anyone. It’s now been almost 3 months since the accident and still no sign of an actual decision. I was originally led to believe the first payment would be around 60 days after the accident.

In the meantime I’ve had no income for 2 months, I’m behind on rent, and I’m struggling to afford food. So naturally this has all been handled with the speed and compassion of a brick.

What makes it worse is that the claim itself should be about as straightforward as it gets. It was a road traffic collision, not my fault, the other rider was completely illegal, no lights, no insurance, no licence, head-on collision at speed, serious injuries, police seized and crushed the vehicle, and he’s being prosecuted. Yet somehow this still seems to require months of silence and endless chasing.

Also worth noting that ClaimsCog and Best Insurance appear to operate from the same building, and both are closed on Wednesdays, which tells its own story.

My favourite part is the cheery line from their original email in January:

“Should you have any further questions or require assistance at any stage of the claims process, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Our team is here to provide support and ensure a smooth experience for you.”

Yes, absolutely. A wonderfully smooth experience, if by “smooth” they mean being ignored while your finances collapse.

So no, based on my experience so far, I would not describe this process as reassuring, efficient, or remotely well handled.

Djelibabyy

That sucks.@ PainfulRecovery

I had the opposite experience, it sounds my claim was clearly pretty straightforward compared to your medical claim.

I hope things are resolved for you soon! 😍