Hastings Direct Unfair Cancellation: Declare or Not?
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SDK1234
Posts: 2 Newbie
Hastings direct cancelled my insurance policy 9 days before it was due to start because I was playing around with different job titles quotes on comparethemarket.
They even refused a full refund and wanted to keep a £20 admin fee. However after numerous phone calls protesting my innocence they accepted my version and agreed a full refund.
However I pointed out that rather than cancel my policy at a whim, if they had any concerns they should have allowed me to provide documentary evidence or to seek verbal clarification.
However they don’t seem to care. They obviously have too much business coming their way. They even told me they were happy for me to continue to play around with the comparison engines as long as I used dummy data in the future and not my real details!
My biggest concern is about what I say to other insurance provider’s regarding their cancellation. Hastings sent me an email containing the following.
“I accept your version of events and thus the policy has been refunded in full. The fact that we have cancelled your policy in this instance does not need to be declared in the future to other insurers. The policy was cancelled due to the reasons we discussed on the phone call. The policy was not due to start until 30/09/2018 so was not on risk.
The cancellation was within our own systems and is not shared with other insurers.”
Does this email confirmation from them mean that I don’t have to mention the cancellation to other providers or will I be taking a risk by not declaring the cancellation to other insurers?
....or should I be going down the ombudsman route to try and get the cancellation reveresed?
They even refused a full refund and wanted to keep a £20 admin fee. However after numerous phone calls protesting my innocence they accepted my version and agreed a full refund.
However I pointed out that rather than cancel my policy at a whim, if they had any concerns they should have allowed me to provide documentary evidence or to seek verbal clarification.
However they don’t seem to care. They obviously have too much business coming their way. They even told me they were happy for me to continue to play around with the comparison engines as long as I used dummy data in the future and not my real details!
My biggest concern is about what I say to other insurance provider’s regarding their cancellation. Hastings sent me an email containing the following.
“I accept your version of events and thus the policy has been refunded in full. The fact that we have cancelled your policy in this instance does not need to be declared in the future to other insurers. The policy was cancelled due to the reasons we discussed on the phone call. The policy was not due to start until 30/09/2018 so was not on risk.
The cancellation was within our own systems and is not shared with other insurers.”
Does this email confirmation from them mean that I don’t have to mention the cancellation to other providers or will I be taking a risk by not declaring the cancellation to other insurers?
....or should I be going down the ombudsman route to try and get the cancellation reveresed?
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Comments
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Hastings direct cancelled my insurance policy 9 days before it was due to start because I was playing around with different job titles quotes on comparethemarket.
Quite common. Its an anti-fraud measure used by a number of companies.However I pointed out that rather than cancel my policy at a whim, if they had any concerns they should have allowed me to provide documentary evidence or to seek verbal clarification.
The documentary evidence saying what your occupation actually is would help prove the occupation. However, it doesnt resolve the fact that you looking like you were trying to commit insurance fraud. That is a risk they do not want to take on board.However they don’t seem to care. They obviously have too much business coming their way. They even told me they were happy for me to continue to play around with the comparison engines as long as I used dummy data in the future and not my real details!
That is fine and that is what we tell people to do when similar threads appear on this site.Does this email confirmation from them mean that I don’t have to mention the cancellation to other providers or will I be taking a risk by not declaring the cancellation to other insurers?
I don't think it is up to Hastings to decide how other companies may view your actions. You should always answer the questions asked by the insurer as they have been asked. Don't try and guess what you think they want you to answer. If in doubt, ask them.
The FOS has no power to tell hastings to reverse the cancellation. If they do not want to take you on and have voided the policy then that is a commercial decision. Not something the FOS has a remit over.....or should I be going down the ombudsman route to try and get the cancellation reveresed?
if the cancellation was unfair or incorrect then that is a different matter. However, from what you have said, the cancellation is fair.I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.0 -
This is a lesson to new readers, don't use your own data if your chopping and Changing to manipulate your quote."It is prudent when shopping for something important, not to limit yourself to Pound land/Estate Agents"
G_M/ Bowlhead99 RIP0 -
Absolutely as people have said above. Its a common form of quote manipulation. At the end of the day why bother putting in details that are incorrect. Even if you bypass the initial checks insurers do for this sort of thing you run the risk of having your claim turned down. Then not only are you going to struggle to find an alternative insurer your out of pocket due to the claim.0
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I dont think its fair and i dont think its fraud.
Many jobs and job descriptions are very arbitrary and hazy with no clear distinction.
My job had a description at work that was at odds with what most people would think was meant by the words,and my actual job, as opposed to my job description, (eg if my employer had written a reference it would have said "We can confirm that Mr AJ is employed as an XYZ" ) was at odds with what i actually did which was not an XYZ as most would understand it. I sometimes could pick and choose from half a dozen different classifications on insurance forms which would all cover part of what i did.
So its quite possible that instead of the OP choosing between a farmer,a bus driver and CEO, when he actually stacked shelves at Tesco, he was looking at nuanced descriptions any of which could have fitted his actual job.
And as i posted on another thread (that lead me to this one) even something as apparently simple as "retired" has nuances. What defines that? State of mind? Age? Receiving a pension? Not looking for work? Does having a job even for one hour a week mean you arent retired any more? Then mix that in with today's "gig economy" and these arbitrary distinctions look very silly especially when the form just gives you one option to pick with no nuances.0
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