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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think I have an insurance policy?

41 replies

Alyosha · 02/09/2018 11:41

I think I am definitely not being unreasonable but sadly my insurance company doesn't seem to agree.

I am currently 8 months pregnant and our house was burgled a few days ago. We have homes & contents insurance and need to claim on the home bit of it as our back doors were completely destroyed.

I have an insurance policy which we got through compare the market, which we actually bought through a broker which turned out to be underwritten by another insurance company.

We rang to claim, were told everything was in progress and we should ring our policy's underwriters.

We did this...to be told there was no record of our policy!! We were referred back to the broker...who referred us back to the underwriter...who referred us back to the broker...who referred us back to the underwriter...

I have an insurance policy, I've paid for it, I've got the documents with the right risk address, policy details etc, but every time I speak to the insurer they say they can't do anything even though I have a policy.

I feel like I'm being driven mad!

OP posts:
RedneckStumpy · 02/09/2018 11:44

That sucks. Go to the website CEO email and email the director.

AudaciousCockerel · 02/09/2018 11:54

Who is the policy with? What is the branding on the policy - eg Tesco?

99namesandnot1works · 02/09/2018 11:58

Who did you pay? It is for them to sort out, so if you paid the Broker tell them they need to confirm what has happened with the Underwriting Insurer. If they refer you again tell them you want to make a complaint in line with your FOS rights.

Violetroselily · 02/09/2018 12:04

Who told you everything was in progress? The broker?

Which insurer is on the policy document?

inquiquotiokixul · 02/09/2018 12:07

Sounds like you could have been the victim of a fraud of some kind - could the broker have faked the documents and pocketed the premium? Or it could have been sheer incompetence if they were supposed to register the sale and failed.

This would never have been discovered if you hadn't been burgled. Chances are you won't be the only victim - might be appropriate to see if the police can investigate? What is the value of the repairing and replacements needed? Keep receipts for everything, you will probably have to sue someone in the small claims court once it can be established what happened.

AudaciousCockerel · 02/09/2018 12:13

I mean ghost brokering does happen but seriously what’s more statistically likely is that you’ve misunderstood who you need to contact, OR information has not been accurately conveyed to you and you need to contact someone different to who you have spoken to already.

Let’s not go mad and start involving the police just yet, eh?

Violetroselily · 02/09/2018 12:18

Yes ghost broking is a bit of a reach Hmm particularly if the initial search was done through an aggregator

SleepingInYourFlowerbed · 02/09/2018 12:19

A broker through compare the market? That doesn't make much sense. A broker's job is to compare policies and advise you so they wouldn't be on compare the market. If it's a company providing insurance which is actually underwritten by a different company behind the branding, you should contact the front company,not the Underwriters

Violetroselily · 02/09/2018 12:53

Lots of brokers are on aggregator websites e.g. Swinton, AA. They place you with one of their panel insurers, which is likely what happened with OP.

YesThisIsMe · 02/09/2018 13:12

I agree that there are loads of brokers on the aggregator websites so that’s not implausible. Cockup is more likely than fraud if you got there through an aggregator.

Have you sent the underwriter copies of all your paperwork? Assuming that there isn’t a misunderstanding with the policy references (a human at the insurance company should be able to point you to the right bit of the documents if that’s the problem), I’d ring the broker first thing tomorrow and say that if they don’t talk to the underwriter and find your policy within 24 hours you’ll make an official complaint and then escalate to the Ombudsman if necessary.

Look at the broker’s website to find their complaints procedure.

Birdsgottafly · 02/09/2018 13:16

It's been said, but go to the Ombudsman.

Tell both the broker and the Company that you are going to do this.

YesThisIsMe · 02/09/2018 13:22

You can’t go to the Ombudsman until you’ve made an official complaint to the company and given them a specified amount of time to deal with it. But you absolutely can say “This is an official complaint and I’m going to be off to the FOS the instant the time period is up if you don’t get it sorted”

Topsyloulou · 02/09/2018 13:22

When you buy a policy through a broker they take a record of all your details & set the policy up on their system. They then transfer that information to the underwriter electronically, sometimes daily, sometimes monthly depending on the underwriter. It sounds like this part if the process may have fallen down if you have definitely paid and have documents. It's the broker's responsibility to update the underwriter so I would ask to speak to a manager at the broker and get them to take ownership of this. It should take a simple email / call from the broker to the underwriter to rectify & the you should be able to proceed with your claim.

CityFarmer · 02/09/2018 13:25

:O

Original poster
Alyosha · 02/09/2018 18:50

Thanks for everyone's advice. The broker is legit - it's Dial Direct. It sounds like it was some kind of cock up with them transferring my details correctly to the underwriter.

I spoke to Dial Direct on Thursday and they called Aviva for me, it sounded as though it had all been sorted out, but they promised a call back that never actually came, I rang again and none of the details were logged and I was back at square one.

I will ring again on Monday and hope that there is someone more senior on duty I can speak to.

I'm tired of being told it's the other company's responsibility; it sounds like from what people are saying that it's the broker's responsibility?

OP posts:
BarbaraofSevillle · 02/09/2018 19:18

If you've got the right documents, money has left your account, and you haven't been a victim of ghost brokering or other fraud, I'm sure it will be sorted.

Worst case scenario would be if the broker has made a mistake and not set the policy up correctly and in that case it would be up to them to pay you out directly, or for them to claim on their liability insurance.

99namesandnot1works · 02/09/2018 20:50

If you paid Dial Direct it's for them to sort out. Aviva will deal with the claim as Dial Direct will have authority from Aviva to sell policies in their behalf. Tell Dial Direct you want it resolving and make a complaint about the delays encountered so far, I would have expected them to have already have logged one but tell them in no uncertain terms that is what needs to happen now.

NewUserNameTime · 02/09/2018 20:58

Was the paperwork from Dial Direct or Aviva themselves?

I've had several different types of insurance with Aviva and always found them to be excellent. Both when changing policy information or making claims

Good luck

WrongKindOfFace · 02/09/2018 21:13

I used to have a policy with dial direct (I changed because the price went up, not because they were shite). Anyway, you could log in to their self service portal and see all of your documents - can you do that? secure.dialdirect.co.uk/SelfService

WrongKindOfFace · 02/09/2018 21:14

Oops, wrong link. secure.dialdirect.co.uk/SelfService/Security/Login/LoginRegister

Original poster
Alyosha · 02/09/2018 22:22

Paperwork and policy was with Dial Direct, they told me it was underwritten by Aviva and everything should go through them.

I see from this thread that actually it is Dial Direct's responsibility and have written them an email outlining the facts and making a complaint.

I'll ring them again tomorrow.

I've double checked all my documents and I definitely insured the right property in the right timescale and it says it's underwritten by Aviva. Everyone I've spoken to has been very nice at both companies but it's a lot of buck passing...

OP posts:
Original poster
Alyosha · 02/09/2018 22:23

Can see all my documents but not much help - everyone agrees I have a policy but no one seems to be able to tell me how to claim. It's a big "not our problem" from both sides.

OP posts:
InsuranceGirl · 02/09/2018 22:36

Make a complaint to your broker requesting full details of your policy and proof they arranged it by their notes and also request details of their professional indemnity policy - brokers should have this in place (as do other parties) which means if they have not given correct advice or in this case actually arranged the policy (based on Aviva's response) you can then claim under that.

A broker I worked for in the past had problems with their computer system so although they were issuing policies, not every policy was confirming with the insurers. The broker had to pay out a lot as a result and had a fight on their hands with their professional indemnity insurer to prove they were not aware of the issue.

Alpacanorange · 02/09/2018 22:41

If you have proof of giving them money, bank statements... then you have a policy.

Original poster
Alyosha · 02/09/2018 22:42

At this point I'm less interested in the blame game, I just need to know how I can claim to get my bloody back doors fixed!

It's sounding like I'll have to wait weeks and weeks and the baby will be here before I'm actually going to have made progress :(

OP posts:
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