To expect a full refund?

[9Gizmo]

We've had a home insurance policy for the past year or so and recently had an issue with our plumbing, called the insurance for the first time and they sent a plumber out (we had to pay a £100 call out fee for this). The plumber reported back that as we have lead pipework, any work involving replacement is not covered by our premium as per the terms and conditions. We thought "ok, fair enough" and employed an independent plumber to look at the problem for us, and we subsequently cancelled our insurance policy as we thought it was actually a bit of a waste of money.
Anyways, turns out that our independent plumber has confirmed that actually there is no lead pipework present whatsoever, meaning the insurance company lied and managed to get away without having to pay or fix the problem (which may be quite costly). As we no longer have a policy with them, they won't get involved so I've said I want a full refund for the farce of a policy we paid for and the call out fee?? What would you do??

I think st most you'll get the £100 refunded. Presumably the policy covered more than just plumbing, but even so, you can't say they wouldn't pay for any other issues you might have had.

Are you saying you don't have a home insurance policy now? That's insane!

Did you wait for the info from the independent plumber before cancelling your policy?

You cancelled your insurance because they told you something wasn’t covered? I hope you took out another policy straight away. 😳

Anyway no of course you won’t and shouldn’t get your premium back, you paid for insurance cover and had it. What I would suggest you do though, is go back to them and say that your pipes are not made of lead and challenge their claims decision.

I assume this is a Home Emergency type policy - boiler, plumbing, drains etc, not Buildings and Contents. You should certainly try to pursue the £100 call-out fee.

Small claims court for this kind of thing. I’d send them a letter before action, explain clearly how much you want from them (assume it’s the £100 plus the cost of work that should have been covered under the repair policy?). Send it recorded delivery and see what they do.

I agree with @Leftbutcameback , have you still got the report from the second plumber ?

Yes it's a home emergency type policy. We obviously still have home contents insurance which is separate.

No we didn't as it never crossed our minds that they might not be telling us the truth

Home contents isn’t building insurance, with no building insurance your mortgage is void 🤯

We cancelled it because we decided it's something we are unlikely to use and would be better setting aside the money ourselves in case of an emergency

I would expect it is a mistake rather than a lie. The advice to take this to small claims is wrong, you should firstly exhaust the insurance companies own process for appealing a claim.

I had assumed you meant regular home insurance hence my earlier comment.

Ok so we all all the correct home /building insurance that we are required to have - my other half deals with all of this and he has confirmed

My issue is only with the emergency cover that we took out as an option, we are not required to have this.

I would contact the insurance ombudsman.
it makes no difference if you don’t have the insurance policy now, you were insured at the time of the problem and they had a responsibility to rectify the issue.

and I really wish people wouldn’t post if they haven’t a clue what they’re talking about.

I would go through the insurance companies complaints policy and then if no joy through the ombudsman.

I think the issue is whether this is actually an insurance policy. It sounded more like home maintenance cover (of the type issued by British Gas or water company) as obviously the OP wouldn’t cancel their insurance policy. But maybe it’s an add on to their existing insurance policy?

Good point about exhausting the internal complaints policy first, but it sounds like they won’t engage with you at all?

www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-2053475/Most-home-emergency-cover-complaints-upheld.html

Looks like this is not an uncommon situation (in terms of complaints)

On the face of it morally yes, you should be entitled to compensation however you need to be able to prove that you were informed your 'lead pipes' aren't covered by the policy and that that was your primary reason for cancelling. If you're not able to do that I think you're best bet is to appease them and maybe see if you can get a great deal on insurance (going forward) as it seems you don't have any. The insurance is much cheaper to them compared to what they sell it for.
It's unfair, but this wouldn't be my hill to die on. Sometimes you just have to let it go

If you were insured at the time of the incident, then it doesn't matter whether you currently are or not. If the problem is covered under the policy, then they need to step up.

Go through their complaints procedure and send a copy of the independent report. Be prepared to take it to the ombudsman.

If you have building and contents insurance, it does cover many home emergencies. We have a leaking drain at the moment and this is covered.

Yes sorry I probably should have explained better, this is a completely separate thing to our home insurance and it only deals with boilers, plumbing issues etc

OP is not entitled to “compensation”. However it sounds like they were entitled to have their claim paid. That they have cancelled the policy now is irrelevant, they were on cover at the time. They need to go back to the insurer and appeal the denied claim.

Insurance is covered by the financial ombudsman but really before they get involved you need to raise a complaint with the company. The usual stance is they should put you back in the position you would have been in should the error not have occurred. If you should have been covered I would expect them to cover the cost of the repair you had to arrange yourself.