How to complain about an insurance company

[TheGander]

I recently spent 2 months submitting evidence re a loss I sustained in my property, communicating with multiple agents and repeatedly being told I’d hear within 24 hours. only to be told eventually I’d get nothing. I want to complain about this incompetence which considerably added to my stress, to an actual person, not go through the motions of their process ( which I’ve done already and just got platitudes back). Should I write directly to the chief executive/ any other person? I want someone high up to take notice. Thanks for any advice.

Very little chance op

they were progressing the claim and evidence and back and forth is simply part of the information gathering process. And 8 weeks is reasonable as presumably you had to get quotes? Loss adjuster?

Worked in liability claims for 8 years

8 weeks is nothing

And ultimately. No loss as a result of the delay as you were not entitled it transpires

Ok thanks for the reality check. I still think it was shoddy. They indicated they’d be paying out, then pissed about asking for one piece of evidence after another, stalled and finally someone picked up the phone to say I’d get nothing. At the very least it smacks of poor staff training and investment and I still want to complain, if for no other reason than to make me feel better.

Check your policy for the Ombudsman- should have contact details and if / when you are allowed to contact them and the circumstances.

Go through the insurer’s complaints process and you can then complain to the insurance ombudsman.

When you say they indicated…. What do you mean?

You have suffered no loss as a result of the perceived delay.

so no point pursuing

and you accept their decision presumably otherwise you’d have mentioned?

What are their reasons for saying you are entitled to nothing? Are they valid. Is it correct? Why did you think you would be?

As alluded to above, how they indicated they would pay is important. What happened?

There was an exclusionary cause, on p24 of the schedule. I had not spotted it and it took them about 9 weeks to let me know. They did indicate they’d pay out, although over the phone , I don’t have it in writing. It’s not about getting the money as I realise I won’t. It’s to point out the lack of competence of their staff which probably relates back to poor training and supervision. I was told different things by different agents, told to provide about half a dozen pieces of evidence, basically led up the garden path in a very stressful situation . For an insurance company I don’t think this is ok. All the evidence I provided was timely and truthful.

But that exclusionary clause presumably only became apparent that relevant and enforceable as a result of the negotiation, which took 8 weeks

Not negotiation, I meant discussion and back and forth

Op I see from a precious thread that the claim was disregarded as the property was uninhabitable. However it was also tenanted at the time.

so it does seem a rather confusing state of affairs at the property!

Not so I informed them straight away of the cause of the leak- within a week or so, when other causes had been excluded.

Not sure about it being rejected as uninhabitable. That would not be an exclusion surely? More likely to be rejected if habitable.

But on another thread you Say the claim was rejected because the property was uninhabitable?

ok Op

So when you say uninhabitable, what do you mean. Vacant? Or not fit for a human to live there?

There is no point in writing to the ceo, they’ll just pass it onto the complaints team to respond on their behalf. Just tell them you want to make a formal complaint. They then have 8 weeks to investigate and issue you with a final decision letter. After that if you remain unhappy you can go to the Financial Ombudsman (FOS).

This has been going on since November and I can’t remember posting on this previously. But I was worried they’d reject it on the grounds that it was habitable ie not bad enough to have to rehouse the tenants. They seemed to accept it was bad enough to rehouse, but after 8 weeks found the exclusion clause. That’s what I want to complain about- the time it took them and how they strung me along.

Confused OP!

My advice… don’t waste your energy on this further as quite simply… the insurer has done nothing wrong, 8 weeks is very reasonable for a claim from inception to close, and you suffered no financial loss as a result of the “delay”

Yes this is very straight forward.

You email/call their complaints department, outline the complaint. They will either try and sort out the problem - which is lack of communication, or they will give you a deadlock letter to go to the ombudsman.

However you really need decide what the issue is..... is it lack of response to emails?

Yes you can ask them to revisit their decision.

Of course you can complain that you’ve received poor service as you can with any other company in a regulated industry. You may not have suffered any financial loss but that’s not the only reason on to complain.
They will have a complaints process, follow that. Personally I’d write or email in using the words ‘I wish to make a complaint.’

The issue for me is it shouldn’t have taken them
all of 8 weeks to work out there was an exclusion clause. When you are claiming on insurance, chances are it’s inherently stressful. They strung the process out which is unprofessional. That’s what I’m complaining about.