Household Insurance

[MRO1956]

I'm very upset about a property I own that was uninsured for 3 years without me realising (because of the automatic direct debit renewal process.)
Imagine what would have happened if there'd been a serious fire and I discovered too late that I wasn't covered ? The complaint process has been a total nightmare and this was a big "respectable" insurer. Has anyone else suffered in this way?

It is entirely your own fault. I can understand how it happened but the responsibility to check and ensure the insurance is up-to-date is yours and yours alone. Don't you ever file anything?

Has anyone else suffered in this way? No. Because I check and file my paperwork. And you haven't 'suffered', you've just been incompetent in this respect.

Fortunately you didnt suffer.

Did they tell you that the insurance was renewed when it wasn't? If not, is your cockup. Live and learn.

And dont auto renew unless you have money to burn.

What exactly happened?

I am sympathetic. My insurer has just sent me renewal documents for a policy on automatic direct debit adding a new endorsement that THEY ALREADY KNOW I cannot meet.

The new endorsement is for better locks. They know I cannot meet this because they have my statement of fact from last year where I explicitly tell them that I don't have the types of locks they now want. They've copied and pasted it with the renewal policy.

They sent me a cover letter with a "what's new" part of the policy. But "strangely" the cover letter did not mention the new locks, that was hidden in the small print. Luckily I did read this and am changing the insurer but in my opinion they should have this written at the front in bold in big letters. Especially when I've already told them I cannot meet these requirements.

In fact I think this is mis-selling (Because they are selling me a policy they already know is not suitable for me) or maybe even FRAUD (because they were planning to take my money on direct debit when they presumably knew they would never have had to pay out.....)

Its all very well saying you should always check - yes I agree with this but insurers should also have a responsibility to flag up any changes that they are aware the policy maker does not seem to meet.

Please tell me what insurer this was so I don't change to it!

Your post is not clear. Generally people complain that the automatic DD renewal means that they are insured TWICE on the same property, rather than not at all. It is your responsibility to ensure that your own properties are insured. What exactly happened?

You were no longer paying and you didn't notice... How could this not be your fault? Just because you assumed it was taken automatically doesn't absolve you of the need to check and make sure.