Ambrose Wilson

[laineynic]

My mum asked meto look at her Ambrose Wilson Account as her monthly payments were hardly making a dent in what she owed. I was shocked to discover that for the last 6 years they have been applying Payment Account Protection which works out around £36 -£54.00 a month. In over 6 years she has paid a whopping £2678. When I asked her about it she said she thought itwas an insurance for the electrical items she had bought. She did not know anything about it being to protect her if something happened. She is nearly 70 years old does not have a great understanding of these things and cannot remember if she did ask for the PAP. She has been retired since she was 47 due to arthritus and other medical problems. She received DLA and icapacity benefit so does not really need this protection. She also has life insurance and a funeral policy. I want to know if she can claim this money back. It is not PPI but I believe it is similar. I just feel that Ambrose Wilson are ripping her of.

[laineynic]

I have been trying to get somewhere with sorting this out for my mum. Apparently the policy was taken out at the end of a conversation in April 2004. Mum stills says she thought it was a warranty on the goods she bought. Mum jusve contacted the compliance department and they said

 

"We are writing in response to your e-mail regarding the Personal Account

Protection plan (PAP) previously known as the Peace of Mind Plan on your

catalogue account.

 

You opened your credit account with us on 30th July 2004. Our records show

that you purchased PAP during a telephone call made on 18th November 2004.

During that telephone call you were advised of the benefits of the plan,

given the costs involved and an explanation of how to cancel. A script was

used to ensure that the advisors making the telephone call included all

necessary information that allowed you to make an informed choice to accept

or reject the product.

 

Furthermore, at that time the first month’s premium was free to allow you

time to read the terms and conditions that were included in the back pages

of the catalogue, to ensure PAP was suitable for your needs and

circumstances.

 

The premium for PAP has appeared as a separate charge on each of the

statements sent to you since then. We also have made numerous mid-term

changes to the policy. On each occasion we have notified you of the changes

via a leaflet in your statement and additionally, sent updated copies of

the policy documents to you.

 

In April 2008 a letter was sent direct to you, which gave details of

further changes to the policy and again included an updated policy

document. In this letter we requested that you check the cover applicable

to you to ensure that the policy was still suitable for your requirements.

I include a copy of the document I am referring to for your information. In

our opinion, you should have realised that the policy was present on your

account and that was the time at which you had the opportunity to cancel

the plan, indeed it has been open to you to cancel the policy at any time

from inception. I confirm the insurance was cancelled on 29th April 2013.

 

The statement we send to you every 28 days is our principle method of

communicating with you and gives full details of the conduct of your

account and the charges for the goods and services you have purchased.

 

Based on my findings I am unable to uphold your complaint. You have

received insurance cover during the time the premium was charged to your

account and like other insurance policies we do not usually offer a refund

for protection from which you have already benefited.

 

In your e-mail you state you are disabled and retired this would not have

effected your ability to make a claim if the need arose. In relation to

washing machines and tumble dryers these would be covered for 5 years from

the date of purchase under this insurance.

 

However, after reviewing your account and taking into consideration that

you are a long-standing and valued customer of ours, we are willing on this

occasion, as a gesture of goodwill, to refund to your account the amount of

£322.01, in full and final settlement of this matter. This refund reflects

25% of the total premium paid and takes into account the fact that you were

notified of further changes to the policy in 2008 and asked to check it was

still suitable. In our opinion, you should have informed us that the policy

was not required when you received the revised policy information.

 

If this is acceptable, please confirm by return and the adjustment will be

made to your account.

 

This is our final response to this matter. If you are not satisfied with

our response, you have the option of referring your complaint to the

Financial Ombudsman Service within 6 months of receipt of this e-mail.

However as the date of the sale of this policy took place before they took

over jurisdiction for general insurance of this type, in January 2005, they

may not be able to assist you."

 

I sent them a message on behalf of my mum to them and to the CEO Alan White and the response was as I thought it would be

 

"Mr White has passed me your emails and asked me to respond on his behalf.

 

It is disappointing that you are not happy with the response we sent on 4th

June 2013 in respect of your insurance complaint.

 

In reply to the points you have highlighted. Unfortunately, we do not have

a copy of the call recording from November 2004. It was not a requirement

for us to record our telephone conversations at that time. I understand

that you may not recall the conversation as it is some time ago.

 

I am of the understanding that you are not working as you have indicated

that you are in receipt of incapacity benefit. This means that the

accident, sickness and unemployment cover would be replaced by

hospitalisation benefit. Additionally, there are other associated benefits

which include critical illness cover, life cover, accidental death cover,

legal helpline and purchase protection.

 

As my colleague Mrs Corbert indicated in the response dated 4th June 2013

the insurance was set up at then end of the telephone conversation and we

were not required to send out documents for you to sign.

 

The insurance has appeared on every statement we have sent you were you

have carried a balanced forward and you have had the option to cancel the

insurance at anytime.

 

If I could refer you to the updated terms and conditions we sent to all our

customers in April 2008. I attach a copy for your information. If I could

please refer you to the last page which highlights the importance of

reading the updated terms and conditions to ensure you were happy with the

level of cover based on your personal circumstances.

 

I hope the above clarifies the additional points you have raised.

 

The response issued on 4th June 2013 is our final offer in respect of your

insurance complaint. We feel the offer is fair and reasonable taking into

consideration all of the facts and circumstances surrounding your insurance

complaint.

 

If you wish to accept our offer of settlement please reply to this email

and I will arrange for the refund to be processed accordingly."

 

Having read the t&c's I wouldnt understand them and mum certainly wouldn't. She is vulnerable and would not have thought twice if someone told her that it was the best thing since sliced bread. There offer of £320.00 is disgusting I have worked out that since 2004 she has paid £3540 for a polcy she did not really need or was fully aware of what it was f0or.

 

If anyone has any ideas of how much further I can go with this. I have been in touch with the FOS but don't hold out muych for them helping. According the a member of Ambrose wilson mum won't get very far anyway. so why mention them.

[ericsbrother]

You are most likely entitled to get the whole lot back and interest on the money as well. The life insurance policy is a whole of life policy and you dont get any money back. The Brigadier has soem templates for letters to send so read the PPI threads and use the letter templates with your mum's details. AW know they are in the merde, that is why they offered a pittance rather than telling you to take a running jump.

[renegadeimp]

Get a FULL PPI reclaim going and use THEIR interest rate. You could be in for a nice little cheque.

 

Make sure you also read up on what to do if, in the rare case, they refuse to refund the PPI.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

I have alerted a member of the site team expert in PPI reclaims for you.

[ims21]

Hi

 

First thing to remember all the way through is that these companies have no respect for you as a customer. They only see people as a contributor to their bottom line.

 

Isn't it strange that they say they this insurance was purchased as a result of a telephone conversation of which mysteriously there is no record? That is rather convenient isn't it?

 

Also, if you mother was not working and had pre-existing medical conditions then I would suggest that it is a 99% certainty that this policy would not (could not) have paid out because there would have been clauses in relating to unemployment etc etc.

 

They are making a goodwill gesture because they know they are in the wrong and are attempting a standard "fob off" to minimise their loss of cash.

 

So, they may not have been covered by fos at the time of this alleged sale but the only way to find out for sure is to ring fos and ask them. If fos confirm that they were not covered then you would need to either find out who the underwriter of the insurance was or consider a court action to get your money back.

 

Do you have all of the statements of account?

 

Do you have the policy document(s) and these alleged amendments which they claim to have sent?