Policy cancelled due to "Moral Risk" - **RESOLVED **

[SfShah]

I received an email from Hastings today (7.5.14) at 12:44pm informing me of the cancellation of my policy on 5.5.14. Attached was a letter giving me a breakdown of chargers which relate to ME cancelling my policy early?? "as discussed".

 

As I had absolutely no idea what this Email/documentation related to or whether in fact it was genuine i quickly contacted Hastings customer service department.

 

I spoke to a lady who could not give me much detail due to the little notes on my account and offered to call me back, which she did. she informed me that the underwriter cancelled my policy due to "Moral Risk" something she nor i knew anything about.

 

She informed me that there was an incident were loud music was being played from my vehicle along with suspect criminal activity (apparently people smoking weed, i dnt smoke myself so i'm pretty ****ed at this! altho there's no notes to say if this was done inside or outside the car) and Hastings were called by a Community Support worker. The Community Support worker did not speak to the owner of the vehicle so decided to contact the insurer?????.....

 

i was not contacted by neither Hastings, the Community Support Worker nor the Police regarding the above matter.

 

on the day in question i allowed my car to be filmed for a short youtube video for some local musicians.

 

The car was driven to the NCP car park in City Centre by myself, it was parked up by me and i allowed some local musicians (whom i know) to film using the car for over an hour or so whilst i visited some shops. i got a call from them advising me that a local community support officer patrolling the area moved them along as there were loud music being played. Fine. I then came back to to the car park, paid for my stay and drove home.

 

I do not understand how the above can cause my insurance policy to be cancelled.

 

I was not contact by Hastings regarding this "incident" at all.

I have not received any correspondence regarding any criminal matter from neither the said Community Support Officer nor the Police.

No one was arrested nor charged with any offence during this "incident"

I am the only person insured to drive my vehicle. No one was seen driving my vehicle. No one was seen with my car keys. The ignition was not on (i had my keys)

 

I do not think it is fair the way they treated me and my claim. i do not think it is fair that i have been informed 2 days after my policy had been cancelled that it has been cancelled. I have been driving around for 2 days illegally at no fault of my own.

 

The cancellation of my policy is also going to have an effect on my credit scoring which again is not fair.My monthly instalments have always been paid on time every month. I have had no issues with Hastings up until now. I did until now compliment Hastings on how efficient they had always been with me re my renewals ect, their call centre staff have always been so friendly and helpful towards me. i feel completely let down and disgusted with how they have treated me.

 

I need to know how this can be rectified and my policy reinstated? I simply cannot afford to take out another policy with another company and pay hundreds of pounds deposit upfront.

 

has anyone else ever come across this "moral risk" termination? can anyone enlighten me on what it actually means as the advisor's and managers ive spoken to did not have a clue.

 

i'm new to this so sorry for the rant:|

[unclebulgaria67]

Think Hastings have made a few mistakes here.

 

FCA ICOBS requires a minimum of 7 day notice of cancellation to be provided.

 

Hastings should have questioned the legal position of a community support worker to notify them of the issue with the car. Did they actually check on the identitiy of the community support officer and what position they held ? Was it part of their legal role to phone Insurance companies ? If they did not check on the legal status of this person, then it could have been any normal member of the public making the report. For all they might have known, it could have been someone who did not like you, looking to cause you trouble and expense.

 

The cancellation should not affect your credit record, but it would make getting future Insurance very expensive, because you would have to declare the cancellation.

 

Hopefully tomorrow morning Jamie the Hastings rep will respond and I would suggest that he asks customer relations to review this cancellation urgently. My opinion based on the limited information, is that the policy should be reinstated, but it should be pointed out that the behaviour in allowing friends to shoot a video in a public place using the car, was not very sensible, don't do this again, slap on the wrist etc.

[SfShah]

Thank you so much for replying!

 

i honestly couldn't say if the proper checks were done re the Community Officer as the 2 advisor's i spoke to and the manager on the call centre had very little information to go off (which annoyed me even more) i was just advised that i would need to make a complaint (which ive done) and this could take up to 5 days to be dealt with.

 

i completely agree with you re the friends, and i have DEFINATLY learnt frm tht

[Hastings Direct. Joe - Soc]

Good morning SfShah,

 

Thank you for posting a review. I'm sorry to see that you are unhappy with the cancellation of the policy and that you received no notification of this. Please can you provide me with your policy details via email to help@hastingsdirect.com & we will be more than happy to look into this for you as a matter of urgency.

 

Many thanks,

Jamie

[SfShah]

Thanks for your reply Jamie.I have sent an email to the address given and titled it for your attention (not sure if it is you personally that will be dealing with it). I would appreciate if it could be looked at as a matter of urgency as i am currently in a state of limbo as to what to do frm here.Thanks

[Hastings Direct. Joe - Soc]

Hi SfShah,

 

Thank you for your email, I have sent you a reply with some details regarding the next steps.

 

Many Thanks,

Jamie

[unclebulgaria67]

Thank you so much for replying!

 

i honestly couldn't say if the proper checks were done re the Community Officer as the 2 advisor's i spoke to and the manager on the call centre had very little information to go off (which annoyed me even more) i was just advised that i would need to make a complaint (which ive done) and this could take up to 5 days to be dealt with.

 

i completely agree with you re the friends, and i have DEFINATLY learnt frm tht

 

It is a good thing you were not involved in dogging as that might be seen as more of a moral hazard. I just wonder how Car Insurers normally react to allegation from members of the public, who do not have legal powers to report matters to Insurers. Any reports from people who are not Police Officers holding a warrant card, should be treated as unsubstantiated allegations. Working in Insurance, dealing with claims and underwriting, I have had neighbours, ex-wifes/husbands, council staff and numerous others reporting various things. You can't really act on allegations, but you can write to a Policyholder asking for an explanation, advising that if they don't respond that any claims submitted will be subject to additional investigation and it will not be possible to offer renewal of the policy. You then mark the policy records accordingly with any flags.

[SfShah]

Ok, so ive just had a very pleasant phone call frm a Senior Customer Service Rep from Hastings and my cancellation has been withdrawn:whoo:

 

So happy right now!

 

To say this is the first complaint ive ever made in my life i'm glad it was dealt with pretty quickly and the outcome has worked in my favour!

 

(lessons have been learnt!)

[honeybee13]

Hello there. That's excellent, I'm pleased for you. Hastings seem to have come up trumps this time.

 

Thank you for letting us know, I'll amend your thread title.

 

HB

[unclebulgaria67]

Ok, so ive just had a very pleasant phone call frm a Senior Customer Service Rep from Hastings and my cancellation has been withdrawn:whoo:

 

So happy right now!

 

To say this is the first complaint ive ever made in my life i'm glad it was dealt with pretty quickly and the outcome has worked in my favour!

 

(lessons have been learnt!)

 

Oh good. Thanks to Jamie for his help. These public forums can be a good place to raise a complaint. I had a long running complaint with a company well known to CAG and I posted a complaint to another forum. After a week I had an apology and a cheque in compensation.

 

Hopefully lessons will also be learnt within Hastings by the people who made the original cancellation decision. Insurers quite often receive information from third parties and they have to be careful how they handle it. They can't jump to a judgement that the information is correct and should always write to a policyholder for explanation.