House Insurance Cancelled

[sean110869]

Hello Everyone,

 

I had a home insurance policy Full Bricks and Mortar plus contents with Axa via One Call Insurance which was cancelled with seven days notice in April 2015.

 

The reason for this was that I had notified them January 2015 that a watch I had placed on cover was more valuable then I thought as I had been in a jewellers and they gave me a free valuation and in April 2015 had asked them to put a ring on cover that was very valuable. I had advised them off the valuations and was sent an email cancelling the policy with seven days notice later that day after they asked for further information.

 

I complained to One Call about this because their email did not actually say it was a cancellation but they were unable to cover our home on the grounds that the valuables were now over the policy limit. I knew that I maybe underinsured but thought they would simply increase the level of cover and I would pay a surcharge.

 

Once Call never offered any alternative.

 

I then received a letter off them demanding a £ 77.00 cancellation fee which given the fact they chose to cancel the policy I felt to be unfair and unjust and if nothing else fell foul of Unfair Contract Terms Act 1971.

 

Following a complaint to the FSA, Axa have written to me to state they offered One Call to place me on a higher level cover and that they in fact did not charge One Call any cancellation fee.

 

The FSA say I have to declare the cancellation but it appears to be a grey area as to wether it increases the cost of my next home insurance or not

 

One Call insist this situation will not affect future premiums as it is not as if I have behaved fraudulently but the FSA say it might.

 

Does anyone know for sure, anyone working in insurance ?

 

Apart from the FSA is there any way I could claim against One Call for the increase in premiums maybe on the grounds they have failed to act correctly on my behalf and thus breached their duty of care to me the consumer ?

 

I would like to teach them some sort of lesson.

 

Thanks in advance for your help

 

Sean

[unclebulgaria67]

This whole cancellation issue is very silly. If you speak to people who argue black & white you have to declare any cancellation forever, then yes in theory you could end up paying higher premiums. As soon as you entered YES to cancellation in comparison sites, most of them would not quote you. You would have to phone them and some would want a letter from One Call explaining why the policy was cancelled

 

The policy was cancelled in error by One Call, as AXA have confirmed that One Call could have offered you a higher level of cover. But One Call are a rubbish company going by online review/comments and could not be bothered to arrange the changes to the policy. Instead they choose to cancel the policy and wanted to charge you the cancellation fee.

 

I would not disclose a cancellation in this situation, as it has nothing to do with any dishonesty on your part or any non disclosure of facts you were aware of. There is no central database of cancelled policies which would flag this cancellation up. But you might be safer to get a letter from One Call confirming the reason for the cancellation was due to a mistake between them and the underwriter of the policy. You may already have letters confirming this, as you have been through a complaints process.

 

I don't see why you should be inconvenienced by a mistake from One Call. As I have said once you declare this cancellation, you would be doing it for the rest of your life, whenever you changed Insurers.

 

You cannot make a court claim against future losses, as you would have to undertake mitigation actions every year i.e shopping around, so an amount of compensation could not be worked out.

 

Nb. Just a thought. Perhaps One Call can confirm in writing that you do not need to disclose this cancellation in the future and then you don't. Keep the letter. End of story.

[sean110869]

Thank you for this advice !!! Was hoping you would reply as I noticed searching the forum you seem to be the authority when it comes to insurance matters.