insurance News
Poor insurance customer service payouts increase.
An increase has been reported by the Financial Ombudsmen in 2010-2011 of businesses being ordered to pay compensation to insurance customers who have suffered “distress and inconvenience”, the amount of pay-outs increased with the vast amount of compensation payouts being between £300 and £1000.
The failure of being able to provide the service to customers and administrative errors were included
In the total amount of 20,019 which had increased by 1.508 on 2009-2010.
In a case where a family had to move out of their own house and had to move to a relatives house and then had to cope with living in a single room when their own property was flooded due to a burst pipe.
The family should have been found alternative accommodation but instead they had to all live in a relative’s house in one room, the terms of the insurance policy had not been adhered to – so a complaint was raised and the insurance company had to pay out compensation of up to £1000 to the family.
Amounts in excess of £1000 are awarded in exceptional cases such as one specific case when a person on holiday in Thailand badly hurt themselves by falling down a flight of stairs. To get treatment he needed to be repatriated back to the United Kingdom to receive treatment.
The insurance company claimed that he had been drinking alcohol so the policy was invalid. His wife said that he never drinks alcohol and witnesses helped by saying that the injured man had been sleep walking. After two weeks by which time the injured holiday makers injuries worsened the insurance realised their error and the man returned to the UK for specialist treatment.
The cases of the homeowner and the unfortunate tourist in Thailand did not lead to financial loss, but compensation was deemed appropriate by the Financial Ombudsmen. A case will be dealt with by the Ombudsmen when a satisfactory agreement can’t be made on a dispute.
A payout will not be awarded for slight inconveniences such as wrongly spelt names or long waiting times on a telephone.
Although “aggravated or repeated mistakes were more likely to result in payouts” said Nicola Ceeney the Chief Financial Ombudsman.