Britishshooting
Club Champion
Has anyone ever had massive issues with insurance companies returning money (excess), and did seeking assistance from the Ombudsman help?
December 2017 a transit van hit the rear of my Land Rover Defender as I was sat in stationary traffic, mine looked fine but upon assessment needed a new rear x-member and a few other bits, the transit needed a whole front end.
This was all sorted and I got my Defender back after about a month however when the garage came to collect the car I had to pay my excess to them (not sure why) this excess was £1000 (Jan/Feb 2018).
I insured my defender a month after the incident and had to declare an ongoing claim, Fast forward a year and on my next insurance renewal (last month) my NCB has gone from 9 years to 0 with an at fault claim. Turns out as my insurance company never returned my excess to me that the fault appeared on file as unsettled and a claim was against my name.
This oversight cost me all in all about £800-900 in additional premiums as I had to take the hit on the previous renewal as the claim was ongoing during that period.
Probably spent 15 hours on hold, in conversations and e-mails trying to discover why this wasn't being settled as it was a clear cut case. Finally I got to a manager who advised that the 3rd party had accepted liability and case couldn't be closed as I had not cashed in a cheque (that i was never sent) to return my excess.
Fortunately upon advising my current insurer that my claim had been updated and my NCB re-imbursed they have returned part of my premium to account for the difference.
Still however not received my cheque to re-imburse my excess. I've now gone down the complaints route and demanded that this be paid by bank transfer and the guy seemed rather helpful, took my details and claims that the money will be in my bank this week.
They've failed at every hurdle, this claim which wasn't my fault has cost me so much of my time, effort and patience if the money isn't returned in full this week I will escalate it. I assume the ombudsman is the best way to go about this? I know it's only £1000 which is nothing to a large company but if they do this to thousands of claimants they certainly have plenty of money accumulating interest in their account.
For me this is mainly inconvenience and hassle however to some people the financial burden of paying excess and not seeing it back for 18 months plus could cause much bigger issues. Shouldn't be happening in this day in age.
December 2017 a transit van hit the rear of my Land Rover Defender as I was sat in stationary traffic, mine looked fine but upon assessment needed a new rear x-member and a few other bits, the transit needed a whole front end.
This was all sorted and I got my Defender back after about a month however when the garage came to collect the car I had to pay my excess to them (not sure why) this excess was £1000 (Jan/Feb 2018).
I insured my defender a month after the incident and had to declare an ongoing claim, Fast forward a year and on my next insurance renewal (last month) my NCB has gone from 9 years to 0 with an at fault claim. Turns out as my insurance company never returned my excess to me that the fault appeared on file as unsettled and a claim was against my name.
This oversight cost me all in all about £800-900 in additional premiums as I had to take the hit on the previous renewal as the claim was ongoing during that period.
Probably spent 15 hours on hold, in conversations and e-mails trying to discover why this wasn't being settled as it was a clear cut case. Finally I got to a manager who advised that the 3rd party had accepted liability and case couldn't be closed as I had not cashed in a cheque (that i was never sent) to return my excess.
Fortunately upon advising my current insurer that my claim had been updated and my NCB re-imbursed they have returned part of my premium to account for the difference.
Still however not received my cheque to re-imburse my excess. I've now gone down the complaints route and demanded that this be paid by bank transfer and the guy seemed rather helpful, took my details and claims that the money will be in my bank this week.
They've failed at every hurdle, this claim which wasn't my fault has cost me so much of my time, effort and patience if the money isn't returned in full this week I will escalate it. I assume the ombudsman is the best way to go about this? I know it's only £1000 which is nothing to a large company but if they do this to thousands of claimants they certainly have plenty of money accumulating interest in their account.
For me this is mainly inconvenience and hassle however to some people the financial burden of paying excess and not seeing it back for 18 months plus could cause much bigger issues. Shouldn't be happening in this day in age.
