This blog is about the lengths some insurers go to, to avoid paying out. We discuss what the industry are now doing about it and how you can avoid it happening to you or someone you know.
You may have heard that some insurers, including the one I once thought, yet now know, is the worst on the entire planet, are saying they are not paying out. Some “support services” that didn’t even exist a month ago are charging people £200 to review policy documents to see if they have a case. We will do that for free.
Do Insurers pay out?
Hiscox are being sued by thousands of UK businesses, who shouldn’t need to sue them to get them to pay out. US lawyers are trying to get Lloyd’s of London to pay out because Trump said he would “make insurers pay”. However, “hero statements” and PR departments are no match for us and we will work with each client individually, and offer support to anyone that needs it.
Hiscox are scraping the bottom of the barrel because they told people that they would be covered if they closed their business down, in phone conversations to their telesales operation. People then closed their business down and were told, when they called back, that they didn’t have cover. This was a ruse to prevent them from making claim.
Exclusions … what exclusions?
It’s not unusual, I was contacted by the Financial Director of an employee benefits provider who had purchased insurance from Hiscox direct. When a client made a claim, the FD called Hiscox and was told that he couldn’t claim because Employee Benefits was excluded. The complaint was made and Hiscox insisted they were correct yet insidiously corrected their error (quietly in the background with no announcement) in their documents after leaving this company to fend for itself.
What is being done
As mentioned in our previous newsletter, BIBA pressure has paid off and the FCA are dealing with 3 of the 12 points we made to Ministers to ease the burden on businesses. The FCA are asking insurers (especially Hiscox) to prove, legally, that they were not offering cover. It will be front page news when the results are in.
Don’t wait for that! Do not hesitate to contact us if you know someone that has been told by their broker or insurer, that they cannot claim for business interruption, despite paying for it. Any business can claim, it is up to the insurer to point out why it is not covered. Not all of them can. It is a shame that some brokers and insurers have decided to try and avoid receiving claims.
If that happens to someone you know, send them our way. Insurers should pay out where they provided cover, rather than try and avoid receiving the claim.
Who propagates the myth that insurers don’t pay out?
This all adds to my belief that the people guilty of propagating the myth that insurers don’t pay out are…………………insurers. It would suit them for people to think that and they are certainly not doing anything to dispel that belief. I have always ignored this because it is not true. They pay out, just last week we achieved a business interruption settlement that the client was “over the moon” about. Look out for that case study coming soon.
(image created by Daniel C Duckett)
Hiscox will not disappear once they are forced to pay out, they make too much profit. They will definitely re-brand (do you like their new logo which is doing the rounds?) as they all do when they get caught out. In a few months time, people will buy insurance from the same company and not realise it because they have a different name. That happens all the time.
Victor Insurance were Bluefin before they got fined for making all their policyholders buy from Axa Insurance whilst telling them that they were “comparing the market”. Were Axa involved? You bet. Did they get fined. No! Bluefin took the hit because Axa are their parent. A bit like the Australian cricket team. When the two most high profile players were caught cheating on live TV, they cried in public, dragged their parents to the press conferences and allowed the youngest members of the squad to take the blame.
We know the culture and we can deal with it.
These corporations all behave the same way, yet some people are hoodwinked by them. We know the culture of each insurer, we also know where they hide the bodies “so to speak”. Which means we know how to make them pay up when they should.
Wrap Up;
Insurers cannot stop people from making a claim. The fact that they tried is no surprise to me.
Top Tips;
Claims management companies are already piling in to this, treating it as the new PPI. Some are charging people £200 to review policy documents to see if they have a case. We will do that for free.
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