policy with friends first BEWARE

applecrumble

I have been paying into an income protection policy through friends first for the past 4 years on weekly basis,this policy works when you are out more than 13 weeks this plan would kick off on the 14th week to the value of €230 per week which is taxed! It involves filling out a 7 page form when you go to claim and a four page form which your doctor needs to fill out, a copy of your job description, a copy of your P60 a copy of birth cert n driving licence. However my problem lies now that next week will be my 18th week off sick and I have this claim in for several weeks and still heard nothing! I have contacted their agent and even now I am told they want to assess me independently by their doctor to see if I am entitled to the payouts and still have not contacted me directly themselves. I will be receiving half pay next week and I am at breaking point financially and this is a scheme which I have been paying into religiously to protect my income. I am disgusted to say the least.

dudara

Moved to Banking & Insurance & Pensions

dudara

Pablo Sanchez

The claims process will take as long as it takes, every case is different and they always recommend that you begin the claims process well before the defferal period expires to prevent the kind of delays you have experienced.

Assuming your claim is admitted you will be given all the money that would have been due to you from week 14 of your absence.

And yes, the money you receive is classified as income for taxation purposes by the revenue, nothing to do with the policy itself.

digzy

another example of the bullsh1t that the 'honest' brokers peddle at us. every six months i get the shpeel about how vital it is from brokers and about the tax relief.much better off bang the premium into a deposit account. no reams of paperwork and you can get almost instant access depending on the account.

op, my empathies.

Pablo Sanchez

Lets say you pay a premium of 50* a month for cover of 250 a week. It would provide you an income of 13,000 per year (on top of yor SW entitlements) and would continue to pay you this until you return to work or until you retire, that could be 20 years or more so a total payout of €260,000.

Your alternative: Pay the 50 a month into a savings account, after ten years you would acumulate a whopping €6000. Whatever will you do with all that cash???

* Thats not to mention that with tax relief your €50 a month premium would only cost you €29.50.

kevin65

I have an income protection policy with them, got it through my brother in law who recommended it. It may be a case that they are a bit slow to process your claim.

applecrumble

Just had a phone call today from my assesor, at last despite having made several attempts to contact her and promises that I will be contacted!I have now been told that despite having seen my own doctor,and having a 4 page document from him and specialists that they now want me to travel up to dublin to be medically assesed in a 45 minute session that will see if I'm deemed acceptable to be paid,I explained that I don't have the money to travel up to dublin,that fell on deaf ears, I was told to keep reciepts and suitable refunds will be paid out when my claim is eventually processed!I was also told they tried to contact my mobile phone yet surprise surprise no missed calls,I never turn my phone off!I explained that I was depending on this money which I am but yet again it fell on deaf ears!I think at this stage I'm going to have to go to a solicitor and get the matter sorted! I would not recommend this company to anyone,this is the first time I have tried to claim from them. I just can't believe they are trying to do everything in their power not to pay out.

phormium

All insurance companies are the same, that's what they do, claims are vigorously investigated whether it is health, car accident or burnt down house. It's a pain in the proverbial but that's the way it is.

applecrumble

Hi people,Still nothing from friends first, it has been well over a month at this stage since I have put in my claim, I have even had to involve my union reps at this stage of it, very unprofessional and unreliable company

wmpdd3

Have you aplied for sw sickness benefit also?

Suzyq

I don't see how you expect to have the claim accepted if you're not prepared to be medically assessed by them? As they have said they will re-imburse your travel costs once you have receipts for them - why would they pay for travel costs in advance of you showing up?

I think that if you played ball with them you'd find this a far less stressful experience and will ultimately lead to you getting your claim paid/refused sooner rather than later.

dobsdave

Suzyq wrote: »

I don't see how you expect to have the claim accepted if you're not prepared to be medically assessed by them? As they have said they will re-imburse your travel costs once you have receipts for them - why would they pay for travel costs in advance of you showing up?

I think that if you played ball with them you'd find this a far less stressful experience and will ultimately lead to you getting your claim paid/refused sooner rather than later.

It took them 4 weeks to reply to the claim, how long will it take to refund the travel expenses?
The op is not from Dublin, he/she should be able to use a local doctor chosen by the company.
Too many companies willing to take your money and then make you jump through hoops to actually claim.

nnelly

Hi Applecrumble
what has you out of work that long?
why did you wait until the end of the waiting period to send in the claim to them?
when did you see the doctor they asked you to go to?
how did that go
what is the outcome of the claim?

Liam D Ferguson

We have a several clients that have Income Protection claims, with Friends First and Irish Life. All are currently being paid. In 2010 Friends First paid out a total of €23.4 million in Income Protection claims alone. Of these, 36% had been paid for more than five years.

All claims should be submitted around four weeks before the end of the waiting period. If there is an agent or broker, you should keep in regular contact with the agent to get updates on the progress of your claim. If not, ring Friends First Income Protection Claims department on (01) 6610600 to find out what's happening. In fairness they should be ringing and updating you, but if you're strapped for cash, I'd be ringing them every day if necessary.

I don't know the particulars of this claim or where you live, but for certain illnesses the only specialists are in the cities.