Uninsured

onedmc

I got a call 5 days ago from a well known insurance brokerage to tell me that they had made a mistake and had failed to pay my home insurance policy.

However according to them all was going to be ok as it was a one-off mistake and they would sort it out. Yes, they had notified the Central bank and they would write to me immediately.

No letter arrived so I called Zurich the underwriters and yes my policy had lapsed for the last six months. And NO ther was not note on the system to say the broker had not contacted them.

Am I the first to spot this and is this rather well know brokerage about to hit the news. Any similar experiences out there.

The_Conductor

DO NOT name and shame.
Contact the office of the ombudsman immediately (and organise alternate insurance cover).

Icepick

Did they charge you and how?

onedmc

Yes they charged me via my debit card, I rang the bank and unfortunately they suggest that I request a refund from the broker. Not much good to me even if I had payed by credit card or do get a refund then I've been out of coverage and in breach of my mortgage agreement.

As I have been out of insurance for 6 months I've been declined by Zurich and they cant back date a quote.

No I haven't named and shamed, Zurich are not to blame. The ones to blame are a very well known brokerage that advertise heavily.

I will contact the ombudsman but I think I have to go through a process which may take days/weeks in the meantime I'm uninsured.

onedmc

The_Conductor wrote: »

DO NOT name and shame.
Contact the office of the ombudsman immediately (and organise alternate insurance cover).

They are only open between 10 and 1 so really hard to ring as at work. I'll send an email.

onedmc

I have more or less got to the bottom of this. Broken basically didn't pay underwriters and provided me with false documentation with underwriters branding on it.

Bottom line is check with the underwriter after you pay the broker to make sure you are insured

Thargor

Fake documents is fraud and you're owed compensation + all payments refunded then surely? Could be a nice payday for you here, are you going to sue?

Ray Palmer

Thargor wrote: »

Fake documents is fraud and you're owed compensation + all payments refunded then surely? Could be a nice payday for you here, are you going to sue?

Calling them fake is probably incorrect. They issued documentation and failed to pay the insurer due to a mistake. If they had paid the documents wouldn't be false as brokers normally issue documentation with no issue.

Mistakes do happen and the broker contacted them to let them know and reported their mistake to the governing body. If there had been a claim the broker would have been liable and actually has their own insurance for such mistakes.

MCD.

I wouldn't imagine the broker is guilty of any deliberate wrong doing here.

They probably spotted a credit sitting on their account with Zurich and discovered they'd forgotten to advise renewal of your policy.

Once you pay your broker its the same as paying your insurer, ie your cover is operative.

In real terms you were never really off cover. The broker will simply present evidence that you paid them on time to the insurer (a sec. 30 receipt) and they will backdate cover. Failing this (which won't be the case) the brokers Prof Indemnity policy would cover any losses on your part due to their negligence.

Documents weren't forged or false (if they were the brokerages agency with the insurer would be terminated immediately). They were issued pending receipt of payment from the broker (usually 30 days after the renewal).

Nothing to worry about here. A bit of a shock but no major issue.