Insurance Complaints On The Rise! - Oakleafe Claims

According to a leading Insurance claims management company, Insurance Complaints are on the rise! About 2 in 10 of the Insurance claims assigned end up with an Insurance complaint. These are valid insurance claims that have been accepted by Insurers but have failed to meet with the policyholders expectations.

Why are Insurance Complaints on the rise?

It is often surprising that in the event of a water damage insurance claim or fire insurance claim most insurance companies treat their clients, some of whom have been loyal premium payers for many decades, with the opposite level of apathy that they showed when they were taking their premium.

FIGURES SHOW INSURANCE COMPLAINTS ARE ON THE RISE

The figures shown below are only those that the FOS (Financial Ombudsman Service) have registered, that have been escalated by the policy holder as a result on the Insurance companies conduct. These do not include the insurance complaints the actual insurers receive. They will outnumber these many times over. Aviva alone for example published complaints figures for the 1st six months of 2017 at 78,436. Yes that’s right 78 thousand four hundred and thirty six from January 2017 to July 2017.

Set up by parliament, the Financial Ombudsman Service or FOS is the UK’s official expert in sorting out problems with Insurance claims and Insurance companies. If a financial business and a customer can’t resolve a complaint between themselves, the Financial Ombudsman can give an unbiased answer about what’s happened. If they decide someone’s been treated unfairly, they have legal powers to put things right.

Figures from the Financial Ombudsman Service have revealed that Direct Line Group, via the business name UK Insurance, was the most complained about provider in the first half of 2017. It is no wonder that many policyholders choose the services of an Insurance Loss Assessor and willingly pay Insurance Claims Fees. The insurer received 1,447 new general insurance complaints during the period. These Insurance complaints exclude PPI. Aviva was the next most complained about with 1,051 followed by Ageas (773), Axa (623) and RSA (622).

Few Reasons why Insurance complaints are on the Rise

There are a number of reasons why you might make an Insurance complaint about your insurance company.

• Your reinstatement works are to a poor standard
• Existing Insurance policies have been renewed without you knowing
• You may feel that your insurance cover wasn’t explained properly

If it is often the case that wording on policies can be very complex and hard to read for some people. Therefore some conditions in the policies which must be met, for example. it is the responsibility of the policyholder to to mitigate any damages from spreading after the incident.

What happens when you make an Insurance Complaint

After you make an Insurance complaint, your insurance company will have an opportunity to look at the dispute again and may compensate you. You can follow the FOS online guide to help you through the process to try and resolve the problem. First you will have to complain to your insurance company. Only then can you get the FOS to investigate your complaint, which I add is at no cost. Always try to resolve any misunderstanding amicably and between the parties involved.

If your insurance broker set the policy up, they might also make an Insurance complaint for you. Its always good to try to resolve the Insurance complaint face to face with your loss adjuster or a phone call to the insurance company. Always make sure you write down who you spoke to, times and the particulars of the conversation in case this is needed to be presented as evidence to the FOS.