Outrage over Sovereign refusal to pay out

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ajobbins

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#240686 30-Jul-2009 17:56

I worked for an insurance underwriter a few years ago. This was car insurance but they had a 'relevance to the claim' attitude. Ie. If you have no warrant and have an accident, insurance can refuse to pay out because in theory a) Your car should not be being driven, and b) You have breached your insurance contact by not keeping the car insured.

Where I worked, if you had an accident while without a warrant you would generally get your clain accepted unless the accident was caused by say a fault which was why your car was not warranted. Ie. you fail a warrant for bald tires, then slip in the wet and crash = not covered.

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Dratsab

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#240698 30-Jul-2009 18:37

Based on what I've seen (which does not necessarily include all the relevant facts) I'm with Bazzer on this one. Full disclosure would have avoided this problem.

Full stop.

The thing to note here was that Sovereign fronted Campbell Live and were happy to (calmly) explain their position.

Having said that, I believe Sovereign should have done their homework before accepting any premium payments. IMHO, refunding those payments would be appropriate, with a bit of extra by way of apology. However, Sovereign should make it quite clear their is no legal obligation for them to do this.

ajobbins

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#240699 30-Jul-2009 18:39

Dratsab: Based on what I've seen (which does not necessarily include all the relevant facts) I'm with Bazzer on this one. Full disclosure would have avoided this problem.

Full stop.

The thing to note here was that Sovereign fronted Campbell Live and were happy to (calmly) explain their position.

Having said that, I believe Sovereign should have done their homework before accepting any premium payments. IMHO, refunding those payments would be appropriate, with a bit of extra by way of apology. However, Sovereign should make it quite clear their is no legal obligation for them to do this.

I believe there would be a legal obligation to repay any premiums if it was deemed that the policy was never valid

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Dratsab

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#240710 30-Jul-2009 19:06

@adamj - you may well be correct, nowhere near my area of expertise!! In regards to legal obligation, what I was referring to was extra payment :-)

bazzer

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#240793 31-Jul-2009 00:31

If the policy is avoided, then of course the premium payments are returned. Perhaps with interest, I'm not sure.

It's annoying that people have the concept that the insurance company should do the homework. They base their decisions on the information they are given. If you want the insurance company to do background checks on all applicants, it would mean a lot more work, a lot more time and a lot more expense. They could do it, but most of the time they'd be wasting their time because most of the time people tell the truth on their proposals.

billgates

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#240794 31-Jul-2009 00:39

John Campbell had a valid point. What does depression and all other weird stuff that the terminally ill person has got do with prostate cancer? Insurance companies are rip offs. To all those saying that it would take a long amount time for them to check everyone, well then why is it that when you apply for a Bank loan or try to buy something on monthly payments, a credit check is always done on you regardless of what you write in the form about your salary and mortgages etc.

Do whatever you want to do man.

bazzer

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#240795 31-Jul-2009 00:46

Because that's not insurance?

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billgates

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#240801 31-Jul-2009 01:19

bazzer: Because that's not insurance?

lol, so in insurance customers have to be honest when filling out the form and when they are filing the claim that's when the insurance company's verify all the details. It's notthing but easy money for them to grab. They know even a small mistake by the person filling out the new form will save them from handing out money when they are claiming it for a reason.

Insurance company - We are cheap sir, come to us. Fill out this form
Customer - Everything but who cares about depression
Customer - Time to claim insurance because I am terminally ill and need cash.
Insurance - We just cross checked becuase we only cross check backgrounds when people claim and found out that you had depression.
Customer - What has that got to do with Prostate Cancer?
Insurance - haha sucker, we don't have to pay you anything!

Do whatever you want to do man.

kiwitrc

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#240808 31-Jul-2009 05:35

billgates:
bazzer: Because that's not insurance?

lol, so in insurance customers have to be honest when filling out the form and when they are filing the claim that's when the insurance company's verify all the details. It's notthing but easy money for them to grab. They know even a small mistake by the person filling out the new form will save them from handing out money when they are claiming it for a reason.

Insurance company - We are cheap sir, come to us. Fill out this form
Customer - Everything but who cares about depression
Customer - Time to claim insurance because I am terminally ill and need cash.
Insurance - We just cross checked becuase we only cross check backgrounds when people claim and found out that you had depression.
Customer - What has that got to do with Prostate Cancer?
Insurance - haha sucker, we don't have to pay you anything!

I thought the guy was rejected because his father died of Prostate Cancer before he was 60 and this wasnt stated on the application?

richms

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#240908 31-Jul-2009 11:55

Anything on the forms is a to the best of your knolege thing, while I guess its hard to claim not to know what your father died of, some of the questions on those forms are pretty specific. I have no idea if there is a history of anything in my family because to be honest, it is of no interest to me at all. So when you say not to my knoledge you are not lying if you dont know, it comes down to what its beliveable or not to know when it comes claim time.

Which to me is BS, since they cant prove that you knew it but they will try it on.

Richard rich.ms

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