Phrases to Watch For

The following are examples of arrogant subterfuges which some life assurance companies love to try on (and sometimes even the Ombudsman doesn't notice). You may find some of these hard to credit, but people are falling for them every day. And they say that insurance is a contract of utmost good faith!

"You have nothing in writing to back up what you say. You can`t win."
Yes you can.

"You got the cooling-off notice, so you have no excuse for not knowing what the contract meant."
Wrong.

"You took the rep`s advice, thus indicating that you agreed it was right. You cannot now say it is wrong."
Yes you can.

"You signed the forms; it is too late to try to pull out now."
No it's not.

"It will be your word against the salesperson`s; you will be bound to lose."
Wrong.

"This contract was made before the Financial Services Act. There was no duty to give good advice then."
Not true.

"This contract was made before the Financial Services Act. In law, the agent was acting as the policyholder`s agent."
Not necessarily so.

"You needed an endowment policy for your mortgage. It wasn`t our job to check that that was the right option for you, and anyway, mortgage advice is not covered by the Financial Services Act, so tough luck."
Our experts disagree.

"Mr. Bloggs did not tell us he had had jaundice as a child. It doesn`t matter that being run over by a bus caused his death. We are entitled to void the policy for non-disclosure."
No they are not.

"Mr. Bloggs did not tell us he had had jaundice as a child. This was a breach of utmost good faith - fraud in other words. Not only will we not pay the death benefit, but we are going to keep the premiums you have been paying in for the last 20 years."
Wrong again.

Sound Familiar?

There will be rare occasions when one or other of the above excuses will be valid; the company is not always wrong. For example, it is sometimes the case that a financial institution will be able to show that it is blameless in a case of an inappropriate endowment mortgage. But do not be fobbed off too easily.

If any of these excuses sound familiar to you, contact us and we will advise you as to whether or not the company concerned has a case to answer.