I was quite disturbed this morning when I wondered whether certain Insurance Companies are [problem]ming

the public via computer systems which ask you to pay more money than you should be.

I am a landlord and insured my first house in early July via Bedford Insurance and a company 'e-unlimited'.

I paid £315.13 for the whole year. I was told that when occupied this would fall to £178.13.

Due to extensive renovation, a tenant walked into my house on Wednesday

ie. exactly 5 months from the date of insurance cover.

I contacted 'Bedford Insurance' and after having done some basic sums beforehand

was surprised to discover that the money due back to me was less than I expected.

I spoke to two insurance brokers who immediately got defensive when I questioned this figure

stating they were simply doing what the computer had told them.

Given there was a discrepancy of £7.28 in my favour, I asked whether I could speak to a manager.

Credit to the manager, he did phone me back this morning, much to my surprise,

and he bothered to go through the sums in detail with me.

He suggested that insurance quotes go up and down and therefore wondered whether the £178.13 quoted to me in early July was now higher.

On checking, and much to his embarrassment, it was a little lower!

He agreed with my sums and then, almost flippantly, said he would offer an additional £10 on to the quote the computer gave me the previous day.

This leads to a disturbing question:

How many people are paying more than they should be because the computer has got the sums wrong?

Or more conspiratorially, are some companies purposefully manipulating the computer system to achieve financial figures very much more in their favour?

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I was quite disturbed this morning when I wondered whether certain Insurance Companies are [problem]ming

the public via computer systems which ask you to pay more money than you should be.

 

I am a landlord and insured my first house in early July via Bedford Insurance and a company 'e-unlimited'.

I paid £315.13 for the whole year. I was told that when occupied this would fall to £178.13.

 

Due to extensive renovation, a tenant walked into my house on Wednesday

ie. exactly 5 months from the date of insurance cover.

 

 

I contacted 'Bedford Insurance' and after having done some basic sums beforehand

was surprised to discover that the money due back to me was less than I expected.

 

 

I spoke to two insurance brokers who immediately got defensive when I questioned this figure

stating they were simply doing what the computer had told them.

Given there was a discrepancy of £7.28 in my favour, I asked whether I could speak to a manager.

 

Credit to the manager, he did phone me back this morning, much to my surprise,

and he bothered to go through the sums in detail with me.

 

 

He suggested that insurance quotes go up and down and therefore wondered whether the £178.13 quoted to me in early July was now higher.

On checking, and much to his embarrassment, it was a little lower!

 

He agreed with my sums and then, almost flippantly, said he would offer an additional £10 on to the quote the computer gave me the previous day.

 

This leads to a disturbing question:

How many people are paying more than they should be because the computer has got the sums wrong?

Or more conspiratorially, are some companies purposefully manipulating the computer system to achieve financial figures very much more in their favour?

This happens all the time, because the Insurers rating systems are not static. They are being constantly changed. The mistake made was to give you an exact figure for a reduction when the property was going to be occupied. They should have said that the premium would reduce and the approximate amount would be x. but as premium rates are subject to change, the exact amount will be advised at the time of the policy amendment.

UB69,

But, that is my point. While rates change all the time, the rate given to me yesterday was less than the £178.13 quoted to me in July, which means I should have been given back even more.

My point is this: There is a great reverence to the 'computer system' and the figures it calculates. No-one questions them. If that is what the computer says, that is the correct amount. What if, the computer system is fallible and creates the wrong calculation OR worse still, unscrupulous people can manipulate that computer system to give out calculations which greatly favour the company. City Bankers have been ripping the public off for years - does it not seem logical that insurance companies have been too, using the computer system as their means to achieve this rather than fixing the LIBOR rate, currency rates etc, etc.. as City Bankers have done?