My car was - shall we say - taken roughly from behind by an Audi in January, it was a write-off, the attending policeman on the night said so, indeed; agreed with me that it was so. Aviva - for it is they - wanted to take the car from Andover to Poole, to be looked at, I had instruction from Andover police (Whichurch Roads Division) to hold on to the car, until the investigation had been completed, I explained this to several women in several telephone conversations, only to have them ring me the next day (or later the same day!) with a "Mr W******, we believe you are ready to have your car collected?" This was the call centre in...wherever? Mumbai? I was in Andover for a training course, when that came to an end, I drove the miserable vehicle 40-odd miles (no one had told me not to!), while it made a noise like a Stalwart and any police who passed me on the M3 managed to look the other way! It came to rest in my Mothers drive...and is still there! I then went to my broker (A-plan in Newbury - it was by now March) and they tried to get things moving again, I kept offering to send photographs of the fold across the roof and the wheel-arches 2mm from cutting the tires, or suggesting it would be a lot cheaper to send someone out with a camera or smart-phone to take photographs (the police having still not cleared it for removal). More idiot calls with people on the other side of the world (Aviva (India)?) ensued with no one being able to understand that A) the car could not be moved, B) was clearly - to a half-wit with one eye - a 'write-off', and C) I was getting very annoyed. Another intervention by A-plan resulted in another request for the car (now 40 miles further away from Poole) to be taken to..er...Poole. I wrote the first of several complaint letters to all parties (Aviva, A-Plan and the garage in Poole who had by now falsely [in my opinion] accused me of not communicating with them when their internal phone system seemed shot to pieces). Someone from Aviva (UK) - who I won't name yet (but might be naming on my blog with all her correspondence), then agreed that it was all a shocking delay and she would be taking full charge of everything. Over the next few days I gave all the details of the accident/indecent and all relevant facts and personal information to not one but two separate individuals. The same info. I had already given several times to women at Aviva (India), and A-Plan...twice! It was by now May'ish and by some irony the police had released the vehicle. The Irony being that Miss whatshername from Aviva had finally developed the bright idea of allowing me to send photographs to her...which I did! Enclosed; [ATTACH=CONFIG]46480[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]46481[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]46482[/ATTACH] She has never acknowledged receipt of those photographs, nor answered the eMail that they were sent with, I know she got them as I never received a bounce-back while I did receive a 'I'm on holiday' bounce-back to my next letter of complaint - which she hasn't replied to either! The law firm which was by this point dealing with the medical aspect of the claim did get their copy. Now, a third - increasingly exasperated - eMail from me followed the other week, it reported that I had by this point - 8+ months after the accident - discovered that the car is quite rare, or at least the engine is (I'm no petrol-head!), and in discussion with Braydon Motors of Essex (who know Volvos) was given verbal quotes of around £2000 plus for a runner (which was likely to be on it's last legs - I've spent about £3000 getting mine 'right' over the last 3 years), if one could be found (they are that rare), or £1500 for a dead one which could have my engine put in it for around £600 with labour. The car's value with A-Plan being listed at £400/450, based on the old Volvo 940's (it's a 960 model). She finally replied, only in a very petulant manner, three lines, saying the car would have to go to Poole! She failed to mention the other eMails, the photographs and/or her tardiness in failing to reply to them. Meantime, the law firm want me to ring a number no one answers, to get hold of the other parties insurer (UKI/Natwest apparently?) who to date have not contacted me at all. There is more nut that'll do for now! Question for the Aviva person who apparently reads these...What the hell is going on? Questions for Caggers... Can I insist that the verhicle be rebuilt or repaired? Can I go to the Ombudsman without further recourse to Aviva? They've had more than eight weeks to deal with at least three separate complaint letters/eMails. I asked months ago if I should have retained the hire car I had for 28 days, or get another hire car to charge to the other party, I got no answer from Aviva, should I just go and get one and bill someone, if so who - Aviva or UKI/Natwest? I suggested an interim payment back in March, got no answer form Aviva, given my life is half on hold until I get a replacement car, can I request such a thing? Given the difference in Market Value between the original quote (400-450) and the actual market value (2000'ish), can I expect the higher amount? If it gets settled before I die! The girl from Aviva said she'd reimburse my premiums (I paid cash up-front), but reading another thread just now, it's clear that that's not something she could do, and shouldn't have said she could, however, had this all been sorted out in Feb/March (a more normal timetable), I could have transferred a replacement vehicle to that insurance, now it only has a month or so to run, can I claim compensation for loss through delay? Finally - after my last irate eMail, someone from an organisation claiming to be the 'umbrella group' for the insurance industry (CCS or something) and representing UKI/Natwest, rang me about two weeks ago, but we got cut-off, her number was withheld and she hasn't emailed me. She also started to ask all the details I have now given out at least six times. She clearly didn't have my details in front of her and I have suggested in the past that it seems to me like Aviva might be the other parties insurer...trying to offset the purchase of a new Audi by giving me the run-around? Am I being paranoid?

Think the Aviva folder needs amending as they no longer appear to have an online customer relations team who respond to forums. If they no longer respond to posts, perhaps keep the separate folder, but delete the description about Aviva responding to posts, to save any disappointment.

Dear All I would greatly appreciate your opinion in my insurance dispute. We notified our insurer of believed subsidence post exchange of contract. The purchaser did not complete the sale of our home but we completed on the sale of the new home we were moving to. Our insurer investigated & repudiated our claim stating “During my own visit I could not detect any recent subsidence damage even accompanied by yourself using a dumpy level” Long storey short after 5 years & 10 months from commencement of the subsidence our insurer has accepted 196mm of subsidence across the entirety of our home & that at minimum half the property requires demolition. Our property is classified as dangerous & Category 5 worse case of structural damage. Once our insurer accepted subsidence liability we asked for the another claim. The relevant clause within our Insurance policy states: “Where you are selling your home we will pay for loss or damage arising from any cause listed in this section during the period between exchange of contracts and completion date to any purchaser of your home. Our liability for your home will end when your insurable interest in the home ends, which is normally when you vacate the home following completion and you hand over the keys to the buyer.” The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) believe that the average person test should be engaged to this coverage. The Financial Ombudsman believes this means: “We must also consider the reasonable person test i.e. how would an average person read and understand the statement. In this instance I believe an average person would assume the following; the losses or damage referred to are limited to those caused to the building by an insured peril. Also, I believe the average person would understand the statement, “the period between exchange of contracts and completion date to any purchaser of your home”, to mean the normal length of time this process takes and if a purchaser pulls out of the sale the period then stops and the policy reverts to standard cover, not a totally unlimited time until a new buyer is found.” The opinion I wish to ask is what the open public insurance purchasers believe/understand as to this policy clause! “Where you are selling your home we will pay for loss or damage arising from any cause listed in this section during the period between exchange of contracts and completion date to any purchaser of your home. DO YOU UNDERSTAND THIS AS THE ORIGIONAL PROPOSED PURCHASER OR ANY PURCHASER. Our belief is that as long as we the seller has retained an insurable interest in our home we are covered for any loss as there are no exclusions until a new purchaser is found. We have even offered the property to our insurer who does’t want it. We believe this is important in a buildings insurance policy if this was not the case and there is an occurrence of physical damage between the times of exchange and completion which induced a buyer not to complete or to delay completion and payment, the Sellers would suffer loss that might prove irrecoverable. SECONDLY, when does the insurance companies liability end? "Our liability for your home will end when your insurable interest in the home ends, which is normally when you vacate the home following completion and you hand over the keys to the buyer.” IS IT AS IT SAYS ON THE BOX OR as the Ombudsman puts it “the normal length of time this process takes and if a purchaser pulls out of the sale the period then stops”. Thank you in advance for your time & comments.

Hello everyone I will try and be brief. I had a water leak through my kitchen ceiling, called Aviva who said it was covered under the 'tracing' section of my policy and I am covered for anything that is involved to get to the leak, but not fix the leak itself. All seemed easy, called a plumber who took time to trace it, by lifting my Amtico floor in the bathroom and also the bedroom floor as it was right against a floor beam so couldn't bet got at via the kitchen ceiling. The ceiling was originally cut to try that way and this was all approved with Aviva. Anyway, I have had the quotes in and been told they are too high. My bathroom floor, in 2002 was £370 and the quote now is £485,. I have been offered £140! To repair the kitchen ceiling, by cutting out one metre, skimming the whole ceiling, painting and painting the walls of an L shaped room, roughly 20ft long, each side of the L, removing two radiators and relevant electrics and replacing, I have been offered £268.50 and that includes materials. The flooring I have is Amtico in the bathroom and is £70 per square metre and they said it would be £20 per square metre. The glue pack alone for this is £50 and my floor was immaculate before it had to be taken up to get to the leak. I am one of those who prefers to pay a bit more so things last. Does anyone know where I stand with this as I have now been waiting two months and it is just one query after another and I know, living in Surrey, nobody could paint a room, repair and plaster a ceiling for this amount. Thank you all for any advice from a very stressed person. Gillian:mad2:

Hi Aviva My Mother in law (and late Father in law) took out an Equity release deal with NU (now Aviva) in early 2002 They did sign on the dotted line and had IFA advice (family member who was an IFA) ....they wanted to tuck some money away for the future plus pay off a few bills....although in truth they did not understand the nature and impact of the redemption penalty rules (few would..) 11 years on she is a lonely widow and wants to downsize from the house - her husband died 5 years ago now and she is lonely + its to big to heat and manage, the stairs are becoming a struggle for her and in truth we would prefer her nearer to us now in a retirement home and in a quieter area (she is in Bromley Kent). we are over an hour away and want her 10 mins away ....Summary the £50k loan is now £118k......cant despute that .....but the redemption penalty clause states its based on the Redemption Gilt yield differential between Jan 2002 and the date of redemption for the UK 2028 6% Treasury bonds ouch ! - current yield is around 2.7% vs 4.7% in 2002..........the rules state that even a 2% differential equates to a 50% penalty on the original loan (thats another £25k on top of the £118k) The IFA family member died a few years back and the IFA came for a chat then - but were not interested in her as there were no more commissions to be earned ..........so I had to write to aviva last week to request full costs and terms if we do close out the Loan......... we have the document and its £135k including a £15,000 redemption fee at current rates I have written to my solicitor for advice Meanwhile perhaps here I can request directly heres that someone at Aviva can review this contract now and reduce (or at least cap) the somewhat incredulous penalty fees ? I read that in 2004 a (25%) cap was placed on the NU/Aviva penalty clauses due to the unfair nature of earlier agreements - so could I at least request that ? my other issue is that due to the dynamic market I have no lock in to what this redemption will be until the actual day of redemption ........this means I am trying to agree a moving net price with the retirement home .......this is not good and is causing a lot of grief for the family as it will take a few months to sell the house and we need every penny to secure a nice property and no I do not want any further offers of more equity release ..enough is enough thanks to Aviva in advance for some urgent advice.........just a contact will do please thanks Neil

I am confused what to do!? I have fully comp car insurance with Aviva and have done for ages. Been driving for thirty years without an accident until last week. I was travelling down the slow lane of a three lane highway when a car swerved in front of me and jammed on the brakes. The driver was taking the exit lane but decided at the last minute to re-join the main road. Inevitably my passenger front corner hit his driver rear corner as he swerved in. Nothing I could do. I thought it was one of those [problem]s at first but the driver and his passenger were very nice and apologetic saying it was the car in front. At least we were all ok and we swapped numbers. My car was undrivable so I rang the Aviva’s helpline and explained the accident but they just implied any rear end crash is the fault of the driver behind, whatever the event. Aviva have shown no interest in my photos of the crash, the scene or the plan drawing of events. My car was towed up to the Aviva approved garage called Solus. When I went there the next day to collect all my personal things from my car unfortunately someone at Solus had already been through the inside and stolen things, little bit of meter money etc. I wasn’t too worried but told the manager in reception just so he should be aware. He typically immediately blamed the recovery driver; I told him I had actually come with the recovery driver so he was a bit embarrassed after that. I had a text from the other drivers saying they were now in pain. I thought that was strange but someone explained it’s the way it is now, you pretend to have whip lash. But I have photos of them after and they are bending down taking photos and making calls, we are all fine. Seems strange but since I rang Aviva that one time I have been plagued with telephone calls from strange companies representing the breakdown recovery company. First they ask about the service from the recovery company and then they start asking about me and would I like to make a personal injury claim. I get all of these nuisance calls just from one roadside call to the Aviva’s helpline!? Seem like they must then sell ones details to all sorts of ambulance chasers? now I hear from Solus that my car is uneconomic to repair. What a mess. Does anyone know whether I can just take my car back and have it fixed privately and not have to claim anything from Aviva? Can one do this?

Hi there if there are any car insurance gurus out there I would be extremely grateful if you could read this!! I have a current claim ongoing with the above. The car is currently with Solus being repaired (I hope). My insurance is due for renewal on 17th January. Do I have to renew with Aviva in order for the current claim to be completed? I do not wish to renew with them. I have a courtesy car at the moment whilst my car is being repaired. However if I do not renew with Aviva does that mean I have to give the car back? Any advice gratefully received. Thanks.

youtu.be/KWn8G9L21z8 'SHAFTED BY AVIVA INSURANCE!' [You Tube] One man fights to protect his family and his home against AVIVA INSURANCE! After 5 long years of fighting AVIVA INSURANCE and with Christmas 2012 almost upon us, our home remains in a ruined state, my family continue to suffer and AVIVA INSURANCE continue to callously ignore our long term water damage building insurance claim, repeatedly proven by numerous independent expert reports! Please watch the film and spread the word!

My wife stopped working in September, but the year up to then, she was paying into Aviva's Pension 98 product. She want's to know whether she can cash in her pension to get the money back that was paid in. She's not very good on the phone and was going to write, but if I can get a simple answer here, through the Aviva rep, it would be much appreciated. Boris

Hi, am new to this forum and would really appreciate some advice, sorry if its confusing Paid off Coventry BS mortgage in May 2007. We've just received an annual statement from them (October 2012) showing how much we have paid in MPPI, which it says we took out with them in November 2007 paying a monthly premium of £23.87. Coventry says in the letter the policy is underwritten by Aviva. At the same time (November 2007) i applied for life insurance with Aviva who we have endowment policies with. They checked my medical records and i was accepted and began paying my monthly premiums of £23.87. I have recently written to Aviva about this, as yet no reply. I wouldn't have taken out MPPI and Life Insurance Cover at the same time so is it possible there has been a mix up somewhere? Any help very gratefully received. Forgot to say, this is the first correspondence from Coventry about this, when i rang them they still had our old address on their system.

Please Help I am very new to forums and do no if this Thread is in the correct place. What does CAG stand for ? I was due a pension from Aviva 16 months ago, but as I had made a complaint to the Ombudsman about the way in which Aviva had operated during the time I had invested my "bought out option" with them and what their Retirement Illustration offer was then, I have not been able to receive that pension because it was in the hands of the Ombudsman. My original complaint to the Ombudsman was that for the final eleven years of the policy with Aviva they basically froze the interest given each year on the policy, saying that because of poor market conditions the interest for that year would be 0%, but that the final bonuses would still hopefully be possible. I went on believing that nothing could be wrong as I assumed that as they had not mentioned anywhere in all their communications with me over those years that I had not surpassed the GMP value that I would not be granted all the options that were originally offered to me at the beginning of the policy. The policy had a GMP value (Guaranteed Minimum Pension) of over £100,000, which they had conveniently not mentioned until their final letter to me in August 2011. In this letter they for the first also mentioned that they had forgotten to in include final bonuses in their original offer, and that they had also sent me £150 for international telephone calls made by me during the initial period of trying to resolve these queries with them, which they again had conveniently mentioned knowing now that the Ombudsman was now involved. In this letter they had also adjusted the Yearly Pension payment by an increase of £59, which at the time I thought was due to them omitting to include the final bonuses in their original quote. But it was only when I had received their latest illustration did I eventually understand what they were doing. (This I will mention in the next paragraph). To return to the GMP value and what it means or what I found out it means during my discussions with many different Aviva employees after they had sent me their original Illustration was that if you do not reach this magical GMP value you were not entitled to there original offer, which meant that you would loose rights to the options that were otherwise available, i.e. no yearly increase due to RPI; no tax free cash sum; no enhanced benefits and no guaranteed period. What I continue to wonder, but cannot prove, is if the policy had been deliberately kept frozen so that I couldn’t get the options which were otherwise available to me. Especially when you check the inflation rate for those years and understand that things were not that bad in the financial markets and that Aviva during this period was handing out large sums to their top management. I have just received from Aviva there latest Retirement Illustration and again they are still trying to overcome their pay commitment to me for the last 16 months by making out that I have agreed to have my pension deferred and yet I have signed no papers agreeing that I wanted this to happen. This deferred payment increase works out that it would take me nearly 14 years to retrieve the back dated payment, which is due to me. The reason why I could work out what they had done was because of having received their 2nd Illustration in August 2011. It was quite easy then to work out the maths and see that it wasn’t the Final Bonuses that had increased my Yearly Pension then by £59 but they had already deferred it. First of all they should have asked me if I wanted my pension deferred, (who in their right mind would do that, and have to wait so long to retrieve it). I’m sure you would agree that nobody has the hindsight to understand how long he or she have left on this earth. Secondly if anybody has dealt with the Ombudsman they will understand that due their heavy workload it takes time for each complaint to be resolved whether the result is positive or negative and surely I cannot be penalized for that. Unfortunately the Ombudsman could not find any fault with Aviva. I even tried phoning Aviva yesterday (now you have to imagine that this is an International call and that I did explain this to the person that I eventually got to talk to), well first of all it took over ten minutes for anyone to answer, the usual thing you have to wait for an operator to become available. I was then passed from one person then the next, then I was told to wait as I had asked to speak to the person who had sent me the letter in August 2011. The woman came back said that he no longer worked in that office, and so I tried the explain what I was phoning for, she then said again to wait while she speak to the persons who had drawn up the Retirement Illustration (now you can imagine my frustration as I’m paying for the phone call, nearly 30 minutes had passed) when she came back again she started to blind me with words that I really did not understand but gist of which was that Aviva had sent me a letter as early as 2010 and if I hadn’t replied to that letter it was assumed by them that I wanted deferment. I told her that I have never received this letter and that in any case if the 1st Illustration was only sent to me in May of 2011 how on earth would I agree to something I haven’t seen. By this time I must admit I was getting a little angry and so she tried to pass me again to some other person and that’s when I suggested she should get that person to ring me back as I didn’t want to loose anymore money on the phone call. She said that it could take as much as 48 hours for somebody to come back to me. This was agreed and so I hung-up. I was so frustrated after that that I called out for help on the Internet and this site was the first that I checked. It said that there were many complaints against Aviva and so I wondered if there was anybody out there who knows where I stand. I also wondered why, if there were so many complaints against this company, why there is not someone in government trying to control or amend what these large companies are doing. Surely there has to be something that can be done to help individuals’. I believe that the government is again trying to encourage people to take out these “bought out pension options”, as it was when I left my company in 1988, and I bet you that Aviva will be one of the first companies to encourage people to join their pension schemes. I just wonder what these people will have to face maybe in 20-30 years from now. Finally I’m sorry for anybody who may read this as it is very long but then I wasn’t sure how else to tell it. I just hope and pray that if there is nothing I can do, then at least some that do read it will think twice before signing up with these big companies that seem to have all the answers and little mercy for those who have had their money tied up with them for many years, i.e. they take it, they make use of it and then when it’s time for you to want to use it------AH BUT!!!

I was sold PPI with Norwich Union (Aviva) in 1997 by a broker alongside taking out a mortgage with Nationwide. Not knowing much about it at the time we were told it was a good product to have. So after looking into it now it seems not, as it would not have paid out after age 60 and would have ended before the full mortgage date. It doesn't cover self-employment and we weren't told that any claim would reduce state benefits or that it didn't cover any existing medical conditions. I can't remember ever receiving a copy of the original policy or a booklet at the time. I now have a copy of the original and it's pretty clear that it would not have paid out anything if a claim was raised. A claim was made years ago and they did pay out 1 months insurance although I believe that would have been an error. The payment was deducted from benefits as 'income' so was in fact useless. I have searched around and because it was sold by a broker, and not by the company (Aviva) or with the mortgage itself it would appear that I have to claim against them (the broker). I've managed to locate the broker and, although I thought at the time he was independent and working for himself, he has been employed by a larger company since 1994. I've looked around on Moneysavingexpert and there seems a lot of talk that you can't really go after brokers before 2005 when they were regulated and anyone that says they were mis-sold in this way are told that they don't have much of a case. Surely after paying for 15 years on something that is sold as being of benefit but is useless would entitle you to at least the premiums back? Has anyone heard of any success in cases like this and is it worth asking for a refund or pursuing a case against the broker? Thanks.

When are you insured but not insured ? (when you are insured with Aviva).I am in the process of taking Aviva to the county court for refusing to pay out on my recent insurance claim.They are currently the insurance firm with the most complaints to the financial omnbudsman and are to be found regulary in the pages of the daily mail for refusing to pay out on legitimate claims.I requested copies of all correspondence between them,Crawfords and my agent and anybody can do this it costs about £10 and if asked they have to supply this by law. My own case is particularly interesting in that despite them catagorically denying that there were adverse weather conditions at the time of the claim their own internal memo states that the weather conditions were adverse but to withhold this information from me.The agent also stated in their surveyors report that I was covered under an insured peril,Aviva then said there had been a mistake and the report should have included the words 'not insured' .As they were refusing to pay out I was advised to do get the work done and then try to claim it back I did the work myselfe as I am a builder and sent Aviva an Invoice.I was then advised by the occupiers of the property that somebody had been in their words sneaking around taking photographs of the work obviously they were hoping the work had not been done so they could invalidate the claim.They also trespassed on my property 3 times liasing directly with the tenant despite my stating that I was to be prescent at all site meetings.I an now insured with the NFU a company that takes your premium and actually insures you !.