Aviva has the most complaints to financial omnbudsman

[bernie129]

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 !.

[MARTIN3030]

So did you send them a request under the DPA?

What did they provide ?

[bernie129]

Hi martin,

I recieved all internal letters between Aviva,Crawfords,Giles insurance Brokers, copies of all surveyors reports etc everything including the internal memo stating adverse weather conditions but to withhold this from me.I deal with insurance companies on a regular basis being a builder and believe me these are the worst.

[Mwynci]

Aviva probably have an entitlement to withhold it from you. Unless it has personal information which can connect you to the file it does ot fall under the DPA. Aviva would probably have searched weathernet using your postcode. Unless your name was on the document it will not fall under DPA. Weathernet does not ask for a name. Not sure why they would want to withold it though.

Aviva will have to reveal this in court if they want to use it. Let's hope it's not a trump card.

[MARTIN3030]

Yes it does seem strange-although it can be said its not personal data,nevertheless its pretty incriminating if theres a hidden agenda.

[wiggy_55]

Just been caught out by Aviva to the sum of £291.73 via Asda on Line, via Go Compare

The additional premium is for supplying them with incorrect information even though we answered their questionaire correctly. My wife holds an EU licence and has done for the last 6 years, prior to that she held a UK licence for 22 years. The question on the proposal form was "Licence held for" and in a dropdown box to the right of the question it gave lengths of time from 1 year upto +12 yrs, not sure on how to answer the question with there been two types of licences involved I clicked on a small question mark to the right of the box.

"This is the length of time since you passed your test, or if you have yet to pass your test then this is the length of time since you received your provisional licence"

After reading this the answer I gave was +12year because its 28 years since she passed her test.

Aviva/Asda are now telling me that I gave the wrong answer because the question Go Compare should have ask me is "How long have you held this type of licence for"

Even though they admit the question is wrong and the dialog misleading they say it is my responsability to make sure that thier agent/brocker asks the correct questions? Lumbering me with a bill of £25 for Admin. £140 extra Insurance. £140.66 for giving them the incorrect info.

Need I sat that this is another case where the omnbudsman is involved

[bernie129]

Hi martin,

its amazing what you can find out ,Aviva never makes you aware that you can obtain this information but by law they have to provide it.Any one like myself who has recieved the same abysmal treatment from Aviva (the company with the most complaints to the financial omnbudsman) can do the same and as Aviva dont give out this information I am detailing it below as its a fairly straightforward procedure.You send a recorded delivery letter for a subject access request to - The data Protection Team,Aviva Insurance UK,Level 2,Pitheavlis,Perth,PH2 ONH - you then pay a £10 fee and they have to provide you with the information within a 40 day time period.They send you a form asking what you require, ask for everything regarding your claim including internal memos and copies of phone calls etc.If you then decide to take them to county court dont forget you can claim for all expenses and costs in pursuing your claim.Good luck and remember 40 days isnt long Aviva are very quick at collecting your premiums but very slow at paying out .

[bernie129]

Hi,

When I made my claim Aviva denied there were adverse weather conditions and said that a 3rd party I think it was Crawfords had checked this.I however knew the weather at the time was very bad and made a subject access request - under the 1998 data protection act.The internal memo was very interesting basically stating that I was escalating the claim and also that the both myself and my brokers were in agreemant that the claim should be settled.The internal memo then interestingly states that they (Aviva) have checked with weatherquest for my postcode and that high winds and heavy rain were prescent at the time and that it would be difficult to maintain a stance of not settling however I only found this out later as they kept this information from me.Interesting that also when the policyholder makes a genuine mistake on their paperwork they have their claim invalidated but if Aviva do the same as they didi with me (they said I was covered under an insured peril in writing)but then claimed a mistake had been made and the report should have read I was not covered.Classic they will do anything to avoid paying out on a claim - they dont tell you that bit in their tv adverts do they !.

[bernie129]

I had the same problem surely if an insurance agent is able to sell their policies they are acting as an agent of Aviva and if a mistake is made the buck must stop first at the agent and then with the principal ie aviva.

[bernie129]

Anybody on this forum got details of other forums where I can also post details of my abysmal treatment by Aviva.I want to warn as many people as possible about my experience in claiming with them.Also I would like to let as many people as possible Know that if they are having a problem with an Aviva claim they can do a Subject access request under the data protection act 1998 - write to them requesting all details relating to your claim including all internal memos,phone calls etc they legally have to provide this when requested and it will only cost you about £10 they have to provide this information in 40 days.The address to write to is - The data Protection Team,Aviva Insurance UK,Level 2,Pitheavlis,Perth,PH2 ONH.Aviva had 1396 customer complaints sent to the financial Omnbudsman between 1st July and 31st december 2009 and was top of the complaints list good information to bear in mind if you are contemplating taking out insurance !