Ibrahim’s insurer was confused about the age of his dog and this affected his annual pet insurance policy renewal.
What happened
Ibrahim got a renewal letter in the post from his pet insurance company. It said that after the renewal, he’d need to pay 20% of all future claims along with his excess, because his dog would be eight years old.
This surprised him, so he complained to his insurer. He told the call adviser that his dog wouldn’t actually be eight until just before the following renewal. He also reminded them that he’d asked for all his communications from his insurer to come to him by email, not in the post.
The insurance company verified the age of Ibrahim’s dog using veterinary notes from a previous claim. It also confirmed that Ibrahim had asked to be reached by email. It apologised for both mistakes, updated his contact preferences, and sent him an adjusted renewal notice.
Ibrahim thought he deserved more than an apology. He wanted compensation for the frustration he’d been caused and the time he’d spent calling his insurer and sorting things out.
Unhappy with the insurer’s response, he brought a complaint to us.
What we said
We understood how the renewal letter would have confused Ibrahim and caused him stress. We also recognised that he’d requested communication by email and received it by post instead.
He was inconvenienced by having to phone his insurer, but we thought this was a minor thing – and a one-off. The insurer had fixed the problem with the renewal notice immediately and apologised. We didn’t think any compensation was needed in this case and didn’t uphold Ibrahim’s complaint.