M&S Household Insurance

[hoopdriver]

I have just been in the process of renewing my household insurance which I have had with Marks & Spencer for the past few years since their policy provisions allowed you to include bicycles up to the value of £4000 pounds each. It was a good deal and I know that it was the go-to policy for quite a few cyclists.

I had heard that they had changed good deal for cyclists for new policyholders, but that those who had the old policies still had the original provisions. No longer. Even for those under the terms of one of the older policies the threshold is now £2000 pounds and if you have bikes worth more than you can expect to pay a hefty surcharge - by that I mean more than doubling your entire household contents quote.

I just thought I would pass this on as I know a lot of cyclists use M&S for their household insurance because of the good deal they used to offer cyclists.

It ain't there no more.

 

[dellzeqq]

do not take out Marks and Spencer house insurance until you read this
http://velopoly.com/2011/02/28/home...om-aviva-via-marks-and-spencer-claim-refused/

 

[hoopdriver]

do not take out Marks and Spencer house insurance until you read this
http://velopoly.com/2011/02/28/home...om-aviva-via-marks-and-spencer-claim-refused/

Your link just takes me to the woman's blog - which looks like an interesting one, by the way- but I could not see the post you are referring to

 

[dellzeqq]

http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/ouch-£20ks-worth-of-bikes-pinched-from-a-garage-in-my-town.102463/page-2#post-2107957

Home and contents insurance rip off from AXA via Marks and Spencer – claim refused
Posted on 28 February 2011

Following the theft of eight of our bicycles last week, the response from the readers of this blog, as well as hundreds of people on Twitter, Facebook, YACF, Cyclechat, LFGSS and various other forums has been awesome. I don’t think I’ve had as many page views as I had for the post I made on the 24th and it’s amazing to see the way that the cycling community comes together when someone asks for some help. So thank you to everyone; Julian and I are really grateful.

Although our search for the missing bikes continues, I thought I’d post and tell you about the Insurance company. Like a lot of other cycling households, we have our house and contents cover provided by Marks and Spencer. They were recommended to us for their high quality cover and good customer service. M&S insurance offers a lot of benefits to cyclists, including a high value for each cycle and unlimited cycles on the policy. It’s a bit pricier than other cheaper insurers, but with around twenty bikes between us, including a Santana tandem, we wanted good cover so we were happy to pay for it.

When I took out the policy a couple of years ago, I specifically asked whether we would be covered in our rented garage one street away from the house. They said yes. I was so concerned that I asked for a letter to be sent to me that made mention of this and thankfully we still have that letter in our files.

When I called up the claims line after we discovered the burglary, we were initially told that we weren’t covered at this address because we were in the process of moving house. Julian had called them to arrange transfer of our policy from the old place to the new place and informed them of the date of the move. Despite us still living at the old address when I claimed last week, they had our electronic records as the new address so they said we weren’t covered.

Needless to say, once the situation was explained (at length – this took a number of phone calls) this was sorted out. The address was right, we did do what we were supposed to do. However…

The man on the end of the phone explained to me that “on this occasion Miss Barnes, we’re sorry to say that we won’t be able to take this claim forward any further…” (don’t you just hate the weasel words these people use?)

He went onto explain that although we were covered when we took the policy out, M&S have subsequently changed our insurance providers from Aviva to AXA. He said that we were sent a booklet that illustrated the policy changes between the two companies and one of them was that we were no longer covered in our rented garage. Now, needless to say, we still have these booklets and both reading them back then as well as again now, this policy change is far from clear. Had it have been, we would most certainly have raised this as an issue because the whole point of this policy was to cover our precious bicycles.

I was stunned – I couldn’t believe that they were doing this to us. I think I used some fairly frank language to the man from M&S – I must have done, he threatened to hang up the call on me (In the event it was me who hung up on him). Clearly, for high value claims, their tactic is to refuse payment as soon as possible. Interestingly, although AXA had a good reputation, Aviva had more consumer complaints referred to the financial ombudsman (FOS) than any other insurer in the last six months of last year.

Julian has subsequently explained Lord Denning’s Big Red Hand to me and it would appear that we have a very good chance of overturning this decision at the Ombudsman. But until then folks, check your insurance policies VERY carefully.

And whatever you do, don’t buy an insurance policy from Marks and Spencers or AXA. Especially if you’re relying on it to cover your valuable bicycles.

On a happier note, the bikes were recovered by the Met team led by you know who of this very parish

 

[hoopdriver]

Thanks.

The people with whom I have been speaking at M&S come across as just the sorts of weasels who would welsh on a claim no matter what. I like the woman's telling me there would be a "slight" upward adjustment of my premium - by several hundred pounds!

 

[400bhp]

http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/ouch-£20ks-worth-of-bikes-pinched-from-a-garage-in-my-town.102463/page-2#post-2107957

Home and contents insurance rip off from AXA via Marks and Spencer – claim refused
Posted on 28 February 2011

Following the theft of eight of our bicycles last week, the response from the readers of this blog, as well as hundreds of people on Twitter, Facebook, YACF, Cyclechat, LFGSS and various other forums has been awesome. I don’t think I’ve had as many page views as I had for the post I made on the 24th and it’s amazing to see the way that the cycling community comes together when someone asks for some help. So thank you to everyone; Julian and I are really grateful.

Although our search for the missing bikes continues, I thought I’d post and tell you about the Insurance company. Like a lot of other cycling households, we have our house and contents cover provided by Marks and Spencer. They were recommended to us for their high quality cover and good customer service. M&S insurance offers a lot of benefits to cyclists, including a high value for each cycle and unlimited cycles on the policy. It’s a bit pricier than other cheaper insurers, but with around twenty bikes between us, including a Santana tandem, we wanted good cover so we were happy to pay for it.

When I took out the policy a couple of years ago, I specifically asked whether we would be covered in our rented garage one street away from the house. They said yes. I was so concerned that I asked for a letter to be sent to me that made mention of this and thankfully we still have that letter in our files.

When I called up the claims line after we discovered the burglary, we were initially told that we weren’t covered at this address because we were in the process of moving house. Julian had called them to arrange transfer of our policy from the old place to the new place and informed them of the date of the move. Despite us still living at the old address when I claimed last week, they had our electronic records as the new address so they said we weren’t covered.

Needless to say, once the situation was explained (at length – this took a number of phone calls) this was sorted out. The address was right, we did do what we were supposed to do. However…

The man on the end of the phone explained to me that “on this occasion Miss Barnes, we’re sorry to say that we won’t be able to take this claim forward any further…” (don’t you just hate the weasel words these people use?)

He went onto explain that although we were covered when we took the policy out, M&S have subsequently changed our insurance providers from Aviva to AXA. He said that we were sent a booklet that illustrated the policy changes between the two companies and one of them was that we were no longer covered in our rented garage. Now, needless to say, we still have these booklets and both reading them back then as well as again now, this policy change is far from clear. Had it have been, we would most certainly have raised this as an issue because the whole point of this policy was to cover our precious bicycles.

I was stunned – I couldn’t believe that they were doing this to us. I think I used some fairly frank language to the man from M&S – I must have done, he threatened to hang up the call on me (In the event it was me who hung up on him). Clearly, for high value claims, their tactic is to refuse payment as soon as possible. Interestingly, although AXA had a good reputation, Aviva had more consumer complaints referred to the financial ombudsman (FOS) than any other insurer in the last six months of last year.

Julian has subsequently explained Lord Denning’s Big Red Hand to me and it would appear that we have a very good chance of overturning this decision at the Ombudsman. But until then folks, check your insurance policies VERY carefully.

And whatever you do, don’t buy an insurance policy from Marks and Spencers or AXA. Especially if you’re relying on it to cover your valuable bicycles.

On a happier note, the bikes were recovered by the Met team led by you know who of this very parish

It just sounds like the customer service rep/claims handler doesn't know what they are doing. If it is clear they should be covered then the Ombudsman will rule in their favour (assuming it even goes that far as M&S should put the brakes on it at the point the complaint is escalated).

I'm not sure the above warrants a boycott of the insurer.

 

[dellzeqq]

It just sounds like the customer service rep/claims handler doesn't know what they are doing. If it is clear they should be covered then the Ombudsman will rule in their favour (assuming it even goes that far as M&S should put the brakes on it at the point the complaint is escalated).

I'm not sure the above warrants a boycott of the insurer.

the thing is........there's plenty to choose from. Why would you go to this bunch?

 

[MacB]

It just sounds like the customer service rep/claims handler doesn't know what they are doing. If it is clear they should be covered then the Ombudsman will rule in their favour (assuming it even goes that far as M&S should put the brakes on it at the point the complaint is escalated).

I'm not sure the above warrants a boycott of the insurer.

if you really believe that bit in bold then I have some excellent products you may be interested in

 

[hoopdriver]

the thing is........there's plenty to choose from. Why would you go to this bunch?

Speaking if which...I am open to suggestions for a better household insurance policy, one that will insure bicycles for a reasonably sane premium. Any ideas?

 

[400bhp]

the thing is........there's plenty to choose from. Why would you go to this bunch?

Every single insurance company will have similar horror stories.

 

[400bhp]

if you really believe that bit in bold then I have some excellent products you may be interested in

Eh?

If you read the story and take it on its word, the rep talks about specific individual circumstances (garage being rented) being in a generic booklet (extremely unlikely to go into rented/unrented garages) which is clearly nonsense.

 

[hoopdriver]

Every single insurance company will have similar horror stories.

That is true. The point of my original post was not to start a catalogue of insurance company horror stories but to alert fellow cyclsts who may have heard that M&S was a reasonably priced source of household insurance with good bicycle coverage that it just ain't so anymore. It used to be, but They have changed their terms considerably.

 

[MacB]

Speaking if which...I am open to suggestions for a better household insurance policy, one that will insure bicycles for a reasonably sane premium. Any ideas?

I went through a similar experience and ended up with Barclays:-

http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/bike-theft-insurance-home-only.121196/#post-2242608

when searching I was finding that we could get reasonable home quotes which then more than trebled when I tried to get the bikes on. The Barclays cover we went for gives more than we need and, though really designed for people with high value art/collectables, it serves for bikes extremely well.

 

[hoopdriver]

[QUOTE 2439060, member: 45"]£2000 per bike? What's wrong with that?[/quote]
Plenty, if you have high end bikes. They insured up to £4000 previously, which was the big draw card for those of us with high end machines. They dropped the barrier and put up the premiums considerably. My pst eas meant to be a heads up for the many cyclists who insured with them because of their generous bicycle terms.

 

[User482]

In response to the problems listed above, I must say that M&S were excellent in paying out a claim we made when my wife's bike was pinched.

That said, the recent policy changes means I'm going to need to go elsewhere.