so , I have a home with children - I pay for accidental damage cover. today I am informed that my accidental damage cover was WITHDRAWN when I renewed - 11 months ago!! this is when I went to make a claim for a broken tablet (clumsy son dropped down the stairs) erm excuse me? I asked for my policy to be EXACTLY the same as the previous year! can they do this??where do I stand? made a complaint that I was NOT informed.
It'll be in your policy documents, so check them carefully (along with your renewal confirmation). They can't change the terms of your policy after it's effected without telling you, so double check the docs!
In that case your policy docs and renewal notice will show that you have accidental damage cover - and you're sorted. On the other hand, if the cover isn't shown on the docs, then you're boned as whether you requested that cover or not, if they've not offered it or charged you for it, you don't have it. Basically, you always have to check the paperwork - and if it's in order here then you're home and dry. Edit: I was posting from my phone, which I hate, so sorry if the replies are a bit terse. Basically, what I was trying to say is that the renewal documents should clearly state the exact cover that you've taken out (and be careful that you're referring to the final set of renewal docs if there's more than one set - this tends to happen if you don't accept the initial renewal quote and haggle, for example). Regardless of whether you asked for accidental damage cover or not, if it's not on the renewal paperwork then you're not covered. If it's on there, then you can give them both barrels. Unfortunately, if it isn't on there then you can't really argue after 11 months of the policy that it should have been included because you'd asked for it to be when you renewed - once the policy was effected then it becomes binding, so the time to query it would have been either before accepting the renewal (or possibly within the cooling-off period). As I say, refer to your policy docs and double check whether it's included. They can't vary the terms of your cover after it's placed in force without your agreement, so the docs will give you the answer to the question of whether or not you have accidental damage cover. To be honest, I can't think of a reason why the insurance company would have decided to withdraw the accidental damage cover if you'd had it in previous years. I do know that sometimes they cock up the renewal docs - we had it ourselves a few years back where they'd somehow failed to include all of the personal valuables that we'd had added to the policy the previous year - had we accepted the initial renewal then we wouldn't have been covered, so it was lucky that my better half has eagle eyes and noticed it, and we asked them to amend it and they issued a second set of renewal documentation.
