VHI Policy Issue

Professey Chin

Hey Guys

Wonder if I could get some advice on this cause frankly I don't buy VHIs explanation.

I signed up for a policy paying by monthly DD in November last year with the payments starting on December 8th and have been taken out monthly ever since. I recently got a better price through work so sent an e-mail asking how to go about cancelling the policy I have with them.

They came back to me saying they didnt have anything for me on record so I asked could they check by my name & personal details. Once again they could find nothing.

I still had the original purchase receipt so I forwarded this onto them. This contained the Purchase ref number, Name, Address & Date of Birth. They replied to this stating that they never actually generated a policy for me and that they could do it from the original start date but would need a payment for it. They also asked to confirm I had never been charged.

I told them they'd been taking payments and had my bank statements as evidence. Of course this changed their tone and they were able to locate my policy all of a sudden stating that my Date of Birth was incorrectly processed.
Personally I dont see how this could change names and addresses so I think theyre trying to cover themselves fast.

Luckily I havnt needed to make a claim since I signed up cause I shudder to think what I would have had to go through.

Any advice?
Thanks

mel123

I doubt there is anything u can do. Ideally they should be willing to give u a refund as it looks like payment was taken but a policy never generated. Saying that I find vhi hard to deal with, but wouldn't be without the policy either.

broker2008

I'd say it was a genuine error. All the searches they did for you were linked to your date of birth and they couldn't find you. If they had searched without date of birth, they should have found you by first name, surname assuming that they spelt that correctly.

Are they allowing you to cancel your policy ? Are you joining group scheme with VHI or another provider?

NuMarvel

Mega Chin, after you joined, did you get policy documentation with your membership details, terms and conditions etc? If you did, then the information on that should match what's on their systems, so that's a quick way to check if what they are saying is true or not.

That said, it probably is a genuine error, but if you want to check into it further you can request a copy of your information under the Data Protection Acts. Personally, I'd just chalk it up to experience and check any policy documentation that comes from any new insurers you sign up with (health or otherwise).

Professey Chin

Cheers guys!
Theyre letting me cancel and the group schemes with a different provider.

Guess I just didnt like the idea that I've been paying for a service that didnt actually exist :pac:

broker2008

Did they give you grief for cancelling as it is a yearly contract?Were your premiums taken for December until August? Make sure that there is not a break of more than 13 weeks cover so you do not have to reserve waiting periods.