I have just had my insurance policy voided to the date of inception for "Breech of Good Faith", In January / February 2008 I had the local authority in doing some work, on the first visit they practicaly destroyed my home, on thier second visit to repair the damages they finnished the job of destroying my home.

Not satisfied with that they then dumped all of my property. They did hand over several Third party claim forms, and admitted liability in writing.

This was handed to my own insurance DIRECT LINE to deal with as a third party claim.

They had me do repairs myself to get "evidence to support the claim", they intervied neighbours who confirmed it all, they saw video and photographs which backed it all up and they intervied the local authority who confirmed it all.

What more could you want, proof proof and more proof. On August 1st 2008 they wrote out to inform me that my policy was being cancelled back to the date of inception of September 26th 2006 for Breech of Utmost Good Faith, as I was underinsured.

I tried reasoning with them, and asked them to be logical about this, I asked the simple Questions

1. Do I have to insure items that do not belong to me? they said NO

2 Do I have to insure Items that are covered by another insurance policy? They Said NO

3 Do I have ot insure items that I will buy in 2008 in 2006? they said NO

But they informed me that they have to be made aware of all the items in your possesion to give an accurate risk assesment, and by not telling them about every item that was not mines was insured by other insurers and Items I had not bought at the time of the policy, this was a breech of faith.

They were aware of the value of the claim in February 2008

They Knew that there were items bought after the last renewal date, because of the dates on the recipts

They Knew that there were items that did not belong to me becasue they said that they could not deal with them, and that the owners would have to claim thier own insurance or make a Third party claim to the local authority

yet it took them until the evidence pointed to the truth of the value and the items existance in August 2008 to cancel the policy to avoid a payout.

now thats just underhanded, and prooves that they are not a company to be trusted.

I approached thier own Legal help Desk who could not understand it, they were under the same inpression I was, this was a Third Party Claim adn nothing to do with my own insurance except for them expiditing it on my behalf.

The insurance ombudsman and several other solicitors had the exact same impression.

Yet it made no difference.

I took the matter to the Head office Direct adn put in a complaint. They were also at a loss adn started an investigation, but asked me to once more talk to the claims validation team to see if there was any middle ground.

The points were raised and not exactly dealt with but twisted.

They refused to budge on the point of the items not insured by them, they said that was the main reason why i was being cancelled.

I pointed out to them that the house was in the process of being completeley re done up, hence at the time of the incident there was 4 bedrooms damaged 2 livingrooms damaged 2 kitchens damaged, the old and the new. as it was a third party claim both had been claimed, if this had happened after the place was done up then there would have been 2 bedrooms 1 livingroom adn 1 kitchen, this went for nothing, I should have made the insurance company aware of these facts at the policy inception or at renewal, one 2 years prior the other 6 months prior.

They then focused on the main problem with the claim, the stamp collection, they assumed that the stamp collection I insured in 2006 was the same collection, I informed them it was not, it had been added to and reduced in other ways, and in fact the album that was insured was not even my labum but my fathers, which by now they had also informed me that even although it was a specified item since it was not mines it was not included in the claim, Yet they took the money for the cover!

All along I had avoided putting a value on the stamps becasue I would only be guessing, I informed them that the stamps had not been officially Valued by any "Official" source, and that if they had been they would have been insured by a specialist company not them. And in any case they had refuced to look at the stamps becasue they had not been specified.

I was asked how in that case a Value was listed by the loss adjuster, Easy, I gave him the remnants of the stamps and a copy of the Stanley Gibbons Catalouges, and showed him how to Identify Stamps, the first once he hit was worth $520,000, the next was £19,000 the next £32,000 and so it went on, so he based the missing 30 on the 6 that remaind coming to a figure. But once more irrelevant because they were not being considered by Direct line.

I also pressed the point that from Day 1 I had kept pushing THIRD PARTY CLAIM, and I was being ageed with, right up until the loss adjuster started knocking the items i did not own, and the unlisted items from the claim, I told him he could not do this as it was a third party claim, he said it was a home claim he was investigating, I then challenged Paul MArsh the claims Validator for Direct line, who stated it would be down to the loss adjusters report as to wherther or not it was a third party claim, The loss adjuster denied this and tried apeasing me saying that I could still log a Third party claim for the items that were not being considered, I once more told the insurance company this is a third party claim, deal with it as such or do not deal with it at all. it was then I had my poilcy Avoided.

I was informed that an investigation was underway and I would be notified in Due course, until then I would have ot consider myself uninsured.

So I went off and took out a new policy with another comapny making sure about the 3 points and making sure they knew I had just had a policy cancelled, no problems.

5 days ago, I was notified of the automatic renewal of the Direct line policy, and today they took the payment from my account.

I got onto them and they informed me that the investigation was not complete and if I cancelled the insurance it would cancel the investigation, If I did not cancel the policy and the investigation was upheld then I would not be entitled to a refund, but if I went for the Half way house of Cancelling the Direct Debit i would in effeect be guilty of a breech of good faith in any case for stopping payments.

So thats where we stand now, The third party claim is being processed by the local authorities insurance company, I am covered by another insurance company, but I amk still out of pocket for all of the instructions that the loss adjuster had me cover. I also now have items that were classed as repairable that the loss adjuster told me to dispose of becasue he had seen them, that are not going to be covered by the third party claim, and instead of the claim taking 3 months which would have been concluded by May 2008, its now August / September and the claim will take until Decemeber / January to sort out.

And I have to go through the procedure of the Ombudsman after all of this.

This is Just Wrong on So many Levels, yet according to Direct Line it's All My Fault, and Nothing to do with them, as they are now saying that because my policy is New for Old they could not have dealt with the Third party claim in the first place, Because they could not recover from the other insurance company the full amount that they would have to have paid out.

Why could they not have told me this at the start when I asked them "Can you deal with a third party claim on my behalf?"