Dear Sandy67,

I can relate to your situation with taking temporary work and coming off badly from it. I was only ever made redundant and out of work for any length of time once, in 1991. I ended up on unemployment benefit during that recession but really wanted to work for my money rather than simply take benefits. I was asked by a friend to do one day's work in London, a drive of around 130 miles each way from where I lived at the time. I was upfront and honest with the Job Centre and told them of this. They deducted what I earnt that day from my benefits, which I expected, but they would not allow me the cost of fuel to get there and back, so it actually cost me a tank of petrol to do one day's work. What a mug I was! No wonder there are so many work shy people out there on benefits when they get stitched up like this by the government and also insurance companies when they try to earn an honest day's money!

Gordon

Sorry to say but on something like this you really should have reffered to your policy booklet first to check and see if any kind of work done was be counted on the claim.

Facts and Figures printed in an official contarcted booklet are somewhat harder to dispute than someones say so over the phone. Unless you have the persons name, time and date and full transcript of the phone call then I doubt very much if your claim will stand up unless the policy booklet agrees with you and temporary work can be ignored (which I douby very much it can be)

Probably worth speaking to the new underwriter to start with as AXA no longer have anything to do with it.

I was made redundant July 2010. I claimed. I have had dozens of letters from the insurer asking trivial silly questions, sometimes several times despite giving written answers.

There are 60 waiting days in the policy. After 45 days of unemployment I did 7 days of temporary work, then remained unemployed until November when I got another longer term job (hurray).

PO Insurance have completely rejected my claimstating that taking 7 days of temporary work means having to incur ANOTHER EXTRA 60 days waiting period. (Hence 7 days work = 60 days loss of claim!!!!).

I asked for advice before taking the temporary work, and I was told it would not affect my claim in this way, however now they don't remember this advice, and don't want to know.

They have made me period of unemployment very stressful and I haven't received a penny despite having paid £2,000 in premiums over the past year.

1. DONT TOUCH AXA or POST OFFICE Insurance with a bargepole.

2. Can anyone recommend how to complain effectively about imposing the 60 days waiting period multiple times. (solicitor.small claims, BBC watchdog etc.) to the best effect.

I am now in debt thanks to these bloodsuckers.

Update: I am very happy to report that my husband has not had any problem claiming unemployment against his original policy's Ts&Cs. Everything was done in a timely manner and payouts from AXA are up-to-date. PHEW!!

He just needs a job now!!

But on a down note, we have not had the increased premium refund as yet - I suppose they still have a month or so to give it to us.

Leigh,

Losing your job and finding another should make no difference from my view if you have not claimed, although I am not an industry expert, so please check your policy wording to ensure that it does not state that you must tell them immediately if you lose/change your job, regardless of whether you are going to claim. It is basically an insurance policy and as you have kept up the payments, then you should still have the benefits. Just call them tell them that you want your policy reinstated as per the FSA ruling and they will do it. Only trouble is that in your case your premiums went DOWN, so you owe them money if you want the original benefits reinstated, not the other way around. That could amount to the difference x the number of months!!!!

Regards,

Gordon

Hi Gordon

Can you help out? I too am affected by this see my previous posts. Basically i took out a policy in August 2008 whch cost me £112.50 per month for cover of £2500.00. I was then hit with the new changes which cut my cover to £1500 and my monthly premiuim went down to £88.95 per month plus 90 days waiting time, i know what your thinking no parity there.

I tried complaing with letters etc and got nowhere. What should i do now? I also have another slight problem in that i lost my job in December but have luckily managed to find another straight away. Do i tell them this? All i want is any monies due back to me and my original policy back in place.

regards

Leigh

Hi Gohunter,

Have they automatically revised your Direct debit back to the original amount too?

Husband is going to call them on the number you listed and quote FSA ruling etc as he has to claim ASAP on unemployment section. Fingers crossed they are as quick with him as they were with you.

Thanks

Hi Tom,

I contacted them in early November (see my post of 9th November) and they reimbursed in early December for the full amount of the overcharge. The policy was then revised and sent to me and is back to where it should have been before they tried to sting everyone with changed T's & C's and "revised premiums". No reset of dates, etc. so I am happy with the outcome. Suggest you contact them without delay. In fact according to the FSA, they should have contacted you, so if they have not, it would be worth letting the FSA know about their non-compliance!

Regards,

Gordon

Hi,

I've been watching this forum for a while - I'm in the same situation re the price hikes and reduced benefits but didn't want to clog it up with more examples.

Anyway, if we are to call AXA and quote the FSA ruling, or the Times article, does anyone have any insight on what will happen to our policies if they agree to reimburse the increased payment amounts and change the terms of the policy back to pre- April 09?

Will the policy be effectively 'reset', meaning that if I were somehow made redundant within the next 90 days ( waiting period at the start of a new policy), I would receive nothing?

Or will the terms just be changed back to what they were, and considering the fact that I've been paying into this for 2 years, I could get made redundant tomorrow and still receive my benefit?

Any guidance would be really appreciated!

Thanks - Tom

Thanks for that Frazzle.

I am correct in thinking that the Post Office should be looking to pay my husband's claim out pretty soon as it has been 30 days waiting and that he should not have to wait the new 60 days waiting. If he had to wait until June then that is totally useless in his present position. Should they be reducing the premium back down too and refund the overpayment as every penny counts as he is now redundant?

Any info/wording to use into how we approach the Post Office to ensure we get payment immediately greatfully received.

Cheers

Hi

Last week's Sunday Times makes reference to PPI refunds and specifically mentions the Post Office policy:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/consumer_affairs/article6968244.ece

"The FSA has given firms until June to reimburse consumers and reverse any reductions in cover. The Post Office was one of the worst offenders — in April it raised monthly premiums by an average of 40% and cut the maximum monthly benefit from £2,500 to £1,500."

cheers,

Hi, he only wants to claim against what he originally agreed to and signed up for - nothing else. He needs to start making a claim on Monday so will obviously have to disclose his redundancy. The policy was taken out 12 months ago - so he doesn't have to wait to qualify.

Be VERY careful about what you do now. You cannot speak to them about this without disclosing that he knows he is being made redundant. If you try to make changes without disclosing this, then you could invalidate the policy immediately and he will get nothing!!!!

Hi, My husband is being made redundant on Friday (oh joy!) and has been affected by Post Office Lifestyle increase/change in policy. Am I right by telling him to ring them today and ask for his policy to be put back to it's "original" status, waiting period of 30 days and premium and they will do this immediately?

He need to make his claim against the policy on Monday. Would doing this make it a "new" old claim? I don't want to jepodise his claiming against it.

Any advise appreciated. Many thanks.