Not upheld: Account administration errors complaint against Qmetric Group Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr P complained that Qmetric refused to process a mid-term address change on his home insurance policy when he moved home in May 2024, instead requiring him to cancel and take out a new policy subject to a cancellation fee and higher premiums. Qmetric explained its systems lacked functionality for mid-term address changes and that property-specific questions needed updating. The ombudsman found Qmetric's decision reasonable given the address change fundamentally altered the insured risk, and that Mr P had been adequately informed through policy documents that changes could result in cancellation. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Qmetric's decision to require a new policy was reasonable because the change of address would have fundamentally altered almost the entirety of the risk being insured, requiring updates to many property-specific questions. The ombudsman determined that Mr P was provided with sufficient information through the IPID and policy terms that he needed to contact Qmetric if circumstances changed, and that this could result in policy cancellation. The ombudsman was not persuaded that even had Qmetric disclosed its system limitations upfront, Mr P would have made a different decision, as the policy specifics and price would have been the driving factors.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website