Upheld: Service failures generally complaint against Xbridge Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr S complained that Simply Business failed to cancel his personal accident insurance cover. In May 2023, Mr S contacted Simply Business about a declined claim and stated the cover was not what he expected and was of no use to him. Simply Business did not offer to cancel the cover or provide cancellation information at that time. Mr S only discovered in 2024 that he was still paying for the cover and raised the issue again. The ombudsman upheld the complaint, finding that while Simply Business was entitled to require an explicit cancellation request, it should have proactively offered cancellation information when Mr S stated the cover was of no use, particularly as it later demonstrated willingness to provide such assistance in 2024. The ombudsman awarded £100 compensation for the inconvenience caused.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

While Simply Business was entitled to require a clear cancellation request, its own notes from May 2023 clearly showed Mr S had communicated that the cover was not what he expected and was of no use to him. In these circumstances, Simply Business should have either asked if Mr S wished to cancel or provided information on how to do so. The ombudsman noted that Simply Business later provided exactly this type of response in 2024, demonstrating it was capable of doing so in 2023. The failure to provide this information caused avoidable inconvenience as Mr S had to raise the issue again in 2024.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website