Not upheld: Service failures generally complaint against ACORN INSURANCE AND FINANCIAL SERVICES LIMITED

Decision detail

Summary

Mr C complained about how Acorn administered his commercial motor insurance policy after his vehicle failed to appear on the Motor Insurance Database (MID) following a policy update, causing his employer to cancel his account. Acorn explained that MID updates take 7-14 days to process, assured Mr C he was covered, and offered to confirm this with his employer. The ombudsman found Acorn had done nothing wrong, as the vehicle's non-appearance was a normal consequence of MID processing delays occurring before the 7-day minimum timeframe, and Mr C was validly insured. The ombudsman could not hold Acorn responsible for the independent decision of another company to cancel Mr C's account and found the £75 compensation already paid to be reasonable.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that the vehicle not appearing on MID was a normal consequence of processing delays inherent to the MID system (7-14 days), and all events occurred before this timeframe had elapsed. Mr C was validly insured and Acorn offered to confirm this with his employer. The ombudsman could not hold Acorn responsible for the independent decision of another company (Mr C's employer) to cancel the account, as Acorn had done nothing wrong and had offered to resolve the misunderstanding.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website