Not upheld: Service failures generally complaint against Complete Cover Group Limited (trading as boom)

Decision detail

Summary

Mr A obtained motor insurance through boom, an insurance broker, but the policy was actually arranged by an unregulated ghost broker who created a fake email account in Mr A's name. When Mr A was involved in a motor accident in June 2025, the insurer discovered the application contained fraudulent information and cancelled the policy. Mr A complained to boom about its failure to update his email address despite multiple requests and its failure to copy his mother into correspondence as requested. The ombudsman found that while Mr A's situation was sympathetic, boom did not act unfairly, suffered no significant loss or inconvenience from the email issues, and boom was entitled to rely on information provided by the broker acting on his behalf. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while Mr A's situation was sympathetic, the root cause of his difficulties was the ghost broker, not boom. Although boom did not update the email address when asked, the ombudsman found no evidence that Mr A suffered significant financial loss or inconvenience as a result. The ombudsman determined that boom was entitled to rely on information provided by the broker acting on Mr A's behalf and was not required to verify that information. The ombudsman noted that boom addressed Mr A's complaint within reasonable timescales and that the inconvenience of chasing for progress was not significant enough to merit compensation.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website