Not upheld: unfair charges and lack of transparency regarding multiple policies complaint against Domestic and General Insurance Plc

Decision detail

Summary

Mrs N complained to D&G after discovering three direct debits being charged when D&G had told her only one policy was in place. Investigation revealed that Mrs N did have three legitimate policies, though two were registered at a different address and one had been incorrectly named 'Mr Occupier'. The ombudsman found that D&G's initial search was limited by address-based parameters and that any errors in address registration or naming did not prejudice Mrs N, as she owned the covered appliances and could have claimed using policy reference numbers. The complaint was not upheld and no compensation was awarded.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while D&G's initial statement that Mrs N had only one policy was incorrect and caused confusion, the available evidence demonstrated that Mrs N did in fact have three policies and was legitimately charged for them. The policies registered at a different address were genuine policies for appliances Mrs N owned. The ombudsman reasoned that search results are only as good as the search data entered, and the initial address-based search was limited. Any errors regarding address registration or the 'Mr Occupier' name would not have prevented Mrs N from making a claim had she needed to, as D&G confirmed it would have traced the policies using reference numbers. The ombudsman concluded that while Mrs N experienced frustration and confusion, she was not prejudiced by any potential errors, and no compensation was warranted.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website