Maureen took out two life policies just after her husband passed away, when she didn’t feel up to making financial decisions.
What happened
Not long after her husband died, Maureen started to get unsolicited calls from an insurance company selling life assurance. Life policies pay a lump sum on the death of the person whose life is assured.
Maureen told the caller she didn’t feel up to making financial decisions. But they didn’t listen to her when she said she needed time to think. Eventually – and because she felt pressured – Maureen took out two life policies.
The insurance company then started chasing Maureen for payments, so she asked to cancel the policies. She had to ask several times before it did cancel the policies. Then she was charged a fee for the cancellation and the insurance company continued to chase her for payments.
Maureen made a complaint to the insurance company. And, unhappy with their response, she came to us.
What we said
We listened to a recording of the call where the insurance company sold the life assurance policies to Maureen. We heard Maureen saying several times that she was grieving and suffering with stress and anxiety.
The adviser did not seem to understand this, and told Maureen she needed to get the policies set up as quickly as possible.
We thought the insurance company had enough information to recognise that Maureen was vulnerable. It ought to have treated her fairly during the sales process, but it didn’t.
So, we told the insurance company to refund the cancellation fee it charged Maureen. And we said that it should pay £300 compensation to Maureen for the distress and inconvenience it had caused her at a very difficult time in her life.