As AAM has helped me out so much over the years I thought I should post a quick alert about an issue that has arisen today.
I've had my full House Insurance with Hibernian (now Hibernian Aviva) since 2006.
On calling today to pay my (4th year) renewal, I was asked if I had an alarm on the house. I said No and this has opened a whole barrel of worms. My house doesn't or never has had an alarm, but apparently Hibernian's records show that my house has an alarm and this has led to me receiving a 10% discount. I haven't yet established when this was added to my policy.
Thankfully I've never had to claim over the last 3 years, but what is concerning me is there might have been some dispute over the validity of the claim had the worst happened. I would never in a million years have risked my policy for the sake of €30.
I would encourage anyone who has a house insurance policy with Hibernian and no alarm on their house to check the following:
1) Double-check your proposal form. You would have received this based on a quotation over the phone.
On mine, from 2006, under Section 5. Security, the relevant questions are:
2. Is the dwelling protected by a Burglar Alarm?
My form says No
3. If Yes, does it comply with EN50131 standard (old standard IS199) and fitted by a NSAI Installer?
My form says Yes.
Unfortunately I didn't follow up on this (I didn't think I needed to) so I don't know if this ambiguity is the source of the issue.
2) Check what endorsements are on your policy.
In 2006, I had 2 endorsements on my policy:
HW11 - Accidental Damage
HW2A - Security - Locks.
Per the Policy Booklet from that year, if I had a discount for an alarm on my property, then Endorsement HW2B - Security - Alarm would also have been listed.
In 2007, my endorsements changed to:
HW11 - Accidental Damage
HW2 - Security (Unoccupancy)
Your Policy provides cover for stealing or attempted stealing. When your home is unoccupied, this cover only applies if all locks on windows and external doors and any Burglar Alarm installed are in effective use.
In 2008, they changed again:
HW11 - Accidental Damage
HW2 - Security - Standard
We will not cover any loss or damage as a result of theft or attempted theft when your home is unoccupied unless
A. All external doors are locked and
B. All ground-floor and accessible windows on the first floor are closed.
The 2009 endorsements are the same as 2008.
There is absolutely no mention of an alarm or alarm discount anywhere else on the policy/renewal documents for the last 3 years.
After almost an hour on the phone to various reps today, my policy for the next 3 weeks has been changed so that it does not include an alarm. However, they are increasing my renewal premium to reflect the lack of alarm discount. The insinuation by the Customer Service rep was that I had probably ticked the 'alarm' box on the proposal form and unfortunately I didn't locate my copy of the proposal form until late tonight.
My theory is that Hibernian merged endorsements HW2A and HW2B into HW2 sometime in 2006/2007 without notifying customers and this may have led to the alarm option getting included.
Needless to say a nasty letter will be en route to Hibernian next week and I will be looking for quotes from other providers before going ahead with any renewal. I am astonished and very concerned that they could have such a condition on my policy without mentioning it on the renewal documents.
I've had my full House Insurance with Hibernian (now Hibernian Aviva) since 2006.
On calling today to pay my (4th year) renewal, I was asked if I had an alarm on the house. I said No and this has opened a whole barrel of worms. My house doesn't or never has had an alarm, but apparently Hibernian's records show that my house has an alarm and this has led to me receiving a 10% discount. I haven't yet established when this was added to my policy.
Thankfully I've never had to claim over the last 3 years, but what is concerning me is there might have been some dispute over the validity of the claim had the worst happened. I would never in a million years have risked my policy for the sake of €30.
I would encourage anyone who has a house insurance policy with Hibernian and no alarm on their house to check the following:
1) Double-check your proposal form. You would have received this based on a quotation over the phone.
On mine, from 2006, under Section 5. Security, the relevant questions are:
2. Is the dwelling protected by a Burglar Alarm?
My form says No
3. If Yes, does it comply with EN50131 standard (old standard IS199) and fitted by a NSAI Installer?
My form says Yes.
Unfortunately I didn't follow up on this (I didn't think I needed to) so I don't know if this ambiguity is the source of the issue.
2) Check what endorsements are on your policy.
In 2006, I had 2 endorsements on my policy:
HW11 - Accidental Damage
HW2A - Security - Locks.
Per the Policy Booklet from that year, if I had a discount for an alarm on my property, then Endorsement HW2B - Security - Alarm would also have been listed.
In 2007, my endorsements changed to:
HW11 - Accidental Damage
HW2 - Security (Unoccupancy)
Your Policy provides cover for stealing or attempted stealing. When your home is unoccupied, this cover only applies if all locks on windows and external doors and any Burglar Alarm installed are in effective use.
In 2008, they changed again:
HW11 - Accidental Damage
HW2 - Security - Standard
We will not cover any loss or damage as a result of theft or attempted theft when your home is unoccupied unless
A. All external doors are locked and
B. All ground-floor and accessible windows on the first floor are closed.
The 2009 endorsements are the same as 2008.
There is absolutely no mention of an alarm or alarm discount anywhere else on the policy/renewal documents for the last 3 years.
After almost an hour on the phone to various reps today, my policy for the next 3 weeks has been changed so that it does not include an alarm. However, they are increasing my renewal premium to reflect the lack of alarm discount. The insinuation by the Customer Service rep was that I had probably ticked the 'alarm' box on the proposal form and unfortunately I didn't locate my copy of the proposal form until late tonight.
My theory is that Hibernian merged endorsements HW2A and HW2B into HW2 sometime in 2006/2007 without notifying customers and this may have led to the alarm option getting included.
Needless to say a nasty letter will be en route to Hibernian next week and I will be looking for quotes from other providers before going ahead with any renewal. I am astonished and very concerned that they could have such a condition on my policy without mentioning it on the renewal documents.