Applying for Legal and General life assurance ?

[Anastasius]

Then you need to be aware of one thing. If you apply online, very early on in the application process you will be asked if you have ever been advised to reduce alcohol consumption. How long ago is irrelevant or even if it was, as in my case, a throwaway comment by my GP. If you have been advised at any time (after the age of 25) then L&G will not provide you with life cover. That is, of course, their prerogative.

What is NOT their prerogative is to let you waste a further 30-40 minutes of your life answering all sorts of other questions regarding your past health history when they know...but you do not...that the answer will be 'We won't cover you'. When challenged about this L&G say that it 'will cost too much to change their system'.

[Lat-Literal]

Then you need to be aware of one thing. If you apply online, very early on in the application process you will be asked if you have ever been advised to reduce alcohol consumption. How long ago is irrelevant or even if it was, as in my case, a throwaway comment by my GP. If you have been advised at any time (after the age of 25) then L&G will not provide you with life cover. That is, of course, their prerogative.

What is NOT their prerogative is to let you waste a further 30-40 minutes of your life answering all sorts of other questions regarding your past health history when they know...but you do not...that the answer will be 'We won't cover you'. When challenged about this L&G say that it 'will cost too much to change their system'.

The FSA ruled in my favour against L and G circa 2000. It was on the manner in which they had misleadingly sold an endowment policy that I was required to have with a mortgage from the early 1990s. It is also among the companies which currently spend huge sums of money on advertising targeted at elderly and middle aged people at specific times. That is, during sitcoms and other light programmes at tea time. Such commercials jar considerably in tone with the programme content. Or, for people who can use a computer, they can be broadcast every six minutes in the same programmes on sites like Daily Motion. My strong opinion is that these techniques should in law be incorporated in the term coercive control.

Let us for one moment pretend that such companies are a potential partner in a relationship and the customers they seek are the other potential partner in a relationship. What would be the character of the two people involved? One would be persistently forcing themselves on the other, whether it was wanted or not, and always wanting money upfront. The other would be subjected to extensive scrutiny and criticism of their own character, forced to work hard at proving that they were respectable, and in the position where the first, who may have been asked in other places to account for their own less than wonderful actions, will reject them at the drop of the hat. And this also applies to other modern commercial areas.

Perhaps I am overly sensitive but when it is all presented as a "you need us - we are here for your own good", I am surprised that others don't see its dark undertow blazing through. It's all a weakening force : those who have health issues are made to feel weaker and those who don't are actually being deemed too strong, hence they are weakened in the wallet!

[gradus]

Surely a doctor's throw-away doesn't amount to medical advice, and is none of the insurance company's business. How would they find out?
Medical-related insurance is a minefield and barely worth the candle imv but I happen to live where there is little private provision except from Nuffield and anything serious migrates to the NHS in any case.

[Anastasius]

Simple. It will be in your medical record and to get life cover you will need (if asked) to agree to let them have access.

[MrGongGong]

Insurance companies are borderline dishonest?
No Shit Sherlock

How do you think they are able to sponsor motor racing etc ?

[teamsaint]

Sixth form students should be required to read something like “ The Rainmaker” by John Grisham .

Tells you most of what you need to know about dishonesty in the insurance business.

[Serial_Apologist]

Stories abound of accident insurance company reps loitering in the vicinity of loose paving stones and potholes. All apocryphal, I'm quite certain.

[gradus]

Simple. It will be in your medical record and to get life cover you will need (if asked) to agree to let them have access.

I thought that by throw-away you meant unrecorded. IFA any help?

[oddoneout]

Simple. It will be in your medical record and to get life cover you will need (if asked) to agree to let them have access.

And if you're unlucky your medical records will have already been sold and be busy circulating out there, insurance companies for the use of(among others...) which can add further complications.

[Dave2002]

Sixth form students should be required to read something like “ The Rainmaker” by John Grisham .

Tells you most of what you need to know about dishonesty in the insurance business.

Thanks for the reading tip, though I'm no longer a sixth former. I look forward to reading it, eventually.

The other area where insurance companies are a pain is in the car insurance area. They'll ask have you ever made a claim in the last five years (or whatever), then if you make a "mistake" and there was one (not even your fault - nobody driving - parked car - and they ask stupid questions such as "who was driving before it was parked ...") about 4 years 11 months ago they'll try get back at you, and then try to get you for "making a dishonest" claim. Given that, apparently, this can happen on any car you own - jointly or otherwise, and that they also might take into account other drivers on policies, or you may be a named driver on someone else's policy - they work their own databases which are "shared with other insurers" to try to manipulate their profits and put customers at a disadvantage. Their record keeping is patchy - good when it suits them, otherwise not.

[MrGongGong]

The other area where insurance companies are a pain is in the car insurance area. .

Tell them you are a musician
They will ask if you use amplification in your work
If you say yes they will refuse you on the grounds that you are a danger to society
if you say no they will ask if you are a "Classical" musician
If they ask you if you ever give anyone a lift and you say yes
they will refuse you on the grounds that you might have someone "famous" in the car and have an accident

What makes me laugh sometimes is the whole "little red car" insurance company, they won't insure anyone who declares that they are a "professional entertainer" yet have endless adverts voiced by people they won't insure.

[Dave2002]

Re the first couple of posts in this thread, one mistake nowadays is to use online sites. The companies may log whatever you type in there, and take that as "evidence". In one exchange not so long ago the (expletive deleted) companies managed to get two entries on their database, because the only way to find out about a previous claim was to ask one of them, but then putting a date in, even tentatively, on the online forms, causes their database to be updated with two entries for the same event. The *** (very nice!) people at the other end then don't seem able to understand that two very similar entries on their database are in fact exactly the same one. So in the first case, perhaps our OP did put in an online entry that he may have been advised by a GP many years ago - as unsure if the data had actually been recorded. The actual conversation from the GP may not have been recorded or put on the patient notes, but the online data will indicate that there might have been a conversation, and this can then be used against the prospective insured. They'll keep the information forever, and possibly include incorrect information for many years to come.

This situation is also more likely to occur if a customer tries to use several different online sites in order to get a price comparison over a very short period of time - say one hour. Not that anyone actually doees that, or is encouraged to do so, of course!

There are sometimes advantages in using a broker, as sometimes they (the brokers) don't enter all the data, and some of the "data" can then be deniable.

[Anastasius]

Not to use an online site ? You must be kidding. While looking elsewhere I came across one company where I spoke to their rep on the phone. Said rep then entered in my details into their system. I had no record whatsoever as to what he had entered.

Anyway, we are digressing from my main objection....namely that Legal and General are quite happy to waste prospective customers time when they already know that they will decline the application. A formal complaint has been lodged.

[Dave2002]

Not to use an online site ? You must be kidding. While looking elsewhere I came across one company where I spoke to their rep on the phone. Said rep then entered in my details into their system. I had no record whatsoever as to what he had entered.

That's my point, it's deniable - unless you signed that you agreed all the data entered.

[MrGongGong]

So today I tried to renew my annual travel insurance

They asked me why I was travelling
"To work", I replied
"aaah clerical things" they assumed
"er, no i'm a musician and composer"
"do you stand on a stage?"
"erm, sometimes"
"sorry, we can't insure you"
"can you insure me for going paragliding on holiday?"
"of course"
"then why.... ? aaah never mind"



Actually, I'm very happy today