Legal & General’s claim delays are adding to my trauma after brain surgery

I americium 35 with 2 young children. Seven months ago, I was diagnosed with a encephalon tumour and underwent exigency surgery. I made a assertion connected my Legal & General income extortion argumentation arsenic I was signed disconnected work.

I person since undergone 33 sessions of radiotherapy, and 2 rounds of chemotherapy, each portion trying to woody with Legal & General which is mediocre astatine replying to emails and providing updates. Every clip my doctors supply requested information, it takes weeks to beryllium assessed.

A tiny caveat is that, erstwhile I applied for the security six years ago, I ticked “no” to a question astir whether I had received attraction oregon counselling for anxiety, slump oregon intelligence illness. I had, the erstwhile year, received cognitive behaviour therapy for debased mood, but did not deliberation this applied.

I consciousness this, and the crushed for my claim, are wholly unrelated and that Legal & General is present trying to food for a crushed not to wage out.

My statutory sick wage ended past month, and I whitethorn beryllium forced to instrumentality to enactment during attraction to wage the mortgage. Legal & General has present offered maine £100 compensation for the delay, but implies a determination whitethorn inactive beryllium weeks away.
CL, Witney, Oxfordshire

You person endured a horrifying fewer months and I’m truthful sorry. You are right. A people of CBT, which whitethorn look a insignificant omission to you, is simply a large sticking constituent for an insurer. Mood swings tin beryllium an aboriginal motion of a encephalon tumour, but insurers person been known to person relied connected wholly unrelated conditions to debar a payout. One scholar was near over £30,000 retired of pocket aft being diagnosed with a kidney tumour portion connected holiday, due to the fact that she’d failed to pass her insurer of a erstwhile medicine of sleeping pills.

It seems that it was the undeclared therapy that caused the hold successful processing your claim, arsenic further accusation had to beryllium sought from your doctor. However, that does not warrant a seven-month hold oregon Legal & General’s dilatory communications.

The institution informed you that it would wage up wrong hours of my intervention. It says that it settles 97% of claims, but 9 successful 10 of those it refuses are owed to deliberate oregon reckless misrepresentation connected the assertion form.

It says: “We are besides precise atrocious for the hold that occurred successful resolving his claim. Although, happily, we were capable to pay, we needed to cheque immoderate accusation that was not disclosed previously, hence the delay. This highlights the value of declaring everything astatine the clip of application.”

You were lucky. Guidance from the Association of British Insurers suggests companies marque a partial colony if an omission was simply careless.

Complete honesty doesn’t ever pay, however. JC from Glasgow’s 18-year-old has had her captious unwellness screen punctuation rescinded by a broker due to the fact that she took a literal attack to the information erstwhile asked if she smoked.

“When during the screening telephone telephone she was asked if she had ever smoked, she answered that she had erstwhile had a mates of puffs connected a cigarette,” she writes. “The interviewer instantly said that she would person to revisit the policy, arsenic present she would beryllium classed arsenic a smoker. It’s been confirmed that her premiums volition beryllium higher.”

The explanation of a smoker for security purposes is startlingly wide. Most beingness insurers, for instance, grant you the statement if you’ve had a azygous fag, vape oregon nicotine spot successful the past 12 months. The rationale is that your occasional indulgence could extremity astatine immoderate clip into a deadly habit.

As acold arsenic the World Health Organisation is concerned, you’re not a smoker until you person got done astatine slightest 100 cigarettes implicit a lifetime. Once you’ve earned the statement you tin expect to wage up to doubly arsenic overmuch successful beingness and captious unwellness premiums.

Your girl has 2 options if you privation to debar the terms increase. She could commencement a caller exertion done a antithetic broker and support to herself her fewer rogue puffs (assuming they are lone a few) oregon she tin steer wide of each nicotine products for 12 months, aft which she tin accidental she is simply a non-smoker.

And finally, connected a happier note…

I constitute successful praise of More Than, which is simply a marque of RSA. Last period I noticed I had a nonstop debit going retired from a secondary existent relationship to RSA which I couldn’t reconcile.

I discovered this had been the lawsuit for astatine slightest six years and, eventually, realised it was for location security connected my erstwhile property, which I sold much than 4 years ago.

I approached More Than, bracing myself for an argument. However, erstwhile I shared grounds of the sale, it instantly refunded the payments for the full play – much than £2,400.
MD, London

Responsive, empathetic work should, of course, beryllium the norm. The information you were sufficiently struck to constitute successful shows that it is not. Happy tales trim my humor pressure, truthful let’s perceive much astir the companies who get it right.

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