Complaints Procedure

At some stage you may feel that the service or care you have received from your insurance provider was unacceptable, and wish to make a complaint. Each insurance provider will specify their particular complaints procedure, and will usually detail the steps you should take in the policy booklet. If you are uncertain about the correct complaints procedure, contact your insurance provider and ask them for advice.

Remember that you are within your rights to complain if an aspect of service or care has upset you. In the past it was common for claims representatives to ask their policyholders probing, personal questions such as exactly how long a terminally ill patient had to live. Complaints about this practise led to reforms and a more compassionate service.

Generally, it is a good idea to contact your insurance provider when you realise you wish to complain. They will often be able to solve your difficulties, and remove the need for you to pursue the matter further. This is especially true if you have a complaint to make about their service, for example, if a claims representative was rude to you on the telephone. Make sure that you have details to hand of the complaint that you wish to make; using the same example, it would be wise to note down the date and time of the telephone call, the name of the representative and their exact comments, if possible.

When you contact your insurer they will usually ask for details of your complaint, and then ask for a certain amount of time to investigate your case. Typically they will aim to respond to your complaint within two weeks. If, after two weeks, you have not heard from your insurance provider, you should contact them a second time. You may wish to contact them again by telephone or email, or send them a letter. Some people feel that a letter is a good idea when contacting a company for the second time, because it is a concrete reminder to the company that they need to investigate your case and send a reply.

However you choose to follow up your complaint, be sure to give details of your dissatisfaction and highlight the fact that you have already contacted the company but have received no reply. If your insurance provider fails to respond to your complaint, or you are unhappy with their response, you can contact the Financial Ombudsman. The Financial Ombudsman is an independent service which aims to investigate complaints made by customers of financial service companies. You can contact them on 0845 080 1800 during office hours, or write to them at:

Unless you are particularly unfortunate, the majority of insurance providers will take the time to investigate your complaint and aim to reply to you as soon as possible. One benefit of private health insurance is that you are a paying customer; especially in the UK, where you have the opportunity to receive free healthcare from the NHS, purchasing health insurance proves that you are concerned about the treatment you receive. It is even more distressing therefore if you feel that the care you have received was sub-standard.

Customer satisfaction is a priority for most insurance providers, and as a result many health insurers regularly monitor the standards of care and quality of service that they provide. Registering your unhappiness and requesting an apology is the only way to inform a company that they need to improve, and protects others from suffering in the same way.