Service Decision Reference 2022-0054

• Case Outcome: Rejected
• Reference: 2022-0054
• Date: 11 February 2022
• Year: 2022
• Subject Matter: Service
• Conducts Complained Of: Claim handling delays or issues,Poor wording/ambiguity of policy, Rejection of claim
• Finantial Sector: Insurance

Decision Ref:

2022-0054

Sector:

Insurance

Product / Service:

Service

Conduct(s) complained of:

Claim handling delays or issues

Poor wording/ambiguity of policy

Rejection of claim

Outcome:

Rejected

LEGALLY BINDING DECISION OF THE FINANCIAL SERVICES AND PENSIONS OMBUDSMAN

The Complainant is a limited company trading as a guesthouse, referred to below as ‘the

Complainant Company’. It incepted a business insurance policy with the Provider on 25

April 2010, which was thereafter renewed annually. The policy period in which this

complaint falls, is from 25 April 2019 to 24 April 2020. This complaint concerns the

Provider’s decision to decline the Complainant Company’s business interruption claim in

2020.

The Complainant Company’s Case

The Complainant Company notified the Provider on 14 April 2020 of a claim for business

interruption losses, sustained as a result of the temporary closure of its business due to

measures imposed by the Government to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Following its assessment, the Provider wrote to the Complainant Company on 21 April

2020 to advise that it had declined the claim for business interruption losses, as the policy

did not provide cover in the claim circumstances.

The Complainant Company sets out its complaint in its letter to this Office dated 22 March

2021, as follows:

“We own and operate [a castle].

Our primary business is [duration] rentals of the castle to American groups of

[numbers redacted] persons as we only have [X] bedrooms and are a small family

business.