Taken from the Daily Mail

HOMEOWNERS who insist on putting their holiday details and homes on-line face a crackdown from Insurance Companies

Anyone burgled after advertising their plans on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter could end up being targeted by crooks
The issue has emerged after insurance companies said they will take into account any potentially revealing messages when analysing claims
Research found that thousands regularly leave themselves open to their homes being raided
A spoksman for the Co-operative Insurance Company said he could envisage a future where claims could be rejected if it was discovered that someone had been reckless with personal information that had been posted on a social networking site. That's the nature of the industry we are in he said

Willowsend ask's, what is the point of us taking out insurance, even if you read the small print they appear to have us all by the short and curlies
I think it is called moving the goal posts. it has also been referred to as insurance fraud

The ONLY way this could be a problem is if you set all the privacy settings to 'everyone' and then included your full address in your profile, and even then you'd have to rely on some random burgler in the area stumbling across this information ...

Insurance companies will resort to any tactics to find a reason not to pay out on a claim.

Gimp wrote:

Insurance companies will resort to any tactics to find a reason not to pay out on a claim.

Anyone who voluntarily posts any information about themselves on the web and is shocked by what happens obviously failed their IQ test! So get out of the plant pot.

lets assume I'm a burglar How would I know who lives where? Id have to find there name, add them as a friend on Facebook and then check their page everyday until they posted holiday details. Burglars are opportunist this isn't going to happen, I think this is all a little far fetched!

The insurance companies do have a point. letting everyone know when your going away on facebook is not a good idea. its your name and personal details on profile. skype that name and it will narrow down all the people with your name, and your town. scary really.

starlite wrote:

The insurance companies do have a point. letting everyone know when your going away on facebook is not a good idea. its your name and personal details on profile. skype that name and it will narrow down all the people with your name, and your town. scary really.

I am pleased somebody see's some logic in this topic, it is scary

Gimp wrote:

Insurance companies will resort to any tactics to find a reason not to pay out on a claim.

:Howdy:Gimp
I totally agree with you that insurance companies will do everything they can to avoid paying out, and I am speaking from experience here

Examples:- My wife's car insurance. When the policy became due she wanted to make a couple of amendments, she posted a cheque on the Thursday with a 1st class stamp, she didn't hear anything from them, so after one week she contacted them by phone (at £1.00 per minute) to be told, your policy has been cancelled. Gobsmacked, she enquired why to be told the cheque did not arrive in time so your policy is null and void.
She is now insured with another company (or is she, BBC Watchdog showed a programme where people are driving their cars thinking that they are in sured and they are not)
The company who cancelled her policy have now sent her a cheque less £157.27 for admin costs, it's a con

Our UK house insurance. We have been with the company for 42 years, in that time only ever made one claim. When the policy was due for renewal we received a quote for £98.00 more than the previous year. I phoned them and asked, what is going on, you are just about to loose a loyal customer of 42 years as you have increased our policy by nearly £100.00. I was told, hold on a minute and I will transfer you to another department. It turned out to be the loyality/bonus department, where I was told that we could have a DISCOUNT of £104.00. How many people, I wonder have been conned by their insurance company

Villa Lorna, as already discussed on this and another forum we are having problems with Intasure paying out for all the stolen contents of our villa. Intasure are claiming it is not them, it is the underwriters who are declining not to renew the policy and payout for all our losses. I wont discuss this any more at present because of on going circumstances, but again it's another example of wriggling out of a situation. it's a con

There is only one winner when it comes to insurance of any sort and you don't need me to tell you who the winner isn't

davshaz wrote:

There is only one winner when it comes to insurance of any sort and you don't need me to tell you who the winner isn't

Very true and I think we could all learn from knowing that after all thats what they are in business for to take your money and keep it as long as they can