Watchdog Calls for Investigation Into Insurers Denying Claims Over Cancelled Weddings

The coronavirus pandemic has caused thousands of cancelled weddings due to shutdowns and social distancing guidelines, and couples have faced challenges getting reimbursed by wedding insurers.

Many soon-to-be-wed couples have lost colossal amounts of money and have not been reimbursed by the wedding insurance they believed would cover them.

One of those wedding insurers has been called out by consumer watchdog Which? The watchdog has urged the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to step in and investigate the claims against wedding insurers over cancelled weddings. 

Which? has claimed UK General Insurance has “disillusioned” couples by refusing to reimburse for cancelled weddings.

Which? says the wedding insurer “widely misled policyholders” with conflicting advice and glaring vagueness in their policies that helped them skirt around giving couples their money back, and has reported the wedding insurer to the FCA over these potentially unfair procedures.

Couples are accusing wedding insurers of rejecting payouts for cancelled weddings. Many couples have lost money into the four- and five-figure ranges over wedding cancellations.

Some couples have refused to let wedding insurers get away with not paying out and they have eventually received monies owed. 

Yahoo! Sports reports that around £4.8 billion has been eradicated from the U.K. wedding industry during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pandemic forced a 32% decrease in weddings this year in comparison with 2019 figures. April through September boasts 80% of nuptials in the U.K., so the pandemic’s restrictions have taken a toll on a majority of wedding plans this year.

Certain wedding venues booked by soon-to-be-wed couples are hesitant to refund money or are charging sizable fees for rebookings for those who have had cancelled weddings due to the pandemic.

Many couples arranged wedding insurance to cover their big day before the coronavirus policies took effect in March 2020. However, some wedding insurers have still refused to pay out over cancelled weddings.

According to Which?, wedding insurers have used a number of tactics to avoid payouts for cancelled weddings. They are calling for an investigation to weed out some of the confusion and hold wedding insurers accountable. 

First, Which? says insurance policies have been misleading and the reasons for claim refusal have been contradictory.

Many of the policies allegedly use ambiguous wording in the contracts.

The watchdog claims that in March, UK General Insurance told customers directly and wrote on its website that wedding cancellations were covered due to infectious disease outbreaks or wedding venue shutdowns by “relevant authority.”

The wording is a bit unclear, according to the watchdog, because it is not detailed enough to know whether the government is weighed as a “relevant authority” or whether the lockdowns count as a venue closure. 

Some couples with cancelled weddings were accused of getting insurance policies in March because they expected they would be making a claim.

Insurers allege that the couples bought insurance after coronavirus guidelines were established, so the wedding insurers refused claims due to the timing of the insurance policies being taken out, Which? reported.

The unforeseen nature of the pandemic has created a lot of confusion, but the watchdog believes the insurance policies deserve a thorough investigation.

Wedding insurers are not the only ones being confronted with practising unfair business during the pandemic.

According to the BBC, over 3,500 complaints about coronavirus-related financial issues have been reported.

Any resident of the U.K. has the right to bring complaints to the financial ombudsman.

For now, couples who still have not received refunds for their cancelled weddings are still battling with insurers. Many couples are still waiting for a solution. 

Was your wedding cancelled during the pandemic? Did you lose money or were you able to be reimbursed by your wedding insurer? Tell us your story in the comments.

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