Critical Illness Cover

There’s a lot of talk about critical illness plans at the moment. Many of them are said to be worthless. They don’t pay out – they’ll find every reason not to pay out. I have had an even more interesting experience.
I phoned out to see if there was a payment on death. After all, I am paying £170.00 a month and it would be nice to have some return on it. Of course, there is no pay out on death – too predictable – although isn’t death the most critical of illnesses? However, more alarmingly, when they took me though security, we found that they had my date of birth down wrongly.
“Not a problem,” said the clerk. “But you will have to write in and confirm this. It’s not your fault.”
Well, I suppose, actually it is. I should have checked the policy more carefully. It seems my independent financial advisor had put down my husband’s date of birth instead.
I wrote the letter and assumed all would be fine.
But oh no. I get a letter saying I now owe over £3,000. I try to phone, but the number they have given is for one of those call centres where first of all you queue forever and when you do speak to someone they don’t have a clue because the script only deals with the usual. You’re phoning because you have an unusual situation.
Now, I’ve had a letter saying that if I don’t pay up, the policy will be null and void. I’ve been paying into it since 2003. Immoral, isn’t it?