Terms of Business
The purpose of these Terms of Business (“Terms”) is to set out our professional relationship with you and detail the services we will provide to you. For your own benefit and protection, you should read all the information carefully. If you do not agree to any part of the information, please tell us. We assume that you accept the terms of these Terms unless we hear from you.
About Us
Bettersafe.com is a trading name of Commercial & General Ltd, and we are an insurance intermediary and not an insurer, registered in England & Wales (03994456).
We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 300001). This can be checked on the FCA’s Register by visiting the FCA’s website or by contacting the FCA consumer helpline on 0800 111 6768.
Contacting Us
You may contact us by telephone at +44 (0) 20 3740 4431 or by email at enquiries@bettersafe.com or at our business address: 17 Teddington Business Park, Station Road, Teddington TW11 9BQ.
Confidentiality and Data Protection
You can find out about our Privacy Policy and treatment of your data and our compliance with the Data Protection Act 2018 including the GDPR provisions by visiting our Privacy Policy.
Our Relationships
As an insurance intermediary we normally act as your agent. We also have relationships with insurers and act for them in a limited capacity. If we have binding authority or claims handling authority with an insurer we will disclose this.
Some insurers appoint us as their agent for the receipt of premium and the issue of documents. They may also allow us to discount premiums in limited circumstances. We will advise you when these circumstances occur, so you will be aware of any possible conflicts of interest.
We are subject to the laws of agency and will always act in your best interests arise.
Our Service and Products
You will not receive advice or a personal recommendation from us. We will ask enough questions to establish your demands and needs. Any quotation we give you will be consistent with those demands and we will identify the product that meets those needs. You will then need to decide how to proceed and whether you consider if the product is suitable for you. We deal with a single insurer for each product. To access the insurance product that most suits your needs, we may use another Insurance Intermediary to help place your business.
Your duty of disclosure
It is important that you understand your duty to provide all materially important information, fully, completely and accurately when answering questions, we or your insurers have asked not only when you take out your insurance, but also throughout the life of your policy, at the annual renewal or at any other time when changes occur.
You must take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation to us or the insurer. This means that all the answers you give and statements you make as part of your insurance application, including at renewal and when an amendment to your policy is required, must be honest and accurate. If you deliberately, recklessly or carelessly misinform the insurers, this could mean that part of or all of a claim may not be paid.
Our Fees, Commission and Charges
We usually receive a commission from your premium and paid to us by your insurer, and in such a case, the commission will be paid to us either when we are in receipt of cleared funds from you or, when the insurer has received cleared funds from us in respect of the premium due under your policy.
The individual agreements we have with each insurer will determine which of the two methods above is used to make this transfer of commission.
We may receive other income based on the profitability or volume of our accounts from an insurer. You have the right to ask about our earnings at any time.
We make a charge of £5.00 for all cancellations after the cooling off period (see Termination section below).
Money
We hold your premium payment under risk transfer as agent of the insurers and we do this by paying it into an insurer premium trust account until it is passed to the insurers. This is to protect your money and means that whilst your money is in the account, it cannot be used for any purpose other than paying the insurers or any brokers through whom we may have arranged your insurance. We will retain any interest earned on the account.
Complaints
Our aim is always to provide our customers with a first-class service; however, we are aware that, occasionally, it is possible that we may fail to meet your expectations. You can visit our complaints page here.
If for any reason we have not met your expectations, let us know as soon as possible, by telephoning us on +44 (0) 20 3740 4431, or emailing us at enquiries@bettersafe.com.
If we are unable to resolve the issue to your satisfaction by the close of business on the third business day after receipt, we will formally investigate the matter. You will receive an acknowledgement of the matter together with a copy of our complaints process promptly and certainly within 5 working days. We will then aim to investigate and provide a resolution as quickly as possible, informing you of the position at no later than 4 weeks. If you are not happy with our response, or the position after a period of 8 weeks, you may be eligible to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (“FOS”) for an independent assessment and opinion.
A full copy of our complaint’s procedure is available on request.
Financial Ombudsman Service
You can contact Fos on their Consumer Helpline at 0800 023 4567 (free for people phoning from a "fixed line" (for example, a landline at home) or 0300 123 9123 (free for mobile-phone users paying monthly charge for calls to No’s starting 01 or 02). Alternatively, you can contact them at Financial Ombudsman Service, Exchange Tower, Harbour Exchange Square, London, E14 9SR.
Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS)
If we are unable to meet our obligations, you may be entitled to compensation from the FSCS. If we have advised or arranged insurance for you this will be covered for 90% of a claim, without any upper limit, however compulsory classes of insurance (such as motor insurance) is covered for 100% of a claim. Further information is available from the FSCS helpline on 0207 892 7300 and FSCS website.
The FSCS is the UK’s statutory fund of last resort for customers of authorised financial services firms. Compensation is usually payable if an authorised firm is unable or unlikely to pay claims usually because it has ceased trading or become insolvent
Insurance Premium Tax (IPT)
Your premium detailed in the policy will include IPT at the prevailing rate. Should the rate of IPT be amended by the Government, your premium will be amended by the insurer to reflect the change.
Termination
You may cancel your policy with us at any time. If insurers cancel your policy, we will provide you with reasonably sufficient time to re-arrange your insurance and we will notify you of termination in writing together with an explanation if appropriate.
All consumers have the statutory right to cancel within 14 days of inception, renewal or upon receipt of the policy documentation, whichever is the later provided there have been no claims. You will only be charged for the period of cover you have had by the insurer plus any administration fee they may charge. If you cancel your insurance prior to the commencement date of the insurance, a full refund of any monies paid will be provided. After 14 days any right to cancel will be in accordance with the terms of your insurance policy.
Law and Language
These Terms are subject to the laws of England and Wales and the jurisdiction of the English Courts. We will use the English language for all communications, the contractual terms and conditions, and any information we are required to supply to you, before and during the duration of the contract.
