Thompson Brothers

REGULATION

We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority and adhere to their Code of Practice and Rules that regulate sales, advisory and service standards to ensure general insurance customers are treated fairly. A copy of the Code and Rules is available for inspection upon request. Our FSA number is 305022 and our details can be checked on www.fsa.gov.uk.

Thompson Brothers Insurance Consultants Ltd conform with the FSA Code in respect of Professional Indemnity Insurance. This type of insurance is mandatory for FSA members.

OUR SERVICE

We are an independent insurance intermediary and as such act on your behalf in arranging insurance. Our service includes: advising you on your insurance needs, recommending your insurance cover with insurers to meet your requirements and helping you with any ongoing changes you have to make.

We offer a service to assist you with any claim you need to make, including, if required, the recovery of any uninsured losses you may incur. The latter is normally provided through the additional purchase of a Legal Expense and Uninsured Loss Recovery policy.

PRODUCTS

We offer a wide range of personal insurance products and have access to leading insurers in the market place for Motor, Household and Commercial policies. For Caravan and Travel we use a limited number of Insurers for which we are happy to provide a list. For Tanning and Beauty Shops we deal exclusively with AXA who provide a comprehensive policy including Treatment Risk. For legal expenses we deal exclusively with a single insurer, Motorist Services Limited, which we have elected based on their past reputation and service. The charge of £15.50 is to cover our costs including the insurance premium tax as we receive no commission for this contract. We will give you full details of any such arrangements before you make any commitment on any product we offer you.

INFORMATION ON COSTS

In addition to the premiums charged by insurers we normally make the following minimum charges to cover the administration of your insurance:

Renewals/Mid term adjustments/cancellations	£10.00
Replacement/duplicate certificates or cover notes	£10.00
Recovering uninsured losses on your behalf	£10.00
Cancellation Charge (within 14 days of cover)	£35.00

The specific charge and purpose of any additional charges will always be advised to you in advance.

We normally accept payment by guaranteed cheque, debit cards or the following credit cards - Master Card, Visa and American Express. You may also be able to spread your payments through insurers' instalment schemes or a credit scheme arranged via ourselves with Premium Credit Limited. We will give you information about your payment options when we discuss your insurance in detail.

COMPLAINTS

It is our intention to provide you with a high level of customer service at all times. If you, as a retail customer, should wish to make a complaint about our service, we have a formal complaints procedure. In the first instance you should write to us at Thompson Brothers Ins Consultants Ltd., 111 Wellington Road South, Stockport SK1 3TH.

We will acknowledge receipt of your letter within 5 business days and provide a formal written response within 20 business days from receipt of the original complaint. If the complaint cannot be resolved within this timescale we will write with an explanation as to the progress and the likely timescale involved. You will be advised of any further redress available to you, should you believe the matter has not been resolved to your satisfaction. Your Insurer also operates a complaint procedure, details of which are in your policy.

Please note that some of our products are not covered by the FSA code. We will give you full details of any such arrangement before you make any commitment on any product we offer you.

FINANCIAL COMPENSATION SCHEME

We are covered by the FSCS. You may be entitled to compensation from the scheme if we cannot meet your obligations. This depends on the type of insurance and circumstance. Insurance advising and arranging is covered for 100% of the first £2,000 and 90% of the remainder of the claim, without any upper limit. You can find out more from the FSCS on 0207 892 7300 or at enquiries@fscs.org.uk

CANCELLATIONS

If you decide this policy is inappropriate for your demands and needs, as a retail client, you have the right to cancel within 14 days from the latter of;

The day after the day you instructed us to take out cover on your behalf

The day after the day you received your policy document

If you do wish to cancel your policy within this period, you will receive a refund of premiums paid minus;

A fee payable to us regarding the work undertaken in concluding your policy (typically £35)

A proportionate amount of the premium based on the cover already provided

Please note that your insurance policy certificate or a lost certificate declaration will need to be returned together with a letter confirming your cancellation request before we can cancel your policy. If you do not cancel your policy within the above period, you will be liable for the full amount due and subject to cancellation terms applied by your insurer.

CLIENT MONEY

Money we hold on your behalf will be kept in a Statutory Trust Bank Account under the FSA rules until it is passed to the insurer or returned to you. Any interest earned on this account will be retained by us. Some insurers have appointed us as agents for receipt of money and where this applies, they specify the banking arrangements for their money. We will only use your money to pay insurers or other brokers for your insurance.

As an extra safeguard, where we receive commission from the insurer, we will only take this when we have paid them your premium.

DUTY OF DISCLOSURE

It is your responsibility to provide complete and accurate information to insurers when you take out your insurance policy, throughout the life of your policy, and when you renew your insurance. It is therefore important that you ensure that all statements you make on proposal forms, claim forms and other documents are full and accurate.

If you fail to disclose any material information to your insurers, this could invalidate your insurance cover and could mean that part or all of a claim may not be paid.

Note: Insurers pass information to the Claims and Underwriting Exchange run by Insurance Database Services Limited and the Motor Insurance Anti-Fraud and Theft Register run by the Association of British Insurers. The aim is to check information provided and also prevent fraudulent claims. Motor insurance details are added to the Motor Insurance Database run by the Motor Insurers' Information Centre which has been formed to help identify uninsured drivers and may be searched by the Police to help confirm who is insured to drive.

In the event of an accident the database may be used by Insurers and the Motor Insurers Bureau to identify relevant policy information.

DOCUMENTATION

When a policy (or policy summary) is issued you are strongly advised to read it carefully, as it is that document, the schedule and any certificate of insurance that is the basis of the insurance contract you have purchased. If you are in any doubt over any of the policy terms or conditions, please seek our advice immediately.

We may retain certain documents such as your insurance policy or certificate of insurance while we are waiting for full payment of premiums or administration charges. Any agreed facilities for payment of premiums by instalments through us will be the subject of a written agreement, which will include authority to retain certificates of insurance or other policy documents until payments have been received. By accepting this agreement, you agree that delivery of any certificates of insurance to us shall constitute delivery to yourself in accordance with statute law. In these circumstances we will ensure that you receive full details of your insurance cover and will provide you with any documents which you are required to have by law.

CLAIMS

If you are involved in an accident or have occasion to claim on your policy for any reason you must notify us immediately and we will promptly advise you and, if appropriate, issue you with a claim form and pass all details to your Insurer. You should not admit liability nor agree to any course of action, other than emergency measures carried out to minimise the loss, until you have agreement from your Insurer.

CONFIDENTIALITY

All personal information about you will be treated as private and confidential. We may use information we hold about you to provide information to you about other products and services which we feel may be appropriate to you. We may pass information about you to credit reference agencies for the purposes of arranging payments by instalments, and may also pass to them details of your payment record with us. Under the Data Protection Act 1998 you have the right to see personal information about you that we hold in our records. If you have any queries, please write to us at the above address. If you do not wish to receive marketing information from us, please write to us at the above address.