Intelligent Advisory Services Limited · DRN-5948014

The complaint Mr C is unhappy that he didn’t receive a full refund of his premium from Intelligent Advisory Services Limited (IAS) when he cancelled his contents insurance policy within the cooling-off period. What happened Mr C took out an insurance policy online through IAS. He cancelled the policy within the 14- day cooling-off period as he’d found he was already covered under a different policy. IAS refunded the premium less an arrangement fee of £50 which it said was non-refundable. Mr C complained that he hadn’t been informed about this fee. IAS said information about the fee had been given to him before he had taken out the policy. It refused to refund it. Mr C referred his complaint to our Service. Our Investigator was satisfied that information about the non-refundable fee had been made available to Mr C when he took out the policy. She didn’t recommend that the complaint be upheld. As Mr C disagreed, the matter has been referred to me. What I’ve decided – and why I’ve considered all the available evidence and arguments to decide what’s fair and reasonable in the circumstances of this complaint. I’ve taken into account the relevant laws and regulations, including The Consumer Duty. General insurance policies have a 14-day cooling off period. If a consumer cancels their policy within that period, Rule 7 of the Financial Conduct Authority’s Insurance: Conduct of Business Sourcebook (ICOBS) says the consumer can be charged an administration fee for the cost of setting up and cancelling a policy but that fee should not include any element of profit. However, the consumer can only be charged this fee if they were told about it before they bought the policy. So I need to consider whether IAS told Mr C about this arrangement fee before he bought the policy and not just in the information sent to him after the sale had been completed. In order to assess this, I have been on IAS’s website myself to look at the sale journey. After a quote has been generated, there is a Review Cover Details section. Under the heading “Useful Documents” customers are presented with the Policy Booklet and Terms of Business. Clicking to view the Terms of Business opens a new window. The information about fees is set out clearly on Page 1 of 2. It says: “Fees For Our Services All policies include a non-refundable £50 arrangement fee which is included in the price quoted. The following fees and charges may also apply to the policy.

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Amendment or cancellation of the policy within the ‘cooling off’ period £0 Cancelling the policy outside the ‘cooling off’ period £60 Those who choose to accept the quote are presented with a single screen which again refers to the non-refundable £50 arrangement fee. At the bottom the customer has to tick a box confirming that they have reviewed, understood and accepted the terms and conditions. The system doesn’t allow the purchase to proceed unless that box has been ticked. So I think IAS did enough to make information about this fee available to Mr C before he bought the policy. I understand that Mr C feels the charges were hidden in pop-ups that his browser would have probably blocked. But I think there would have been sufficient information and prompts before he took out the policy to make him aware that there was important information he needed to read and if he wasn’t able to access that information, he should have contacted IAS before proceeding any further. I note that quotes can be saved and so there was no undue pressure for him to proceed immediately. The Terms of Business differentiate between the non-refundable arrangement fee and a cancellation fee. Mr C feels this wasn’t made sufficiently clear in the FAQs. There is a section called “Cancellation topics”. Under the heading “How much does it cost to cancel?” it says: “If you cancel within 14 days from the day of purchase or the day on which you receive your policy documentation, whichever is the later, you are entitled to a full refund of the premium unless you have made a claim. Where cancellation is taking place after the first 14 days, you will receive a pro-rata refund based on the time you have been on cover. If you have made a claim, no refund will be due. A £60 cancellation charge will apply.” I agree that this doesn’t refer to the non-refundable arrangement fee. But on the same page there is a reference to this under the heading “Is there a fee to arrange my insurance?” it says: “Yes there is a non-refundable arrangement fee of £50 applied to all policies both new business and renewals. This is included in the price you have been quoted and is not in addition to the premium.” Overall I think there were sufficient references to the £50 non-refundable arrangement fee to make Mr C aware of it and it was also made clear that this was separate from any cancellation fee. Insurers are entitled to charge administrative fees to cover the cost of setting up and then cancelling the policy. There isn’t a set amount I’d consider to be reasonable or unreasonable. IAS has explained that the fee covers the charge levied by the price comparison site and that the actual cost of acquiring new business is significantly more than the non-refundable arrangement fee. Taking into account this and the fact that the fee is broadly in line with other providers’ arrangement fees, I don’t think the fee of £50 is unreasonable. I’m sorry to disappoint Mr C as I know he feels strongly about this. But I don’t think IAS has treated him unfairly in not refunding the £50 arrangement fee.

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My final decision For the reasons given above, I do not uphold this complaint. Under the rules of the Financial Ombudsman Service, I’m required to ask Mr C to accept or reject my decision before 24 April 2026. Elizabeth Grant Ombudsman

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