Regardless of the dispute that may oppose you, the procedure must be followed. First, you need to contact the company, whether it is a consultant, general representative, broker or customer service; the second phase takes place through an insurance intermediary and, as a last resort, the court. All appeal options are listed in the contract.
To notify your objection, you must send a registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt before the statute of limitations expires, which in this case is two years. The limitation period is the time after which you can no longer exercise your rights.
Explain the reasons
Attach all necessary documents to exercise your rights to the registered letter. At this stage, settlement may end the dispute.
If, unfortunately, you do not receive an answer that you are satisfied with, you can contact the claims department. Here again it is necessary to use a registered letter (suspension of the statute of limitations).
You will need to explain again the nature of the dispute and your request, as well as any relevant documents. Keep track of your mail and attachments.
After the complaint, the mediator
The complaints department should respond to you within 2 months of receiving your letter. If you do not have an answer or an amicable settlement of the dispute is not possible, you can then contact a mediator free of charge.
This is the third stage of the rocket. Since September 1, 2015, insurance mediation has been simplified: the association “La Médiation de l’Assurance” provides policyholders with a single mediator responsible for resolving the problem amicably. You can contact him by post at: Insurance mediation – TSA 50 110 – 75441 Paris Cedex 09.
Here you send your letter again with all the documents (copied), including your exchanges with the insurance company.
Appealing to justice
The mediator will deliver his opinion within 3 to 6 months. If you don’t like the decision, you still have the option of having your dispute resolved by a court. This dispute phase can only be initiated after amicable appeals have been exhausted.
Up to €10,000 you must go to the District Court; besides, it’s TGI (High Court) where you have to be represented by a lawyer. But be careful.
According to Article 700 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the losing party must pay the costs of the proceedings to the other party. At the end of the process, you may need to find another insurer.
