Charity label felt like a ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’
AGE UK has not escaped criticism for its selling of financial products.
Consumer group Which? recently accused it of pricing specialist insurance for the over-50s far higher than regular deals.
Age UK said the analysis was misleading because fake profiles used in the Which? study did not reflect a typical customer, bumping up prices quoted.
The company made nearly £22million from selling insurance in the year to March 2015, according to its most recent annual report. The group has around one million customers who bought a mix of with products such as home insurance, energy tariffs and funeral plans. Any profit funds the charitable work of the group.
But some people say the appeal of a charity label can obscure the fact customers are buying a regular commercial deal.
Former customer services manager Chris Walker believes selling insurance deals under a charity brand blurs the lines for elderly customers.
The 66-year-old was helping her mother, Susan, with bills following a stroke back in 2013.
She discovered that Susan, in her late 80s, was overpaying for her Age UK home insurance policy by £37 a month.
Policy prices rise gradually if customers roll over into another year with the same insurer.
Customers can find a cheaper alternative only by comparing quotes from rival firms or by bargaining with their existing provider. Many people are still unaware that renewing automatically each year means overpaying, and Chris was told it was up to her mother to seek out a cheaper deal.
But she says Susan and her late father Freddie believed they were ‘protected’ by the Age UK charity brand and, therefore, had the best deal they could get.
Age UK insurance deals are designed with older customers in mind and any profit goes back to the charity.
But the policies can be priced as aggressively as any other in the wider market – charity does not mean cheap.
Chris says: ‘It felt like finding a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
‘My parents were so confident they had the best deal because of the Age UK label. But they could have had the exact same policy – from the same company – for less.’
Chris’s mother was paid a £100 goodwill gesture for the upset.
A previous statement on Age UK’s website about its trading activities says: ‘We have always striven to offer competitively priced, quality products and services but we never claim to be cheapest at all times.’