Australian Unity Refused to Honour The 6 Weeks Free Offer Due to Terms and Conditions Semantics

plastererJazz on 07/03/2024 - 10:38
Last edited 07/03/2024 - 11:01 by 1 other user

Background

My partner and I switched health fund to Australian Unity because it offered 6 free weeks after 60 continuous days last Nov.

We signed up on 14/11/2023 and our first payment went out on 16/11/2023.

It normally takes a week or two to complete the certificate transfer from the previous fund to Australian Unity.

I asked whether this impacted the offer eligibility and the sale or support response was NO as long as I joined/signed up within the promotion period.

Complaint

Recently I enquired regarding when will the 6 weeks be applied, and the case officer responded that my family is ineligible for this because the original offer stated that new customer must join between ?/10/2023 - 30/11/2023 and our policy started on 12/2023.

My argument is that we joined on 14/11/2023 and the first payment date is 16/11/2023, the case officer then responded that it is the join date counts and join date is the date policy start date, then the complaint department used the commencement date or other dates to counter my argument.

They are saying

commencement date is policy start date and sign up date is not join date and payment date doesn't count.

Question

What action could I take?

Regard

Health & Beauty Australian Unity Health Insurance Insurance

Related Stores

Australian Unity
Australian Unity

Comments

  • Shadowsfury on 07/03/2024 - 10:52
    +1

    Keen to hear an answer to this as am ready to churn my next provided and AU was on the list

    • plastererJazz on 07/03/2024 - 11:48

      just make sure all dates are within the promotion period and get the confirmation you will get the incentive in writing.

      But I won't go near them again.

  • Baysew on 07/03/2024 - 10:53
    +15

    Commonwealth Ombudsman

    • ValueInvesting on 07/03/2024 - 13:41
      +3

      If you've already been through the Australian Unity complaints process then this is the best and most relevant answer

  • theHMASfriendship on 07/03/2024 - 10:57
    +4

    What action could I take?

    Change health insurers?

  • burningrage on 07/03/2024 - 11:08
    +1

    If this is Home and Content / Car Insurance, they would have asked you "When do you want this policy to start?"

    My question is whether you were asked similar question. They are right in the sense that Join Date (the day you registered your interest) and the Payment Date (the day money is taken out from your account) are not relevant.

    It is the Policy Start Date that counts and I would imagine you would have been asked this question because Medibank Private does.

    Lastly, the continuation of coverage certificate don't matter / irrelevant in the determination of any start date.

    You would need to prove from your online policy details as to when was the actual policy start date. This is one of the reason why everytime you join a new policy, you should print out the policy to ascertain yourself the actual policy start date in case they are playing dirty and modify the policy start date to pull out things like this.

    • star-ggg on 07/03/2024 - 11:38
      +2

      Your comment relates to policy coverage not about being eligible for a promotion. I agree with OP the interpretation of the T&Cs of the promotion is ambiguous.

  • cloudy on 07/03/2024 - 11:19
    +2

    If that’s how they are treating their new customers imagine how they would treat their existing customers…run very far from them!

      • Clear on 07/03/2024 - 12:53

        Existing customer here. I've been given $20 credit every month for 6 months on their eGift Cards that are already discounted.

        Considering I've cost them over $100k I'm not exactly their ideal customer.

        • knobbs on 08/03/2024 - 10:02

          How are you getting a free $20 credit?

          • Clear on 08/03/2024 - 10:06
            +1

            @knobbs: They sent an email on the 21st where the first 1000 to register in the running would get it. I registered on the 24th so either a lot of people ignored the email (I did initially) or didn't get it.

            • knobbs on 08/03/2024 - 10:09

              @Clear: Lol not bad a free $240 a year back

  • netjock on 07/03/2024 - 11:47

    LOL payment for no service.

    Check your policy document the start date. I just changed providers and it is from date of enrolment it starts. They emailed old insurer to ask for transfer clearance certificate and should get back dated to date you submitted your transfer documents.

  • holdenmg on 07/03/2024 - 11:55

    I left Australian Unity (for HIF) plug HIF here https://www.ozbargain.com.au/deals/hif.com.au

    Getting the Certificate Transfer from Australian Unity was a lengthy process. Of course, no incentive for them to action the request promptly.

  • carlJack on 07/03/2024 - 12:04

    Happened to me with other insurer too. Nothing you can do. Just a lesson for the future.

  • jv on 07/03/2024 - 13:29
    +2

    commencement date is policy start date

    Yes, that is what I would have expected.

  • CodeXD on 07/03/2024 - 13:32
    +2

    Is there a reason you didn't put the start date during the eligible period?

    It normally takes a week or two to complete the certificate transfer from the previous fund to Australian Unity.

    They will only trigger this process once your policy starts. It doesn't make sense for Aus Unity to engage your current health provider if you are not on a policy with Aus Unity.

  • Seraphin7 on 07/03/2024 - 14:06
    +1

    Actions …

    1. Make a general grumble.
    2. Make a specific complaint through their internal dispute resolution (IDR) process.
    3. Make a complaint to AFCA.
    4. Realistically, that's it unless you want to xCAT/lawyer up.

    As each step be very clear on the actions you have taken and the remedy you want to resolve it.

    Any other answer is just wasting your time.

  • patso on 07/03/2024 - 14:50
    +2

    It's not semantics it's that your policy didnt start during the promo period

    • plastererJazz on 07/03/2024 - 17:29

      The offer explicitly stated "Joining Australia unity to get 6 weeks free" in the title.

      The sales told me it wouldn't matter if the policy started a bit late as long as I had joined the fund when I asked explicitly.

      • patso on 08/03/2024 - 08:57

        The promo T's and C's are clear. If sales told you otherwise the that's what you would need to push

  • Dollar General on 07/03/2024 - 16:00
    +1

    Do they offer coverage for a kick in the nuts?

  • onceupon8 on 07/03/2024 - 18:09
    You have conveniently failed to share the actual terms and conditions. They seem very clear and talk about the commencement date and not join date. If you didn't read the terms and conditions, use this as a lesson to always read the terms and conditions for such promotions in the future.
    1. This offer only applies:
      a. to people who purchase Australian Unity hospital and extras cover (either a combined product or a hospital product and an extras product);
    2. through either:
      a. the Australian Unity call centre;
      b. the Australian Unity website;
      c. Australian Unity Partnerships (phone and online portals); or
      d. an aggregator or comparator call centre/website;
    3. between x – x where the policies purchased have a commencement date between x – x; and
    4. are new members on new memberships (see condition 3 below); or
    • star-ggg on 07/03/2024 - 20:04

      It depends on the wording on the advertisements of the promo too. It is illegal to have wording with have a common sense meaning and hide your definition in the fine print. Eg All items* 95% off. *items = objects < 1cm3 in volume

    • plastererJazz on 07/03/2024 - 20:19

      The title says "Terms and Conditions: Get 6 (six) weeks free when you join hospital and extras

      between XX – 30 XX 2023 where the policies purchased have a commencement date between XX – 30 XX 2023

      https://web.archive.org/web/20230423233236/https://www.austr…

      I joined and paid, where exactly does it state the commencement date is not equal to the join date?

      It could be membership commencement, policy commencement X commencement Y commencement Z commencement

      Neither the sale nor the support ever mentioned the word commencement date to me while I was explicitly asking whether I still be eligible if the policy start date is in Dec.

      • onceupon8 on 07/03/2024 - 21:06
        +1

        My interpretation of commencement date (which is mentioned in section 1 of the terms & conditions) is the date that your policy commences/starts. As I think in the signup form, it asks you when do you what your policy to commence and you can select a date.

        I agree that join date is less clear and could mean either signup date or policy commencement date.

        For offers like this, it's always important to read the terms and conditions carefully. Never trust sales people to explain everything.

        • plastererJazz on 08/03/2024 - 07:27

          Agree, it is a lesson learnt.

          I did ask either before signup or during the certificate transfer whether the start date would impact my eligibility and they said No, it will be applied once you paid consecutively for 60 days.

          FYI, they are saying they can't find the recording or transcript for this conversation.

          My mind never associates policy "start date" with "commence date" or "commencement date" to be a key variable in their business process because the T&C has the word "purchase" 6 times and "join" "5 times" but commencement 1 time.

          • burningrage on 08/03/2024 - 10:13

            @plastererJazz: The key issue is whether "join date" and "commencement date" are the same.

            I get to most people, they are likely to be construed as being the same. But not in the insurance industry. As I said before with Medibank Private, they specifically asked of when you want the policy to start. That is commencement date.

            I could easily join (register) today for an insurance, paid it now (like I did with Virgin Home and Content Insurance), and it doesn't start until 30 days from today. The commencement date is that 30 days from today.

            The reason for this distinction, I can only imagine is most likely to reduce/avoid overlapping coverage as most people would have started researching for renewals way before their existing policy expires to preserve continuity.

  • hasher22 on 07/03/2024 - 19:05
    +1

    Crazy how wording is important in any promo.

    I would assume if I joined and paid in the time period, I would qualify based on the "join" date.

    But if the commencement date is in December but you joined in November and the promo said "join us for 6 weeks free blah blah" then there will be a debate of the promo wording vs the commencement date clause.

    I mean if you really want to fight for it, ombudsman is your best bet and make them try listen to the recording of the conversation from you and the rep.

    • Dollar General on 07/03/2024 - 20:13

      Dodgy by the insurer and probably deliberate

      • hasher22 on 08/03/2024 - 01:23

        Definitely deliberate, insurance will always word and get out of things to favour them.

        Off topic

        I had a rear end collision to my car, not my fault and the other drive admitted fault. The rep on the phone at Woolies insurance had the audacity to gaslight me and state how did I contribute to the accident, as in did I brake last minute etc….

        Bruh, if you're trained to blame the victim to get out of a claim, then eff off…. Left them after my claim was approved and I got my payout. Car was deemed totalled, more expensive to repair.

  • screensaver on 13/03/2024 - 18:17

    Make a complaint at Product Review, saying you made it clear you were interested in the 6 free weeks and the operator gave you wrong information. Title it Did not honour 6 free weeks, Say you are very unhappy with how you were treated and will never trust the company again

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