Hundreds of thousands of people will receive a share of up to $220 million due to a “significant” error by auto insurer RACQ.
The Queensland-based company has determined that it failed to provide some customers with promised discounts on some products.
“Up to 500,000 members will receive refunds because our disclosures were incorrect,” CEO David Carter said in a statement.
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Payments will be made for products dating back to 2013, the company said.
The company has not specifically disclosed whether the reimbursement will be paid to customers on any specific policies.
Rather, RACQ said the error relates to the company’s product disclosure statement, which tells customers what is and isn’t covered by a specific insurance policy.
RACQ found that those statements were “inadequate to describe how premiums for optional coverages are calculated” and therefore some people did not receive the discounts to which they were entitled.
The bug was found internally before accounting giant KPMG was investigated.
RACQ self-reported the matter to ASIC.
mea culpa
The company will start paying refunds from September, warning that it will take “some time” to flow due to the “complexity” of the issue.
“Significant investment is being made in RACQ’s systems and processes to deliver better results for our members, stronger risk management, streamlined products and easier processes for our people,” said Carter.
“Our goal is to make sure this never happens again.
“On behalf of RACQ, the board and I once again apologize for these unfortunate mistakes, as they are not in accordance with our high standards and values.”
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