Recently our buildings and contents insurance came up for renewal, we've insured the house with Norwich Union for 5 years and received a renewal form the same as we usually do. What we normally do is have a quick look through other insurers then decide it's too much hassle to change, the prices with other insurers are about the same, and stay with Norwich Union Direct.

This year I actually had a thorough read through the paperwork and realised they were insuring our house for about £30,000 less than it's actually worth. I looked back on previous paperwork and this has been the trend for a few years, since the house prices went up in fact.

We actually bought our house just before the prices started to rocket so for us to end up in negative equity the prices would have to plummet alot further than they have done so I realised this wasn't going to be sufficient cover.

To check I had the house valued and that's where I got the £30,000 figure from. This started me wondering how Norwich Union Direct have got so many customers and I can only conclude it's complacency on the part of the policy holders, much the same as it was with my partner and I.

We've only once tried to make a claim on our house insurance and were told it wasn't covered, it was when our freezer decided not to freeze anymore. This is supposedly covered in our policy but Norwich Union wouldn't even contemplate the idea of helping us. That wasn't long ago so we were already annoyed with them.

After further research I found on a couple of the financial sites that Norwich Union are in fact renowned for not insuring your house to the correct value. Even though the value it is insured to increases each year they fail because they don't increase in line with house prices and most other companies insure to a huge amount or unlimited amount (which normally has a cap but it is a very high one and you'd have to live in a mansion to go over this).

So we decided to look around and definitely change. I've joined a couple of cashback sites and used one of those to compare prices (earning me money back) and also took out a policy (more money back)with another company that is not only cheaper but covers alot more.

I found other companies covered the price of the house, more on contents, more for cash and items away from the home and most cost less so I'm pleased we've got this sorted but anyone who has house insurance with the Norwich Union who bought their house before the prices hit the roof please check the figure you are insured for, they are very well-known for not insuring enough so they must have done this to millions of home owners.

They are not helpful when you call and don't even provide adequate cover so there's nothing to be gained from insuring with them.