Freedom Insurance’s cash grab from Down’s syndrome son

Life insurer Freedom Insurance repeatedly refused to cancel a policy sold through a cold call to a man with Down’s syndrome.

Baptist minister Grant Stewart after testifying about Freedom Insurance. Picture: Stuart McEvoy.

Life insurer Freedom Insurance repeatedly refused to cancel a policy sold through a cold call to a man with Down’s syndrome who was audibly disabled, despite his ­father repeatedly requesting the company to stop deducting money from his son’s bank account.

The company buckled to the cancellation requests of Grant Stewart, a Baptist minister from Melbourne, only after forcing him to make his son verbally ask that Freedom “terminate” the policy after several calls, the royal commission heard.

In a gruelling public hearing yesterday, the royal commission revealed how sales staff at Freedom Insurance, which ran a number of high-pressure outbound call centres, pushed tens of thousands of policies on unsuspecting customers, and were driven to sell “frantically” with extreme bonuses such as luxury trips to Bali, cruises on Sydney Harbour and Vespa scooters in competitions that ­pitted employees against one another despite a ban on conflicted remuneration.

“Get on the phone and SELL SELL SELL,” an email to staff read. “Show me the money!” read another, tied to a picture of actor Tom Cruise in the film Jerry ­Maguire.

The royal commission is now probing the scandal-ridden life insurance sector, which is under ­assault from regulators over the sale of largely useless policies through outbound call centres. The commission heard how Freedom Insurance policies were ­riddled with exclusions and rarely claimed upon, and the company paid out very little compared to the revenue it brought in.

Appearing at the commission, Mr Stewart recounted how he was “disturbed” at the way the insurer had treated his then 26-year-old son, whom he said was unable to carry out simple financial transactions without help and relied on a Disability Support Pension for ­income.

It took several attempts for Mr Stewart to cancel the insurance after he discovered deductions were about to be taken from his son’s bank account, after sales staff tried to keep the policy in force.

Excruciating calls played to the hearing room revealed Freedom Insurance staff launching into a sales pitch about how the cover is free for the first year. Mr Stewart could be heard gently instructing his son to say “I wish to terminate the policy”, a sentence that was clearly a struggle.

Although the agent finally agreed to cancel, Mr Stewart was so sceptical he cancelled his son’s debit card.

In the original cold call, also played aloud, a staff member had asked Mr Stewart’s son if he had another family member who could handle the call after the man regularly failed to make clear responses during the sales process.

At one point he told the agent, “I need to go.” The agent replied: “I’ll let you go in a moment,” before requesting his bank details.

Mr Stewart welcomed an apology from Freedom Insurance chief operating officer Craig Orton, who was subsequently grilled on the stand at the commission over the company’s high-pressure sales tactics and history of noncompliance.

Consumer Action Law Centre lawyer Philippa Heir said some people were financially hurt by sales cold-calls. “It is time for a ban on unsolicited sales of financial products,” Ms Heir said.