"This is inexcusable."
Katz, who is still undergoing chemotherapy for his cancer, said when setting up hundreds of policies for his clients, the purchasing process has been very simple and quick - but his experience of the claims process has been "painful".
He commented: "You feel all they want is the money. I bought policies myself, I sold them to clients. The idea of protection is good but the execution when it comes to paying out is poor."
Response
Prudential and Scottish Provident - which is owned by Royal London - both looked into Katz's case.
According to Prudential, the insurer did send him a complaint response on October 25 last year, which apologised for the delay and confirmed a payment of £256.45 was being paid to him.
Some £200.00 of this was an apology for the distress and inconvenience he experienced and £56.45 net interest for the delay between 29 September and 20 October.
However, following FTAdviser's query, the company "looked again" at the timeline of Katz's case and agreed it could have been in a position to pay him on 17 September rather than 29 September, so it has considered that a further 12 days' interest on the life policy should have been paid.
This would have resulted in an additional £10.50 being payable to him. The Prudential has now also offered Katz a further £150 for the trouble and upset of the interest not being correct and the fact he has had to raise this again.
A spokesperson for Prudential commented: "We apologise to Mr Katz for the delay in paying his funds at a time of need and for the difficulties he experienced in trying to contact us.
"We have reviewed his policy to ensure that he has experienced no financial loss as a result of the delay and offered him compensation of £350 for the trouble and upset caused."
Similarly, Scottish Provident revisited the case after FTAdviser contacted the insurer.
A spokesperson for Royal London, which owns Scottish Provident, said: "We understand making a claim on a critical illness policy is a worrying time for both the customer and their family and we always aim to make sure the process is handled with empathy and as quickly and efficiently as possible.
“Before we can settle a critical illness claim certain evidence needs to be provided. The initial medical evidence we received wasn’t sufficient, so we requested additional information from Mr Katz’s consultant and from Mr Katz himself.
"This was received on 28 October and 29 October respectively, and after being assessed was paid promptly."
This comes a few weeks after FTAdviser revealed how life and pensions provider Scottish Friendly failed to pay out the fee due to adviser Julian Pruggmayer, principal of Financial Risk Management.
