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A grandmothers campaign to have the original terms of her life insurance contract with Norwich Union kept is a case study in endurance and defiance. Although she paid a cost her triumph was worth the price.

In a battle that could easily have gone the other way, 79-year-old Dorothy Greens refusal to be easily subdued paid off. She had begun her fight with the insurer when she felt she was being unfairly treated as they insisted on halving the payout from her policy if she failed to increase the premiums she paid each month.

Her policy, taken out in 1994, was originally to fetch a payout of 56,400 in the event of her death. But she claimed that over the last six years the firm tried to cut it down to just 26,000.

The endurance trip
The mother-of-two and grandmother-of-four then decided to contact Norwich Unions chief executive, Mark Hodges, via telephone to speak to him about her plight. Her effort was frustrated as she was kept on hold more three hours and in the end was not able to achieve the objective.

Finally, the retired teacher from Peterborough opted to take on the issue headlong by travelling to the companys headquarters in York to face Mr Hodges and argue her case. By this action she was willing to defy freezing temperatures, run up costs of about 150 in transports fares and even risk a brush with the law, as she ended up being a guest of the police after they were invited by Norwich Union.

None of the pains she went through could, however, deflate her spirit and make her capitulate. Instead she remained determined until it was agreed that even in the absence of Mr Hodges someone at the top of the firms hierarchy would see her and resolve the matter. And that was how the battle ended in her favour.

Original terms to be honoured
Recounting her experience Mrs Green said: I was very frightened to do it but I thought I must do something about it.

They said there was a misunderstanding with the terms on the original contract but they are now going to give me a new contract on the terms I thought I had originally.

At a point during her three-day struggle to see Mr Hodges the recently widowed granny said she had to report the companys boss to police as a missing person, as no one would let her see him. But a spokesman who confirmed the issue was being resolved said Mr Hodges was not missing and that they were devoting a huge amount of time in order to understand Mrs Greens concerns.

But she said she had been assured that even if she lived more than 100 years the original agreement in her contract with Norwich Union would be honoured. She is now rest assured that her four grandchildren would have something substantial coming to them in the form of a payout from her life cover.

Her entire experience leaves a lot to be learned, especially her resoluteness and refusal to accept defeat, which earned her a sweet victory. But the most important lesson is that she had a policy for which she faithfully paid her dues for more than a decade.