I used to have a number of insurance policies with Norwich Union and regularly included them in my requests for quotes when reviewing Car, House, Contents etc.  I had a 'Tradesman' policy with them for about seven years which was always a reasonable price and never ever made claim on it or any other policy with Norwich Union.  About six years ago I had a renewal notice which I was just about to accept when I noticed the premium had jumped from approximately £120 p.a. to around £750 p.a. a rise of more than 600%!
It must be a mistake I thought, so rang them to check and eventually spoke to a very nice lady who assured me that the demand was correct.  I pointed out the 600% hike and she said yes that's what theyre all saying.  i suggested that Norwich Union may not want to run this type of policy any longer and this might be a cynical way of getting rid of policy holders. her answer confirmed this!  I immediately cancelled all insurance policies with them and asked them never to send me any unsolicited offers in the future.  This, of course was totally ignored and i still get their rubbish through the letterbox informing me of great deals on house insurance etc.  So now they have changed their name to Aviva and I thought after all this time I ought to give them another chance,  then I thought again "why should I?" so I haven't!