The father of a man with Down syndrome who was sold a life insurance policy he didn't understand has joined calls for an outright ban on cold-call sales of financial products.

The young man's father, Baptist minister Grant Stewart, gave evidence to the banking royal commission yesterday, which is this week examining the sales tactics used by life insurance companies.

Yesterday, the commission heard details of how staff at Freedom Insurance were incentivised with gifts like a holiday to Bali to pursue more sales, and used aggressive cold-calling tactics to snare customers.

Mr Stewart told RN Breakfast the first he knew of his son being signed up to an accidental death life insurance policy was when the got a letter welcoming him to the company and outlining the policies he'd signed up to.

"He is often very hesitant about making decisions, especially around financial matters … so we found it surprising that we hadn't heard anything," he said.

Mr Stewart's son only knew he had talked to someone on the phone about it, and he felt embarrassed and guilty about signing up.

"He thought it was his fault and so we backed off a bit at that stage and read the material, then contacted the company," Mr Stewart said.

Mr Stewart said his son's disability would have been obvious over the phone.

Sorry, this video has expired Cold call where insurance agent sells policy to a young man with Down Syndrome

He requested the recording of the conversation between the sales agent and his son at the time, but only received the recording and transcript when he wrote again two years later.

He said listening to the call was disturbing.

"It was obvious he was being manipulated through the process and being asked leading questions that went according to a script," Mr Stewart said.

"When they didn't get the answers they wanted, they just asked another question."

When Mr Stewart attempted to cancel his son's life insurance policy, the company refused, saying he couldn't make the decision as he wasn't the policy holder.

Non-profit advocacy group Consumer Action advised Mr Stewart to get his son to call Freedom Insurance himself, and articulate in his own words that he wanted to cancel the policy.

During the call, the company representative still spent some time trying to convince Mr Stewart's son to retain the policy.

It took several days and several phone calls for the company to finally agree to cancel the policy.

Is it legal?

Grant Stewart and Philippa Heir in the ABC RN studios ( ABC Radio National )

Philippa Heir from the Consumer Law Centre said she heard a lot of complaints about unsolicited sales of products, including life insurance and funeral insurance.

"The staff are motivated by commissions and sales incentives, and they're human," she said.

"What's important is that we prevent inappropriate sales to people who don't need, want or even understand these products."

Ms Heir said there were restrictions on the way unsolicited sales of financial products were conducted, but the restrictions did not go far enough.

"What we need is a complete ban on the unsolicited sales of financial products, because the way that it is working now is just not working for Australians," she said.

She said short of a complete ban it would be difficult to prevent similar things happening to other vulnerable people.

Non-profit advocacy group Consumer Action is calling for a complete ban on cold-call sales of financial products. ( Unsplash: Rawpixel )

"We also need regulatory change to ensure that insurers are obliged to design safe insurance products, so that people are not taken advantage of."

Mr Stewart backs Ms Heir's call for a complete ban on the practice of cold calling to sell financial products.

'The damage has been done'

Mr Stewart said the experience had had a lasting impact on his son.

"He is very reluctant to take calls from people he doesn't know, and still feels like it's been his fault," he said.

"We're very disappointed with what happened obviously, but the bigger issue for us is to try and prevent this happening to others in his similar circumstances."

Mr Stewart said it was frustrating the incident had shaken his son's confidence in himself.

"You do spend a long time in helping kids like him develop and become part of our society, to assume their place in our world," he said.

"And when this happens, it throws you back."

Despite initial reluctance to take his complaint seriously, the current chief operating officer of Freedom Insurance, Craig Orton, apologised to Mr Stewart's family for the company's conduct.

"I appreciate the apology, but in one sense, for us, the horse has bolted, because the damage has been done," Mr Stewart said.