beware of More Than car insurance

carylh43

In August I rang more than to take out car insurance, this was sorted and paid for over the phone using my card and was told that my card would be debited in 48hrs, ok so now I am driving fully insured and legal or so I thought, 2 nights ago I was stopped by the police and put in the back of their car stating my cars not insured, I gave them the policy number I had and said they will be intouch, I was lucky asI have since been told they could have took my car, Anyway the following morning I rang more than and asked them what was going on and was told that my policy that was took out on the 6th August had been cancelled the reason I was given was for non payment. They said that they had sent me out 2 letters stating this, letters tyat I have never received, I asked more than for a copy of these letters to be sent to me, and I was told they cant find them?? So I then I decided to check with my bank to check the fault of non payment did not lie with me, maybe low funds in bank? and I was told by the bank that More Than had never even attempted to take fund from my bank, so basically I have been driving since August un insured by a company that not only failed to tell me my policy had been cancelled by them, but they also failed to attempt to contact my bank for payment, I am now fully insured but not with more than, but I still need to make a complaint about what has happened especially as I am waiting for contact from the police, does anyone know of any complaint contact details for this company preferably someone high up as so far on ringing More than they do not have a complaints department :mad:

lal1234

Did you ever receive a certificate of insurance? If not didn't you wonder where it was?

dunstonh

I was told by the bank that More Than had never even attempted to take fund from my bank

Your bank wouldnt know if they had tried or not. They would only know that a direct debit had not been set up and a no request made. However, you gave a debit card and the bank staff cannot see debit card rejections like that.

basically I have been driving since August un insured by a company that not only failed to tell me my policy had been cancelled by them, but they also failed to attempt to contact my bank for payment

Ignoring the bank bit as we know that doesnt apply, lets look a this scenario from the outside.

1 - You never got any confirmation of the policy being set up or a certificate of insurance.
2 - You say you never got either of the letters chasing payment
3 - Your bank account was never debited.
4 - 4 months later you get caught without insurance.

Did you not at any stage wonder why you had never heard or paid for the insurance?

Its probably likely that your debit card was rejected for insufficient funds or inaccurate number (middle number, date of expiry or CV2 number). Have you contacted More Than to find out what card details they had on file? Have you asked them to check the phone recording to see if the address was taken down correctly?

The police would accept an error on the insurers part if that was the case. However, your problem is that your story doesnt look that good due to your lack of inaction when you heard nothing from the insurer and no payment was taken. The error could still lie with you and going off at the insurer isnt going to help. Finding out what happened is going to help.

carylh43

Hi, sorry should have explained better, sorry On setting up my insurance over the phone in August I was told that the funds were due to be took out in 48hrs or so, I made certain that funds were available and 2 weeks later I received my Insurance policy documents including a cover note, therefore I just presumed everyhing was ok, Yeah I know I should have checked my bank, but surely they wouldnt send a covernote without payment, I have been on the phone again with more than today, and have got no further, other that being passed to a level 2 complaint service, I asked to be put higher put they said they have nothing higher or any manager???
Still trying to find a number or contact of either a head office or manager at no joy, However I did contact the cab, who have told me as long as I can prove that More than never contacted my bank for payment, which I have proof of from the bank, should I get a fine I can hold the company liable, hope it doesnt get that far though.

dunstonh

Even if you go higher up the food chain, it will still be referred back to the complaints dept. You cannot do an end run around an FSA perscribed complaints process. It doesnt matter if you are the lowest clerk or the company director (the latter probably wouldnt even know what the FSA rules are on complaints). The FSA perscribed complaints process should do you fine.

I did contact the cab, who have told me as long as I can prove that More than never contacted my bank for payment, which I have proof of from the bank, should I get a fine I can hold the company liable, hope it doesnt get that far though.

You havent got that from the bank. The bank dont know if an attempt was made or not. Rejected debit card transactions dont make it on to the computer system at the branch apart from a small window of a few days.

carylh43

You havent got that from the bank. The bank dont know if an attempt was made or not. Rejected debit card transactions dont make it on to the computer system at the branch apart from a small window of a few days.

Sorry but the bank have given me a copy of my transactions from August to yesterday, whatever it shows or not it is clear that if more than had requested payment it would have been showing on my readout, as being requested and it shows nothing which technically means no attempt was made, therefore they did not attempt to take payment, and it would not have been rejected either as there was ample funds in the account, and as it has been 3 months since this occured it would have shown within 48hrs after the 6th August. Also my bank actually rings if a payment is requested and there are not enough funds in my account they then give me an option to transfer funds if necessary,

dunstonh

Sorry but the bank have given me a copy of my transactions from August to yesterday

That doesnt prove anything.

whatever it shows or not it is clear that if more than had requested payment it would have been showing on my readout

No it wouldnt. Rejected direct debits would show on there but not rejected debit card transactions and certainly not incorrectly input debit card transactions.

and it shows nothing which technically means no attempt was made

It does nothing of the sort. It shows that no payment was actually taken from your account. It does not show that no attempt was made.

raskazz

carylh43 wrote: »

Sorry but the bank have given me a copy of my transactions from August to yesterday, whatever it shows or not it is clear that if more than had requested payment it would have been showing on my readout, as being requested and it shows nothing which technically means no attempt was made, therefore they did not attempt to take payment, and it would not have been rejected either as there was ample funds in the account, and as it has been 3 months since this occured it would have shown within 48hrs after the 6th August. Also my bank actually rings if a payment is requested and there are not enough funds in my account they then give me an option to transfer funds if necessary,

Which still does not rule out the possibility that the CC/debit card details were incorrect and thus there will be no link whatsoever with your account.

carylh43

Hi, I have just received a letter from more than stating that they were in the wrong and should the police take the issue of me driving with no insurance further, they accept full liability, they stated that on investigation into my complaint they could find no possible reason why the money was not took from my account and no reason why I was not contacted to show my policy was to be cancelled, and have also admitted that no letters were sent to me as they originally stated, I am now fully insured elsewhere, but would and will avoid more than.