The fastest £60 i've ever spent on fresh air !!!

moo_cow

for all those that are aware of my citroen car problem. here's another story that's a bit of a warning to others. phone car insurance company an hour ago regarding changing the insurance to the 'new' car that we've kindly had given to us. so had insurance details changed, told of increase in premiums due to age of car etc etc. that's fine. understandably. asked if new figure included my breakdown as usual that they collect all as one premium. was told no and was recalculated and due to age of car that this would go up also so just accepted it. got off phone and immediately explained to hubby about breakdown increase who said don't bother as we can get it cheaper (which is true as it's fairly expensive from our car insurance provider anyway). so I immediately got back on the phone less than a minute and a half later and explained to a different person. he said that was fine but did I realise I wouldn't get a refund of premiums. I assumed he meant 'refund of premiums already paid' not future premiums. he then cancelled it and I said can he just confirm the monthly payment amounts. he quoted me the same as i'd been quoted WITH the breakdown cover. when I said 'minus the breakdown cover of course' he said no. He told me that despite the fact that the breakdown wasn't due to transfer to the new car til friday I still have to pay for it AT THE NEW INCREASED RATE as if i'd have had it on the new car UNTIL JULY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I asked him to reinstate it then. he said he couldn't as it had already been cancelled and i'd have to pay it on top AGAIN as well as the existing cover I don't have. I was gobsmacked. He got quite shirty (a bit nervous sounding) and said "well I did tell you no refund of premiums and you said fine". so I explained that I thought he meant premiums paid to date NOT future premiums. he argued, put me on hold, came back, same thing again, I argued again, he put me on hold again, came back again and situation still the same.
Can you believe that. so from friday midday my existing breakdown cover ceases but I still have to pay for it at an increased rate (from friday midday also) until july 2009.

GeorgeUK

Write to the head office of the car firm and request a copy of their formal complaints procedure. Tell them that after filling in the complaint, you will be referring the matter to Trading Standards.

Not sure it will do much good as i don't know the legalities behind what has happened, but i should think that there would be some kind of cooling off period even for car insurance.

moo_cow

thanks george, amazing isn't it? how you can ammend a policy yet not? I asked him so okay then, say you clicked or pressed a wrong button and accidentally messed someone's policy up. you're telling me you couldn't fix it?
you're telling me that person would still have to pay for something they didn't have? he said no because it would have been an error on his part and he would be able to correct it. so I said but this was error. failiure on your part to clarify exactly what you meant by no refund. he just got all nervy and shirty about it. looks like me and the dog ( oooooooooooooooh no no no) will be parting company at renewal time.

will definately write to head office though as i'm appalled at the way it's been handled.

moo_cow

what a week for me. and it's only wednesday !!!!!!!!

bank_of_slate

Agree! Get a letter off as soon as possible!
That's appalling service....you can't even call it 'service'
Is there an insurance ombudsman or Watchdog or something you can also write to?
...Linda xx

nuttyp

I would ring agin and ask to speak tosomeone whos a little more helpful, I am with Directline, and touch wood have been great. Even at renewal time they ring and say, get a xheaper quote and we match it - challenge on. I did and got nearly 80 quid off just by making 2 telephone calls.

Dont take no for an answer, and if all fails pretend you didnt understand what he was saying, at least you could then get the breakdown cover if you HAVE to still pay for it.

moo_cow

thanks bank_of_slate and nutty p. let's be fair have you ever heard of such a thing. you couldn't make it up could you. He reminded me then that it was all being recorded too. to which I said "great, strengthens my case then". how can one line (said twice admittedly) 'you won't get a refund of your premiums' be taken as understanding that I won't get a refund of future premiums and still have to pay the increase despite the fact that it hasn't even been transferred yet? I think a little more info was required here. Okay, you could argue that I should have questioned it more but it surely should be his job to have said to me, but madam you'd still have to pay for the future premiums at the increased rate so why on earth would you want to cancel?
I would have thought that a logical response to my request.

moo_cow

well my goodness. what a response. I just phoned churchill to ask about cancelling insurance altogether and what it would cost me. explained why and have to say a really rather nice lady basically told me that I wasn't given enough information and she could of course reinstate it at no further costs.. Now why couldn't the nervous shirty guy have done that. me thinks he cocked up in the first place.

bunny_boiler

the FSA are the insurance obudsman so get in touch with them also i work in sale/customer serivce call centre ask to speak with there supervisor/manager if they get funny then if still dont get answer you want ask for there manager normal the senior manager is to busy to be bothered you get a better outcome as they dont want it esculating to high

sorry hope that make sense!!!
good luck

GeorgeUK

Moo cow - looks like you got it sorted and i'm really glad about that. It might be worth a phone call next week just to confirm the status or to get written confirmation. I know they're not at DCA level, but that phone call would still have me wondering.

moo_cow

hi george, documents will be through within the next few days so will check and then phone again also to confirm. Lady on phone seemed gobsmacked by the whole matter and couldn't understand why he didn't reinstate it as 'an error'. He was very nervous though and was getting shirty with me. a bit I haven't mentioned though which is quite funny is that when he put me 'on hold' the first time I questioned this, he actually didn't put me 'on hold' and it sounded like he was rattling some pens or pencils or something similar around right by the phone. I was listening intently and he just kept rattling. he then picked the phone back up and said 'no, i've asked my supervisor and just as i thought it can't be done'. I have a sneaky feeling he didn't ask anybody anything. maybe he was new there or something. I don't know but he was very nervous and easily irked.
will definately double check everything out though just to make sure george. you can never be too careful.

thanks george!