First Direct Auto Insurance, monthly payments

Sponge

My wife renewed her car insurance on the 24th December, to start on the 25th. She specifically asked if they offered the option to pay monthly without charge. They said no. She could pay monthly, but it would incur interest. So she opted to pay in full using my credit card.

I've now learnt, via their website, that they do have a 0% pay monthly option.

She's just called them to query this new payment scheme and was told that their 0% policy wasn't introduced until the 23rd December, so we didn't qualify. 'Hang on! I took the policy out on the 24th', she said. 'Oh', he said. 'Er, it's because your quote originated at the beginning of December'. 'What's that got to do with?' she replied. 'It was just a quote. We didn't take out the policy until the 24th and payment wasn't discussed until then. And I specifically asked about interest free payment options and was told there were none. You have just confirmed this was not actually the case!'

He said the matter needs to be passed to management and there won't be any available until tomorrow (Monday).

I'm just wondering what we can realistically expect and how far to push it. Ideally, we'd like a refund made to the credit card and a monthly direct debit set up. But I'm thinking this'll mean the policy cancelling and a new one setting up. I can't see anything wrong in this myself, unless they charge a cancellation fee? It might mean a pro-rata refund. Again, I see nothing wrong in paying for the time covered and a new 12 months starting.

Have I overlooked anything? Is there any reason I should just let it lie? I'd much rather have £29 per month coming out of my bank account than have £350 on my credit card incurring interest.

Sponge

I thought I'd offer an update.

We called First Direct and explained the situation. After being passed around a little we eventually spoke to someone with the authority to do something. They cancelled the current policy, no penality, and gave us a pro-rata refund via cheque. They then started a new policy, same cover, same premium, but with the monthly payments.

So we're happy. :j