Nightmare from Car Insurance.

Corking

I'm having a nightmare with a insurance company sending me default letters for a policy I didn't want and threatening letters.

We did NOT sign any credit agreement and when I ask for a copy of it they just keep sending me blank ones asking me to sign it and send it back.

This is taking up a lot of time and stress. Are they right to try and charge me for something I asked for but when I found out the company name not the "trading name" I told them I did not want anything to do with them and to cancel the policy stating that they can keep the deposit to cover the cost of the couple of days cover they have provided. Also is it fair for me to charge them for my time wasted in writing letters etc ? Thanks

Basically we signed up for what seemed like a good deal with a company called "Diva" yet a few days later get all the infomation and a phone call from "Swinton"

We've had a nightmare with them in the past we did have car insurance at one stage with "Swinton" they have a "Hotline" to call if you need to make a claim we spent 3 days ringing this number with no answer tried to do the claim the through branch and we told no have to phone this number etc.................. So I told them to cancel our insurance with them. We had both our cars covered by them at this point they did cancel the policies however they managed to come up with a cancelation charge of £50 per policy £25 Admin fee plus 2 months notice.

I explained that I thought this was unfair as the reason I am cancelling in because they are incompetent. But they said the charges stand I said ok if they stand then fine sent the across to your legal team and I'll deal with them I'l put in a counter claim for the amount I was trying to claim for when your refused to answer my calls regarding the claim that we ended up putting right out of our own pocket. (someone had smashed all the windows on the way home from th pub..... Nice Thanks) plus the stress and time and effort it is putting us through. I am told I cannot speak to a legal team and their customer services is the local branch who I now just refuse to speak to.

Now all they do in month after month send us not one but 3 one for each policy default notice. They say isn't a default notice under the 1974 consumer credit act. As I say I have NOT signed any credit agreements with them and the reason we canceled was because they didn't provide the servcie they said they would.


Can any one help or advise.


Many Thanks. It's the first time I've posted but I've found the forum a great source of reading in the past and I'm sure there's someone out there that will know just what to do.


Thanks again


Chris

Quentin

Once you signed the contract, then you entered into it lock stock and barrel. Did it include a cooling off period?

To get out of it you must stick to whatever it says about cancelling.

You can't just make up your own cancellation terms and say "keep my deposit" and call it quits!

Read through the policy, follow the cancellation conditions, bear in mind the fees for cancelling and put everything in writing.

They will just pursue you for any debt that you owe them through all this.

lisyloo

I told them I did not want anything to do with them and to cancel the policy

Did you put this is writing?
Did you get a proof of posting or recorded delivery receipt?
Did you write down the name, time and date?
Did you send an email with receipt options?
Did you ask for a written acknowledgement?

If not then they can just deny it, so I would suggest you cancel properly ASAP.
Write and pay 70p for recorded delivery and keep the receipt.
At least that means it's cancelled from now on.

Corking

Quentin wrote: »

Once you signed the contract, then you entered into it lock stock and barrel. Did it include a cooling off period?

To get out of it you must stick to whatever it says about cancelling.

You can't just make up your own cancellation terms and say "keep my deposit" and call it quits!

Read through the policy, follow the cancellation conditions, bear in mind the fees for cancelling and put everything in writing.

They will just pursue you for any debt that you owe them through all this.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. Thats the things we've NEVER SIGNED ANYTHING...... They keep saying it's in the terms and conditions and the credit agreement that we signed but we never signed anything. I've asked them to produce a signed copy as I know we didn't sign anything. But they just send out more agreements asking for us to sign and send back.

Corking

lisyloo wrote: »

Did you put this is writing?
Did you get a proof of posting or recorded delivery receipt?
Did you write down the name, time and date?
Did you send an email with receipt options?
Did you ask for a written acknowledgement?

If not then they can just deny it, so I would suggest you cancel properly ASAP.
Write and pay 70p for recorded delivery and keep the receipt.
At least that means it's cancelled from now on.

They're claiming they not me have cancelled the policy as I refused to pay for something I did not want.

I brought the insurance through a website for "Diva" then I got a phone call from Swinton and promptly emailed Diva saying I no longer wish to have any business with you as I didn't realise you were a trading name of Swinton a company in Which I am already in dispute with.

Quentin

Corking wrote:

we've NEVER SIGNED ANYTHING......

Your post is a little confusing because you put this in your op:

Corking wrote: »

Basically we signed up for what seemed like a good deal with a company called "Diva".....

I see you did this over the net. You will have accepted the ts + cs at the time you did the deal over the net.

tinkerbell84

Corking wrote: »

I'm having a nightmare with a insurance company sending me default letters for a policy I didn't want and threatening letters.

We did NOT sign any credit agreement and when I ask for a copy of it they just keep sending me blank ones asking me to sign it and send it back.

This is taking up a lot of time and stress. Are they right to try and charge me for something I asked for but when I found out the company name not the "trading name" I told them I did not want anything to do with them and to cancel the policy stating that they can keep the deposit to cover the cost of the couple of days cover they have provided. Also is it fair for me to charge them for my time wasted in writing letters etc ? Thanks

Basically we signed up for what seemed like a good deal with a company called "Diva" yet a few days later get all the infomation and a phone call from "Swinton"

Was this online or over the phone? Did you sign up to paying monthly? In which case you've accepted the 'credit agreement'.

tinkerbell84

It's common for insurers to have several trading names.

From the DIVA website FAQs:

What other services do you provide?
In addition to our website and call centres, we have a network of over 450 Swinton branches to help you with your insurance needs. If you like, pop in and have a chat with them, they’re friendly and really know their stuff

lisyloo

as I refused to pay for something I did not want.

Well once you've "signed" a contract (this can be done on-line) you can't jsut decide not to pay.
If you don't want it you have to go through the proper procedures for cancelling.
This might involve charges that you may have agreed to when you "signed".

then I got a phone call from Swinton and promptly emailed Diva saying I no longer wish to have any business with you as I didn't realise you were a trading name of Swinton a company in Which I am already in dispute with.

I'm sure you did, but you need to get proof when you cancel, otherwise companies can (through either incompentance or cynically) just deny it and you have no proof.
Email isn't a good way of getting proof (unless you get a reply).
The best way I think is recorded delivery which ahs a small cost, but ultimately you can stand up in court and say that Royal Mail report it was signed for (sometimes you get date, time and even a signatire).

Corking

The thing I'm still lost on. I've never signed anything although them send me pretty much everyday a copy of their terms and conditions also their credit agreement asking me to sign it and post it back so "Everything can be in place".........

So I guess if I didn't sign anything I'm not bound by anything ? And there must be a reason I get a copy of the credit agreement in the post daily asking me to sign it.

Corking

tinkerbell84 wrote: »

Was this online or over the phone? Did you sign up to paying monthly? In which case you've accepted the 'credit agreement'.

Yes I did click on pay monthly and paid a deposit. But if this was as good as me signing why do they post me daily and phone me up asking me to sign and return the credit agreement and the form of me accepting their T&C ?