Direct Line Home Insurance Renewal Rip Off

funky_eskimo

Hi Everyone,

Need some legal help?

Our home insurance policy ran out at the end of September - we had been with Direct Line for 3 years and each year had received a renewal letter from them at the beggining of September except this one so we came onto MSE and used the method here to find a cheaper quote that we subsequently went with - £197.60.

However, we then received a letter on 6th October from Direct Line saying they has tried to take £555.36 and £36.00 out of our account for the renewal of home insurance. We phoned them and said we had gone with someone else as we never received a renewal quote form them and they said they would cancle it immediately. However when we tld them we had been charged form our bank as there wasn't enough money in there they put us onto the accounts department who then advised us that there was nothing we could do as our original policy had "automatic renewal" on it and they said they had sent out a renewal letter and due to us not responding to this, that had meant we had agreed to it to be renewed.

Are they able to do this? We never received a renewal letter which is why we went with another company and not only that, when we gained quotes using the method from MSE we also tried Direct Line and for the same insurance policy they quoted us £227.00 less than hal what they tried to take from our account for the renewal!

If there are any lawyers out there or legal whizzes please advise! We really can't afford to pay the £60.00 bank charges for the two payments that they tried to take from us.

Oliver

terakris

I recenlty took out insurance with them (online) and noticed on my policy documents that it was set to auto renew. there was no option to remove this online so i called them up and had it taken off.

Seems its their way of doing business.

lisyloo

When you signed you you agreed to auto-renew.
Furthermore you clearly knew it's been on auto-renew as you've allowed it to auto-renew for the last 3 years, so you can't claim you didn't know.
Sorry but it's your fault for not "lapsing" it i.e. telling them you want it to stop.
Occassionally things do get lost in the post, but clearly you knew it was due as you set up another policy.

So given that
a) you knew it was on auto-renew
b) you knew it was due
c) you didn't lapse it

then unfortunately from a legal prespective you are entirely to blame.
Reminders are handy but the postal service is far from reliable especially with strikes and disruption going on, so you need to sort yourself out with some sort of reminder system, or opt out, or get a provider that doesn't do auto renew, or use a broker, or pay by a non-renewable method like cash or cheque.

SandC

Agree with lisyloo - you should have phoned them to cancel. Many people don't realise that they have agreed to autorenew after the first year but you know the score.

I agree with their renewal though - I have been very happy with them for car insurance, they gave me the best quote for home insurance the year before last but then the renewal was extortionate so I cancelled and went elsewhere.

My insurance renewal is due but if it doesn't come today what with the strikes for the next two days, then I may ring to ask them what the amount is and then shop around if it doesn't suit.

missile

Many companies auto renew unless you instruct otherwise.

In some circumstances it can be a very good thing. Imagine coming home from that holiday of a lifetime to find you have been robbed, the renewal notice in the mail and your policy has lapsed.

£555.36 and £36.00

EEK, that doesn't seem right. It is an awful lot to pay for house insurance!

Quentin

SandC wrote: »

Agree with lisyloo - you should have phoned them to cancel.....

There are so many stories cropping up about problems with auto renewal telephoned instructions not being actioned that it would seem a good idea to confirm cancellations in writing (and send the letter by recorded delivery) to prove the instructions were given should a dispute arise over this a month later when the premium has still been taken!

dacouch

Try sending DL a photocopy of the alternative cover you have arranged, if it runs concurrently they may waive all or most of the charge

lisyloo

Yes good point Quentin.

I either
1) get written acknowledgment
2) email acknowledgement
3) send by recorded delivery (and KEEP the receipt)
4) or iffless paranoid get name, date and time of person on phone and sometimes I ring back the next day to check it's been recorded properly, depending on how much I trust the organisation.

I cancelled with Lloyds TSB this year and they sent written letters for both home & contents.

Mr_K

Mmmm, yet another problem with autorenew and the usual suspects blaming the OP. There is clearly a problem with this practice, with many not realising they're on it. It's especially alarming if people are being switched to this payment method without their knowledge. It may well be in the small print somewhere, but I bet it is in very small print. It's in the interests of insurance companies that you don't shop around and find a cheaper quote, like the OP has. It's also quite possible, with the current postal disruption, that you don't get a renewal notice before your card has been debited. Where do you stand then ? They could take as much as they want and you seemingly haven't got much comeback.

Autorenew is there to catch you out with with inflated premiums and maximise insurance companies profits, nothing else.

SandC

I got my renewal letter yesterday - when I say letter - bundle of documents in an A4 envelope. Couldn't be clearer that if I wanted to renew I need do nothing as it would be automatic.

Perhaps if they wrote clearer that if you wished to cancel you should get in touch, rather than emphasise that if you wish to continue then do nothing.

ned_nederlander

I found this thread when 'Googling' for anyone who'd had a similar experience to myself ...

Direct Line have covered my car insurance for 7 years, initially I checked for better deals at renewal time but since there were never any deals worth taking I'd gotten used to just auto-renewing every year.

This month I noticed that my Direct Line direct-debit hadn't been taken from my bank account and that got me hunting out a letter I'd had from Direct Line but hadn't opened - I appreciatte that I am at fault for not opening this letter BTW - the letter had been for me to indicate that I wanted my cover renewed and on top of that the montly DD payment had risen from £19 to £26

turns out I'd been driving around uninsured for about 3 weeks - again I acknowledge that this was my fault.

Anyhoo - I phoned Direct Line to take them up on their offer, I didn't even check for a better deal - they offered me cover for £40 a month with £75 up front !! Nothing the guy on the phone could do for me apparently !

I took out insurance with someone else and believe that I have a better deal than last years £19 Direct Line one.


I'm a bit annoyed that my auto-renewal stopped without me requesting it - although if I'd opened the letter I would have been able to do something about it - the new offer is what took me by surprise, especially since I'd been paying them quite happilly for 84 months.

My wife's car is insured with Direct Line and I imagine that when her time comes to renew we'll have a look for a better deal and not just loyally renew with Direct Line as we have - a few lessons learnt.