Swinton Insurance and MoneySupermarket.com

intranix

Like many I used all of the comparison websites to find cheaper car insurance, cheapest I got was with Swinton.

When you put your details into moneysupermarket.com, it asks you where your car is kept during the day, the options are:

"drive", "street" and "garage/private car park"

mine is kept in a private car park so i picked "garage/private car park".

Anyway, after getting all the quotes, swinton come up top, so i clicked to buy the insurance, and was taken to the swinton.com website, where it asked to confirm the details.

it did NOT ask to re-confirm where the car was kept, and at no point was it displayed on screen, so presumably my selection was kept as "garage/private car park".

Ended up buying it, paying monthly, so paid deposit.

Now, when I had paid, it lets you download your documents, so i did so and checked them over. My address omitted an "e" off of "vale", and more importantly, it said my car was kept in a garage, which it isnt. It's kept in a private car park... I knew if i didnt let them know they'd get out of a claim on a technicality or something so I was straight on the phone to correct it...

So i phoned them up, and the lady in my local branch, was only too happy to change it to private car park.

I then go down to my local branch to provide evidence of my no claims... only to be told there is a £10.35 charge for changing where my car is kept. I then explain and the guy im speakign to says he will "sort it out".

Today (13 days later) I get a letter saying I still owe £10.35...

I dont think I should have to pay this, the error IMO is with swinton as they obviously interpret "garage/private car park" as "garage" which is wrong, and more so the fact they do not re-confirm this on screen with you.

What should I do?

intranix

boingggggg

huckster

It is a bit late now. But Swinton don't have a very good reputation for customer service or claims.

In the documents from Swinton, you should have a number for their customer services. Phone them up and ask to speak to a Team Leader or Manager. I would expect them to waive the £10.35 as a gesture of goodwill in the circumstances.

If they don't, you would probably be better off paying the amount and hope that you have no need of contacting them again.

Cancel at next renewal and go to a decent company.

intranix

Yeah I'm a bit annoyed with swinton, they seem to want to pile on charges, every letter ive had from them has mentioned fees for not returning documents or such, every call has ended with them asking when my home insurance is due for renewal... grr.

Having a local branch has helped though I have to say, I've been able to take my NCB docs and credit agreement in, which has saved the hassle of posting (believe me its much easier to go to my local branch, can park outside!).

cjgoodsell

To be fair it is on the swinton website and I know comparison websites have "generic" answers... But my understanding there is a disclaimer saying you will check all the information... Do you remember from the transfer fromt the comparison site on to the swinton website that it gave you the option to go back to the quote so you can reveiew the information?? Imo it should do then you would of spotted the mistake before you bought.

Anyway now its a good few days past and they could be doing is their job... Go back to them ask for a manager or someone senior explain how annoyed you are on the generic answer make them look into it.... If you are not happy then at least take it to the customer complaints where they may have even more power than the branch and possibly over-ride it for you...

Hope this helps you

intranix

It doesnt give you the option to change it nor does it display the selection at any point when on the swinton site, no doubt it does if you do the quote manually through the site.

I was quite meticulous about the details submitted, hence checking over the policy documents shown once i had paid, which then showed the error

cjgoodsell

see they have got you under the "duty of disclosure" where you have to notify if any errors etc in turn you have... If it was me I would push for the £10 odd to be waived becuase it has taken them a while to get back to you... Keep pushing to get it waived...

intranix

well well well,

following that letter I received in OP, I went down to the branch to sort it out, but was fobbed off and told they would call me back, but they didnt.

TODAY I recieved a letter from Swinton, (dated 18th of feb and posted on 22nd i might add), saying I have defaulted on this £10.35 payment, and that my insurance has been cancelled!

I now apparently OWE THEM £50 cancellation charge, plus a pro-rata amount to the insurers....

It also says that this cannot be undone,

This is unreal... they never called me back one way or the other, and if they had said to me, that it cannot be waived so pay or it'll be cancelled, I'd of paid!

I've done absolutely nothing wrong, obviously I'm going to refuse to pay any further, woudl this get to court or would they just send debt collectors for the remainder eventually? as I think if it went to court I'd win?

intranix

So i phoned them up, local brighton branch, insurance hasnt been cancelled??? letter was sent from the charges team, so i explained to this person what has happened and why there is a charge and she said it would be dealt with... ARGH lol

I dont trust them one bit, so will keep my eye on askmid as i dont want to drive with no insurance, and i obviously cant trust anything they say, nightmare.

huckster

intranix wrote: »

well well well,
I've done absolutely nothing wrong, obviously I'm going to refuse to pay any further, woudl this get to court or would they just send debt collectors for the remainder eventually? as I think if it went to court I'd win?

This just goes to show what a **ite company Swintons are. They have to give some notice of cancellation, so you don't go around driving without Insurance.

I think you would win if you ever want to court, if you provided all the information about the problems you have had with them. But Swinton will never take this to court. They could just note your credit record and sell the debt on to debt collectors to harass you.

You really needs to make an official complaint with Swintons head office about this. They need to resolve this for you. You should phone their head office and kick up a stink. Threaten them with going to the FOS and the press. If you ended up going to the FOS, Swinton would be charged a £500 case fee.

intranix

Thought I'd update this...

Shortly after my last post, i received a PM from "swinton", saying they are sorry and want to resolve the issue, i wasnt online at the time so didnt see it. I did receive a call a few hours later from them, a guy from swinton was quite appologetic. I explained that because this letter said my policy was to be cancelled that I had cancelled my direct debit for fear of them taking too much, to which he said they would call me back to re-set it up, and there would be no charge for the failed DD. The DD was supposed to go out on the 28th, and I had no call about setting it up prior to then.

So as it stands:

My last letter from them stated they were to cancel my policy
I have had a call saying they wont cancel it, and the £10 charge would be dropped
They said they would call me back to re-arrange the DD, but didnt...

I'm getting nervous, they havnt taken payment, and on paper my policy is cancelled.

I do not want to drive without insurance for obvious reasons, not least because it's a horrible thing to get on your licence and police couldnt care less about the situation with your insurer, so im checking online every day to see if im on the database, but obviously this isnt conclusive as there is a delay in them updating... So it's possible I AM driving without insurance.

I dont trust this company one bit, and i cant afford to start a new policy, which is also illegal if you already have one

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!