Help needed asap!!!

*MF*

Hi ...

I have been away looking at the PO site - go here:
http://faq.insure-systems.co.uk/bgl/ccil_bgl/selfservice/popups/landingpage.jsp?Keywords=payment&Brand=po&Product=pc&o_journey=O_Direct&o_page=Welcome

That gives a list of different payment options - but the only one I can see which would be a payment from a Bank - is a Direct Debit, for example one item says this:

Yes. Your initial payment must be via credit/debit card but after that you will be able to spread the cost of your premium by paying monthly by direct debit.

Can you please ask your FIL to read the paperwork he got - I am sure it must contain reference to how future payments were to be made.

cazscoob

i cant get down there as i have no petrol but will see if he can find anything out. do you think i have anything to go on with this?

Oscar_The_Grouch

It sounds like you are in good hands with MF, so I'll duck out.

Best of luck with this.

cazscoob

thanks oscar x

*MF*

cazscoob wrote: »

i cant get down there as i have no petrol but will see if he can find anything out. do you think i have anything to go on with this?

Start here: What Oscar said above is correct - cancelling the policy early incurs a fee (that is one of the things mentioned in the link I posted above) and then you hit what are called "short term rates", and that is what has happened - the £35.00 is correct per the link, whether the rest is correct - I don't know, but I suspect it will be.

So - is this money due to be paid? Yes, sadly imho.

But how or when it is to be paid is where I am trying to help, ok. If - and thus my repeated questions - it was to be by DD, then there are rules to be followed by the PO - and more importantly by your Bank, if the PO get their end wrong - see here:

http://www.bacs.co.uk/Bacs/Consumers/DirectDebit/Pages/DirectDebitGuarantee.aspx

Example (if by DD) - if the PO did not notify your FIL about what they intended to charge or when - then imho - you are entitkled to ask for an immediate refund from your Bank - but sometimes that depends on who you speak to in your Bank.

But - even if you got a refund - it would be temporary - the money would eventually have to be paid - but it might help your FIL get some money together to repay you, and get the kids fed - and if it is a DD (which I still suspect) after you get a refund (fingers crossed) you can cancel it with your Bank and then the PO have to write to collect the payment.

But if it is not a DD - then I need to put my thinking cap on again, lol.

Important: Only you know your overall financial situation - and I don't want to know, ok - so only you can decide if this is worth the effort. It would buy time at best, ok.


PS: Hi Oscar

cazscoob

thanks for all your help it is very much appriciated!!
i have just been on the phone to them again, they had not set up a DD and were taking the payments directly from my card?? they basically have said they cannot do anything and the way she was talking it was as if something had been put on the computer that would not let her answer the questions i was asking? when the policy was signed up for it was DD payments that were being set up. I asked to be refunded and the bill sent to FIL so he could arrange to pay it etc but they refused.
the bank say they cannot refund payment as the funds are in the PO account and the refund would have to come from them? this is all so confusing?

*MF*

Ok ... sorry if I appear pedantic, but I am trying not to be confused, lol. Just stick with me on this one point.

You say "when the policy was signed up for it was DD payments that were being set up." - Is that coming from FIL or from your phone call to the PO?

My hope is that your FIL has this in writing somewhere.

huckster

The Post Office policy is adminstered by BISL (Budget Insurance Services Ltd). They are notorious for their bad service and can be difficult to deal with, if you read various forum posts.

I cannot add much to the good advice received so far. BISL should have set up the Direct Debit following the initial deposit payment taken by debit card. Instead for whatever reason they will not tell you, they have continued to take payments as a continuous payment authority. You would have to have given permission for them to collect continued payments under such an authority, as well as any cancellation payment.

Phone the Post Office Insurance people and ask them if they hold a 'continuous payment authority' for any payment, other than the initial deposit. If they don't they have to refund you. When you phone them ask to be put through to complaints/customer relations. They can speak to you about payments from your card, but obviously due to data protection, you are restricted.

This a long running thread on continous payments.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=256

*MF*

Hi huckster ... thanks for joining in.

I was delaying asking the OP to make another phone call - until I heard back about the DD.

My thinking was then (so the OP knows)

1: To accept that the payment is due - and to attempt to agree how that is paid - say in 2/3 instalments.

But ...

To get that agreement (if at all) requires the OP to speak to the right person - and I agree it is a Complaints person in a senior position.

We also need to have a good case to get them to agree - thus my wish to find out about the DD.

If it was DD, and we have that in writing preferably - then using another method to obtain payment, without agreement, indeed in the face of the actual agreement, and doing so with no prior notice and doing so from a Bank Account or Debit Card from someone who is not the policyholder - may well be fraud - and I think that is where the OP's bank are coming from.

Now do the PO want to be faced with that accusation, with say press coverage, the potential involvement of the OP's MP, or MSP etc etc ... or would they accept payment over 2/3 months, and avoid all those issues.

Tbh - I don't know, but along those lines was where i was heading.

@OP - do you feel up to handling that type of call to the PO? If you do make sure above all else that you get the name and direct phone number of who you call.

If not, then alternatives would be to contact your local Citizens Advice, or your nearest MSP or MP in the morning - I think having no money and 5 kids will get you an attentive ear, and some action.

Remember we are trying to buy time - the payment will eventually have to be made, sadly.

*EDIT*

Add this - if BISL are bad in this area as huckster says - ask them if they want their relationship with the PO to be the cause of a fraud action, against the PO - and make sure you tell them that is what your Bank are telling you to do, ok!.

I do not normally believe in "aggressive" action/threats - but needs must I think in this case.

cazscoob

ok after many phonecalls etc etc etc there is no mention of how the payments will be taken on the policy he has. it states the amount day of the month and card deatils. i have just been on and got a quote the options i get to pay monthly are:
10 monthly instalments of £48.03 from
same card as deposit
credit or debit card
bank or building society account
not sure then where i stand now?