Being charged for change of address - what a liberty

jyoung_2

can't remember which company that it is I deal with but i get charged for paying direct debit , think it was my car insurance !!!
yet some charge for not paying direct debit

its just like the cost of petrol going up and up us as a society just accepts it (it should be outlawed)

" your damned if you do and damned if you dont"

foggytown

lisyloo wrote: »

Ok, but £25 is too much I hear you say.

Well we've been through this many times before but for customer services you need buildings, telephones, printers, paper, toilets, kitchens, training, pensions, sick pay, computer software, data protection act procedures, employees lability insurance, security procedures, back up procedures, hardware etc. etc.
£25 seems quite reasonable to me.

You make it sound like policyholders are being selfish toads by daring to move house!

Your argument is as insupportable as their £25 charge. The fact is that all of the elements you mention are already largely in place anyway to support the insurers' sales, claims and admin activities. (In fact, I won't be surprised to see the more piratical members of the industry start charging fees for "claim recording" in the near future.)

Change of address is nothing more than minor record keeping which takes less than 1 minute per entry. Reputable companies would regard this as just another cost of doing business.

Mids_Costcutter

As with bank charges perhaps the question to ask is whether £25 actually reflects the cost of the administration? Almost certainly not, unless the insurance company still keeps all their records in paper files.

dunstonh

Mids_Costcutter wrote: »

As with bank charges perhaps the question to ask is whether £25 actually reflects the cost of the administration? Almost certainly not, unless the insurance company still keeps all their records in paper files.

What makes you think they actually have to cover the cost of administration?

For reference, the FOS have ruled on plenty of cases where people have complained about these and generally consider charges of up to £50 are acceptable.

Weirdlittleman

Insurers have stripped out insurance premiums so they can offer the cheapest premiums possible. this means not including in their costings their call centres etc.

Instead they choose to recoup these costs from the people who use them and make mid term changes.

An entirely fair and reasonable business decision.

Those who dont make changes will be glad of the cheaper premiums.

Rolandtheroadie

jyoung wrote: »

can't remember which company that it is I deal with but i get charged for paying direct debit , think it was my car insurance !!!
yet some charge for not paying direct debit

its just like the cost of petrol going up and up us as a society just accepts it (it should be outlawed)

" your damned if you do and damned if you dont"

Utilities charge more if you dont pay by Direct Debit.
Insurance charges more if you do because you are taking on finance.

stator

If you want to avoid these charges my recommendation would be to go with a direct insurer rather than a broken. I think 100% of brokers will charge a fee because they are only interested in selling policies, not providing customer service. Some direct insurers don't charge however I can't remember which ones. This year I've gone with a broker because I don't plan on moving or changing my car, if I did I would have checked some of the other cheap quotes to see if they charge.

lisyloo

You make it sound like policyholders are being selfish toads by daring to move house!

No, that's not what I said or implied.
But I would say you should not expect other policy holders to subside you and you should pay your way if you decide (or have no option) but to chnage your car, addresss, partner etc. Sometimes it's not even your fault, but it is your responsibility to cover the costs.

The information on the costs is tehre up front if you chose to read it and you are given a generous cooling off period in which to read it so you CAN check up front if it's an issue (although moving house costs thousands so I'm not sure what the issue is there).

The fact is that all of the elements you mention are already largely in place anyway to support the insurers' sales, claims and admin activities

Don't be silly. Additional staff are required.

Reputable companies would regard this as just another cost of doing business.

Get insurance with a reputable company then, and not the cheapest off a comaprison list.
What happens most of the time is that people do not search for quality, they search for lowest price and don't check ANY other info and then complain when they find it doesn't suit their needs.

jyoung_2

scotsman4th wrote: »

Utilities charge more if you dont pay by Direct Debit.
Insurance charges more if you do because you are taking on finance.

yip
everything has a price



no such thing as a free lunch anymore

!

foggytown

lisyloo wrote: »

Don't be silly. Additional staff are required.

As you said before, you have never worked for an insurance company.