charged twice for car insurance

haisbro

I am insured with Swiftcover, my renewal was about £100 dearer so i looked around for cheaper and then realised a named driver was no longer required on my policy. I removed this person from "my account" on swift cover recalculated to a figure which was acceptable. I purchased this before my original policy lapsed. Since that time a second automated payment has been taken from my bank account and swiftcover are not answering my e-mails.They owe me about £300.

What next?

David

lisyloo

Was it by direct debit?
If so contact your bank and get them to sort it out.
You have rights under the direct debit guarantee.
I can't tell you what they are off the top of my head, but if you bank are difficult then jsut gool for "direct debuit guarantee" and inform them of your rights.

System

Sounds like your original was auto-renew (as most are) and you didn't cancel it and also took out a separate new policy. I don't believe that the DD guarantee applies in this case as it was an auto-renew and they took what they were entitled to.

If you didn't know it would auto-renew then you didn't read all the paperwork when you initially got it last year.

haisbro

I have just checked my account and it was a Visa payment as they had my card details.

David

haisbro

!!!!!! wrote: »

Sounds like your original was auto-renew (as most are) and you didn't cancel it and also took out a separate new policy. I don't believe that the DD guarantee applies in this case as it was an auto-renew and they took what they were entitled to.

If you didn't know it would auto-renew then you didn't read all the paperwork when you initially got it last year.

It would seem that i have at present got two policies for the same car. I did find the process of altering/declining not user friendly and no doubt somewhere down the line it will be my fault. The simplest thing would be for the renewal e-mail to have accept or decline link to your account. I suspect that companies like swiftcover do not make life easy for this reason.

david

dunstonh

So, direct debit guarantee won't apply then as its not direct debit.


As !!!!!! says, it looks like you didnt cancel the old policy and it auto-renewed, as it said it would in your renewal letter.

I did find the process of altering/declining not user friendly

You mean you found telephoning them or writing to them to ask them not to renewal difficult?

haisbro

I found the process not user friendly, i followed the link from the email they sent me and assumed that the information i was changing on my account related to the original policy. That was a false assumption. I have written two e-mails to the complaints department and both have been ignored. Which is why i am here.

David

stephief

Hi,

I wouldnt bother emailing, just phone them. I am sure they wil realise it was just a !!!! up somewhere along the line and reimburse the policy you dont want. If not, I am sure you have a 7 or 14 day cooling off period on one of them (the newer one probably) so if that time hasnt elapsed, just cancel the newer one and ask for the money back. But do it all by phone, that way they have to face it straight away and not by email!

haisbro

Thank all for reading my post and your replies/ advice and comments.

David

david39

If you are having doubts about their honesty or efficiency and decide to do it by phone, follow it up in writing - referring to the phone call and quoting name of contact and time and date - preferably by Recorded Delivery.

Otherwise, by the time you follow the phone call up and they later deny ever receiving it, your cooling off period may well have expired.

haisbro

When this situation arose i checked swiftcover on the internet and found some very negative comments. I feared the worse when they they did not answer my e-mails hence my post on here. Following the advice (Stephief) on here i did manage to find a contact number for my particular issue i had and have been able to cancel one of the policies and i have been told the monies will be refunded within 10 days with no penalties. So thanks to you all again, it was good to share a problem and have a resolution.

David