Mis sold car insurance. How can i get a refund?

lottielee

Hiya,

about 6 weeks ago i needed to get some car insurance. I did a search on a price comparison website and some quotes came up. Whilst i was still looking, a company phoned me and gave me a really competative price but said that was assuming i had been driving on someone elses policy or a company car within the last 2 years.

I told the guy that i had been driving a company car, but i did not want the quote based on this as i did not want to contact my old employer due to leaving on bad terms. He assured me he would do all that on my behalf to make it easier for me and asked if he could call me back after his lunch break so he could give the company a call. I also told him my maiden name as i had just got married and thought they would not confirm due to my name being different. I thought this was superb customer service! how wrong could i be....

He phoned back an hour later, as he said he would. told me it was all sorted and when they send me everything out in the post, to just sign the paperwork and send it back.

I got the paperwork through and it asked me for my previous employers details so i put them on the form again and sent it back.

I got a letter from them about a week later saying that i must contact my previous employer myself and get a letter from confirming my time driving a company car with them. I called the insurance company up and told them to listen to the telephone conversation between myself and the salesman and explained i was not prepared to contact the company myself.

They said they would listen to my conversation and call me back....

No phone call, then a couple of weeks later i got a text message saying URGENT call the insurance company or my policy will be cancelled. By this time i had also paid my 1st premium.

I called them (was cut off 5 times and passed from pillar to post) FINALLY got to speak to a manager who appologised, told me that the salesman no longer worked for the company so they could not ask him if he called my previous employer or not. He said i was not entitled to any money back and told me if i was not happy with this i could make a complaint.

So within 6 weeks i had paid £183.29 in total for an insurance policy that really was not worth the paper it was written on. I am totally broke now because i have had to find some more money to pay another large deposit out for my new insurance policy and would really like my money back to offset this.

Any advice or suggestions? I have not written a letter of complaint yet. I thought it would be best to get advice from here first.

Thanks In Advance

Charlotte

lisyloo

Write a letter of complaint in line with the companies formal complaints procedure.
I would suggested forking out an extra 75p for recorded delivery so you know the letter won't get lost (or check if they accept emails).

In future don't rely on what someone says they will do if it's crucial to the policy. You need to make sure it's done and you have it in writing.

If a quote/price is given on the basis of NCD or past claim free driving then it needs to be PROVEN and this is crucial to the policy. If they don't get proof they will cancel the policy.

I'm not saying that to have a go, but to alert other lurkers who may be reading :-)

Also a very good idea to note down times, names and dates for important phone calls. This can really help with trying to retrieve it.
If you don't know the time or name, then you cannot expect a call center to plough through a weeks worth of calls from 100 operators.

lottielee

Thanks for your reply.

They did trace the call and appologised for him mis-informing me, but did not say if they could find a call he made to my previous employer.

I just don't see how i have had to pay out nearly £200 for his mistake :-(

lisyloo

Make the complaint (through the proper documented process).
If at the end you go to the financial ombudsman then it will cost them approx £500.
If your complaint is £200 then my guess is that they will back down before you get that far.

So I would start your complaint ASAP as it might take some time.
You might want to mention that you are aware of your right wrt to the ombudsman.

lottielee

Thank you.

i took this further and told them i was going to ring the financial ombudsman, it did not go that far they at 1st phoned me and offered me £70, i refused and then they phoned me back half an hour later and offered me a full refund!