aviva are crooks

sunman

I had my car insurance with Aviva and was due for renewal 01-09-10, they sent the renewal offer and welcoming me to another year with them, if happy do nothing as my monthly payments are DD.
I find a better rate with RIAS and go for that, I telephone Aviva ( India call centre) and inform them and I also mail an notification to them and then I cancel my DD with them.

Yesterday I receive a letter saying that they were unable to collect the DD and quote " regrettably ,this situation puts you in breach of the payment provisions of the credit agreement where you are required to pay monthly paynments by DD"
Further on it states that if they do not receive my remittance by 06-10 they will charge a cancellation admin fee of £39.90 .
Then in large black capitals " if you do not take action required by this notice further action will be taken against you including the payment in full of the whole outstanding balance of the policy".

Naturally I was angry,1/ imo the contract was for insurance provided up to 31-08-19 2/I had cancelled by phone and letter.
Ok onto the call centre again in India and after 55 minutes I was basically told I was a liar and they were correct .I then tried to explain all again with out much success, they told me with whom I am i insured now and I told them and then they ask for policy nr etc .
They then said we do not believe you have another policy so you will have to post all copies of new policy to us -why I ask? they reply because we need to see proof.
I put the phone down and find a central Aviva telephone nr on the web and put through to a switchboars ,he takes the details and advises me someone from the Scotish centre will phone me -still waiting .
Avoid Aviva is my advice.

maddipops

I would write all this down in a letter and post it to them recorded delivery, threaten to bring in their regulator if you dont get a satisfactory outcome

Mr_Man_Full_of_Love

I don't quite understand this. I don't disagree that Aviva are crooks, but on what grounds are they asking for proof of a policy with another company?
Some policies are paid a month in arears so it could be possible that it was the final payment on that policy that they were trying to take by DD.

webmasterpolo

I think they will be asking for proof of your other policy so they can cancel the policy issue you a refund if necessary. They obviously have no record or either of your attempts to cancel. However if you prove to them that you were insured elsewhere then they may refund you for their policy.

I have had this happen with one of my policies.

Just send them what they ask for and ask for the policy to be cancelled and any costs you incurr refunded.

-Web

dentedporsche

Did you send back the Certificate of Insurance?
I cancelled my wife's renewal and was told to return the policy.
I posted the certificate of insurance back to them and it's fine.

magpiecottage

If you have a complaint against Aviva, an e-mail to the address here will set its complaints procedure in motion.

There is no need to use recorded delivery letters.

Mr_Man_Full_of_Love

webmasterpolo wrote: »

I think they will be asking for proof of your other policy so they can cancel the policy issue you a refund if necessary. They obviously have no record or either of your attempts to cancel. However if you prove to them that you were insured elsewhere then they may refund you for their policy.

I have had this happen with one of my policies.

Just send them what they ask for and ask for the policy to be cancelled and any costs you incurr refunded.

-Web

The opening post states that the policy expired on 31st August so there's no grounds for a refund. I don't see any circumstances under which they can ask to see details of a policy with another company before cancelling theirs. I've heard of this happening with Household Insurance where having a policy is part of the mortgage agreement so you need to show proof of having another policy if you cancel a policy with the mortgage lender - but not for car insurance.

dtaylor84

Under the Road Traffic Act it is very hard for insurers to get out of paying for 3rd party claims.

Therefore - as they have presumably already issued a certificate of insurance for 01/09/2010 to 31/08/2010 - they want to be sure that someone else will be liable for any claims that may come to light...

Quote

Auto renewal is no more a scam than Sainsbury's offering three for the price of two on freshly squeezed orange juice. And I don't want to get into a "where did I say that?" discussion.

Mr_Man_Full_of_Love

Quote wrote: »

Auto renewal is no more a scam than Sainsbury's offering three for the price of two on freshly squeezed orange juice. And I don't want to get into a "where did I say that?" discussion.

Good point. Everytime you go into Sainsbury's there's automatically a charge for three for the price of two freshly squeezed orange and you'll be charged for them unless you tell the checkout person that you don't want them.:)

iamana1ias

sunman wrote: »

I had my car insurance with Aviva and was due for renewal 01-09-10, they sent the renewal offer and welcoming me to another year with them, if happy do nothing as my monthly payments are DD.
I find a better rate with RIAS and go for that, I telephone Aviva ( India call centre) and inform them and I also mail an notification to them and then I cancel my DD with them.

WHEN did you do this? If it was after the 1st September then your policy would have renewed.