Elephant Car Insurance - Automatic Renewal

Laz123

eranou wrote: »

Why take the time to post a complaint?

Kettle, pot, black, calling...

FSA-do-something

Hi Guys & Gals

Automatic Renewals TWOC-ing - taking without customers consent must stop,
I will be talking to FSA and other bodies concerning this
illegal practice tactic TO TRY AND GET THIS STOPPED.
The more people complain to the FSA concerning this will
get their attention more than if 1 person complains.

I would prefer all insurnaces to include a snippet of information
to say to accept this tactis check this box.

Sadly I was with elephant car insurance last year but for only "12 months" as this was a standard contract between myself and sadly them.

Phew, luckily my credit card number changed BUT THEY TRIED TO GET HOLD OF NEXT YEARS HUGE PREMIUM without my permission,
which I feel is theft and not on.

I have now been BULLIED and THREATENED because they say we owe them one months car insurance although no money has been taken out of account. I know I am right in what I say so they can .............#######...... p.

I know Budget use this tactic, they say ring us and tell them on 0845 more money making ideas, they get paid for 0845 calls, sadly in this country these shark tactics will always be in place because the English say (and I'm truly sorry to say state)

"well we wont come here again or we wont buy from them again"

instead of doing what the french, greek and italians do and stand up for yourselves and guess whose money it is, its your hard earned money as Martain always say, they're taking with-out consent, they are TWOC-ing (police jargon).

Automatic Renewals without customers consent has anyone
else had this scare insurance tactic?

worried_jim

Calm down dear.........

BoGoF

worried_jim wrote: »

Calm down dear.........

I agree....OP you did agree to this when you took out the policy

If you won't buy insurance from anybody that auto renews you better get yourself an insurance broker.

scheming_gypsy

FSA-do-something wrote: »

Hi Guys & Gals

Automatic Renewals TWOC-ing - taking without customers consent must stop,
I will be talking to FSA and other bodies concerning this
illegal practice tactic TO TRY AND GET THIS STOPPED.
The more people complain to the FSA concerning this will
get their attention more than if 1 person complains.

I would prefer all insurnaces to include a snippet of information
to say to accept this tactis check this box.

Sadly I was with elephant car insurance last year but for only "12 months" as this was a standard contract between myself and sadly them.

Phew, luckily my credit card number changed BUT THEY TRIED TO GET HOLD OF NEXT YEARS HUGE PREMIUM without my permission,
which I feel is theft and not on.

I have now been BULLIED and THREATENED because they say we owe them one months car insurance although no money has been taken out of account. I know I am right in what I say so they can .............#######...... p.

I know Budget use this tactic, they say ring us and tell them on 0845 more money making ideas, they get paid for 0845 calls, sadly in this country these shark tactics will always be in place because the English say (and I'm truly sorry to say state)

"well we wont come here again or we wont buy from them again"

instead of doing what the french, greek and italians do and stand up for yourselves and guess whose money it is, its your hard earned money as Martain always say, they're taking with-out consent, they are TWOC-ing (police jargon).

Automatic Renewals without customers consent has anyone
else had this scare insurance tactic?

step 1 - read the policy where it says it'll automatically renew
step 2 - read the renewal form where it says it'll automatically renew if you don't cancel
step 3 - cancel insurance
step 4 - if you already have insurance on the car with a different insurer, give them the policy details and they'll cancel the premium when you can prove you haven't used the service they're charging for.

it's all quite simple

bratz81

I have to say, I've been driving and had a car for about 10 years now and I've never had a policy where it didn't auto-renew unless you phoned them up and told them not to. I thought it was the standard procedure?

Also works the same for my pet insurance and home insurance etc- auto-renew unless I phone up and say nope moving to someone else.

I was with elephant a few years ago as well and had an option to choose a 10 or 12 month policy, the 10 month was a fast track to no claims bonus type thing, but it was something I was aware of and in the t&cs.

trukdiver

Total_Chunk wrote: »

Thought I'd toss a warning out to anyone who has car insurance with Elephant.

Last year OH took car insurance out with Elephant. When we got the policy through it said that the policy was for only 10 months instead of 12. #fail

I phoned them up and told them this was unacceptable and they agreed to extend the insurance to 12 months at no extra charge as at no point were we told that it was a 10 month policy.

Last week the insurance was up for renewal and we got a cheaper quote which we went with.

Imagine my horror when I saw that they had taken over £400 without warning or authorisation from OH's bank account yesterday!

They refused to refund the money until we could prove that we had valid insurance. In my mind, this is none of their business. Not having insurance is a police matter and not something they should be allowed to play a hand in trying to enforce.

We're getting the money back in the next 3-5 days but I think this is far too long as it should never have been taken in the first place. Even their representative admitted that this 'automatic renewal' wasn't clear enough in the T&Cs.

Has anyone ever confronted an insurance company for this disgraceful way of operating? Were you successful in getting a complaint upheld?

We will be complaining directly to Elephant and to our bank but if we don't get suitable apologies/acknowledgement for their actions then we are prepared to take it to the financial ombudsman. The money they took was basically this month's rent and we're lucky that we've been able to make other arrangements to cover this.

Auto renewal is very common (I thought it was the default). You must have known when the insurance was up for renewal as you got a quote from another company before it expired. Also, you must have had a reminder or you wouldn't have known the other company's quote was cheaper. You could easily have contacted Elephant to see if they would beat the quote or cancel the existing policy.

It's always a good idea to read the T's & C's when you buy something like insurance (sorry if I'm quoting the obvious there...)

Personally, I prefer auto renewal as it means I'm still legal if I'm unable to renew for some reason.

Gavin83

Laz123 wrote: »

No, I'm being sarky. I find it irritating when someone posts on these forums with a complaint, then you get a lot of prats posting to say how wonderful the company is and they've never had any problems.

Why take the time and trouble? Go get a life is my answer.

Why is it any more valid to post a complaint than praise for a company?

DCLane

I've just checked my credit card - and despite telling Elephant that I didn't want to renew they have done and charged me.

Edit: I've phoned and cancelled - but apparently it can only be done in the first 14 days. I will keep checking and make sure it's a full refund though.

pmduk

In future when you cancel a recurring payment with a company, send a copy of the letter to your bank. They become liable then if they allow the payment.