Halifax car insurance - direct debit hassles

ilesmark

Hi all

Have already posted this in the Cars and Motoring section, but it's primarily about a direct debit issue so......

Just wondering if anyone else has been having trouble with Halifax car insurance.

3 Nov 2009 - took out car insurance for a year with Halifax, payable in 12 monthly instalments with direct debit.

Sep 2010 - renewal reminder from Halifax, telling me all I needed to do was nothing and the insurance would automatically renew on 3 Nov 10. Slight problem - they wanted to up the premium by over £300 PA even though I'd had no accidents/claims since taking out the old policy and the car had stayed the same.

Beginning of Oct 2010 - called Halifax to see if they'd made a mistake. Got thoroughly hacked off trying to get through to them - all I did was call the number given in the renewal letter and yet I got this rubbishy spiel about how they'd transferred their business to someone else so I needed to call another number which then passed me to a DIFFERENT number etc etc and 3 or 4 calls later I finally got through to someone who told me that no, there hadn't been a mistake. By now throughly incensed at being passed from pillar to post just to get told this, I said "this call is being recorded, right?" Call centre person - "yes it is". Me - "right, I'll pay the last instalment on the policy and then I want to cancel it from 3 November." Call centre person - "OK, remember to cancel your direct debit with your bank". Halifax's renewal letter had said to contact them if I didn't want to renew the policy, and so AFAIWC I had done so.

That same day, I cancelled the direct debit with my bank, who told me that it was too late to cancel the October instalment. That was fine, as the October instalment was the last one in any case. Found a new policy with another provider, set it to start on 3 November and off I went on holiday for a month.

Early November - returned from holiday to find a flurry of letters from Halifax giving me a blow-by-blow account of how first they hadn't been able to take the last monthly instalment from the Nov 09-Nov 10 policy as the direct debit had been cancelled, then that they hadn't been able to take the first monthly instalment from the Nov 10-Nov 11 policy as the direct debit had been cancelled, followed by a letter telling me 'we note you have cancelled your policy from 3 November 2010, however you still owe us the last instalment for the 2009-2010 policy'. Checking my bank statement revealed that only 11 instalments had ever gone out for this policy, so OK - my bank must have been a bit quicker off the mark than I thought in cancelling the old D/D. Sent them a cheque for the last instalment and that - I thought - was the end of it.

Monday this week - checked my bank statement (same a/c I used to pay the old policy from, from which the D/D had SUPPOSEDLY been cancelled), to find £67-odd taken by BISL. Called my bank to find out who BISL was - would you believe it, it's Halifax car insurance!

Yesterday - letter from Halifax enclosing my Certificate of Motor Insurance for my new policy from Nov 10 to Nov 11.

So not only have they failed to act on my cancellation request, but have also managed to take money from my account even though a) I cancelled the old D/D and b) took no action to set up a new one!

Thoughts?

Mark

Mark_In_Hampshire

From the sounds of it, the bank acted on the request to cancel the DD mandate.

Then the payee took it upon themselves to reinstate it.

This is all too common - the DD system has no protection in place for the customer in this respect, so if you cancel a DD mandate it isn't necessarily the end of it, the payee can always reinstate it. After all, the bank did not ask the payee for any proof you authorised the first instance of it, and so simply go on the payee's say so that you agreed to it.

Suggest you cancel the DD mandate again, have the new debit to BISL reversed and put back in your account in lieu of the cheque clearing so you don't pay twice, and write to your bank to let them know you don't want them to let the payee set it up again. I don't know whether they can do that as I presume it involves someone manually looking at the account every day in case it pops up again and then cancelling it before money is taken.

jonesMUFCforever

BISL is Budget insurance - is this the same as your Halifax policy?

ilesmark

Both - thanks. The bank has already been told to cancel this new d/d, but that I have to contact Halifax myself to get it reversed. Am going to demand compensation from them for wasting my time in this way.

Yes, BISL is Halifax from what my bank told me. And Halifax's letter enclosing the insurance certificate made reference to the first payment having been made.

chilliepowder

I told Halifax car insurance I did not want to renew (by telephone) and they sent me insurance 6 days after my old policy had run out. They deny all contact and I now have to pay them a cancellation fee despite clearly telling them I did not want their twice as expensive policy. Their customer service representative was also rude. Great way to treat a customer that had been with them 5 years! The lesson is to put everything in writing. I will NEVER USE THIS COMPANY AGAIN!
:money::mad:

hornpipe

This has the smell of that terminally awful outfit BISL about it! Halifax and many other similar are sales agents for BISL and you can't expect any kind of customer service from that bunch.
h

jambosans

hornpipe wrote: »

This has the smell of that terminally awful outfit BISL about it! Halifax and many other similar are sales agents for BISL and you can't expect any kind of customer service from that bunch.
h

I've already replied to you in another thread, but just to re-itterate, Halifax's customer service failings have nothing to do with BISL. They simply brokered the insurance on Halifax's behalf.

It's spurious and defamatory to suggest whenever the name BISL emerges they are the route cause of the problem in question. Do you blame the Royal Mail when you get marketing post through your mailbox?

hornpipe

Jambosan
Yes, I do have an axe to grind and "consumer revenge" is the strapline. "Spurious, defamatory"? My statements are based on recent and actual experience with BISL. And please do not assume that I am ill informed. Many years of experience of the insurance industry (from inside and out) have left me with a healthy disrespect for the way it operates.
h

jambosans

hornpipe wrote: »

Jambosan
Yes, I do have an axe to grind and "consumer revenge" is the strapline. "Spurious, defamatory"? My statements are based on recent and actual experience with BISL. And please do not assume that I am ill informed. Many years of experience of the insurance industry (from inside and out) have left me with a healthy disrespect for the way it operates.
h

I'm going to assume you are ill-informed until you address all the points I have made in both posts. You're not going to be taken very seriously (on this board anyways) if you simply state "avoid BISL" without substantiating your stance, otherwise it is spurious and defamatory.

Mikeyorks

hornpipe wrote: »

And please do not assume that I am ill informed.

But you are a moron?

8 monolithic posts on your 1st day and excavating threads up to 4.5 years old - just because they contained reference to 'BISL' - doesn't signify someone in full charge of all their marbles?

hornpipe

Is this a forum or an interrogation? I'm not bitin'.