Money taken from card unauthorised

blobbi

This has really stressed me out. I am away in South Africa doing voluntary work. I got an email saying that my credit card (M&S) would be taking out the minimum payment this month which I found bizarre as I had spent no money on it.

I checked and Bell Car insurance have taken a payment for £1500. I did have Bell car insurance 6 months ago but not now, it was cancelled. They have no record of this. The payment is a renewal payment for a car I no longer own and sold for £200.

They are refusing to refund me the full payment saying a cancellation fee is owed. What rights do I have. I do have a check list with "car insurance done" which is dated but no other evidence. I don't even have proof I sold the car as this is in the UK.

lisyloo

Sorry this doesn't help you, but I would advise other to send cancellations (or lapses) by recoerded delivery for 74p.

You can legally use a free proof of posting if you like, however this only proves posting not that the item was received.
Legally this is sufficient, but may get you into legal arguments/delays, so for important letters I recommend spending the extra 74p on recorded and of course keeping the receipt.

blobbi - how did you cancel - over the phone? What details do you have apart from date? time? name?
Checking voice recordings is possible but date alone may not be enough if it's a large company with hundreds of operators.

blobbi

The main problem is that I am abroad and will be for the foreseeable future. I have proof of sale at home in locked storage but nothing else, no name etc.

It also infuriates me that I am paying for their mistake and that I have to cover myself for their incompetency. Can I not get the money refunded by the credit card company? I am unwilling to pay a £50 cancellation fee for a policy and then £30 of interest on this amount.

kev.s

paying the £50 cancellation will get you the remainder of the £1500 refunded?
if so an your not paying then thats just stupid, pay the £50, once they refund you the remainder then hound them and your cc company for the £50 fee, or take the hit and let it be a reminder to cancel unused policies.

blobbi

Thanks Kev.

They are being tight lipped about whether they will refund the £1500 as I can not speak to them for the rest of the day (no phone reception here just a very very slow internet connection) and their finance department was not open until after I started work and I'm working tonight until 8am tomorrow.

Your spot on about one thing, I'm happy pay the £50 to get the money back (assuming it is £50 and not more) but not about the other, I did cancel the policy, I'm 100% sure about this, and its me who is paying for their mistake.

To be honest this stuff happens doesn't it, if it wasn't to me it would be to someone else (obviously not you Kev ) It is just the hassle of trying to sort it out from abroad when you are in a different time zone and have only limited international phone access. Its funny, I'm in a developing country and they do some things like car insurance much more efficiently here than in the UK, although other things not so.

lisyloo

'm happy pay the £50 to get the money back (assuming it is £50 and not more)

You need to check this.
Normally when they cancel a policy they will also want to charge you for the time your had on cover.
Generally add-ons (legal cover, breakdown) are not cancellable.

I'm 100% sure about this

I believe you.
They are either incomptant or cynical, however you are in a weak posisiton as you didn't get any proof.

this stuff happens doesn't it, if it wasn't to me it would be to someone else

It happens to people who don't take the necessary precuations, yes.

and they do some things like car insurance much more efficiently

They've been very efficient at losing your cancellation and charging you.

My advice is
1) As a priority ask about what it will cost to cancel to make sure you understand it.
Be aware call center people follow scripts, so do not ask for the "cancellation charge" as this may be mistaken for a query about a specific named charge. Ask "How much will it cost to cancel"
2) Ask if they can refund you as you sold the car by checking the DVLA database (I'm sure they can check if they wanted to).
2) Pay it so interest does not rack up. You might not be happy about this, but you risk the bill being higher.
4) Put in a formal complaint., however it's your word against theirs. You can eventually take this to the independent ombudsman which will cost the insurer in the region of £500.
5) Next time you do something important, get a receipt. You wouldn't give someone £1500 in cash without a receipt would you??

kev.s

normally when a policy is cancelled your insurer will write to tell you this along with the legal doc stating it's an "offence to keep an uninsured motor on the road, blah blah", evryone one make mistakes ( and yes me included:p ) but you should always cancel in writing as well as over the phone. i'd certainly get onto your cc company too, see what your options are.

lisyloo

i'd certainly get onto your cc company too, see what your options are.

You have NO options via your CC company if you signed a continuous card authority (CCA) which is common on insurance.
The CC company can do nothing about money that your authorised.

This is unlike direct debit where you have rights.

My advice is don't use CCA at all.
Although the title says it's unauthorised, the chances are that an authorisation was signed that included renewals up front and documentation was sent that had a 14 cooling off period, which is plenty of time to read it.

I know we all make mistakes, but not reading the docs, authorising them to take what they want and then not getting a receipt for cancellation is a series of fairly big mistakes.

blobbi

Your all completely right in one way or another. Without reading the small print, I did enter into a CCA contract so they were completely within their rights to take the money if they had no record I had not cancelled it, in fact conversely, if they hadn't and I was driving and crashed and not been insured I would also have been annoyed (and more out of pocket).

However, and this is refreshing, I've travelled half way round the world to speak to 3 of the most sensible call centre workers from the UK I've ever spoken too. Credit card company (M&S) looked up all the terms and conditions for me and even gave me the number for Bell. Both people at Bell also were completely understanding. Full refund...bosh.

It also turns out that I did send something in, I returned the insurance certificate, which they had received in September, appears proof enough.

Out of interest, my other option was that there is a cooling off period of 14 days and I could have got a full refund minus £22.

So its all worked out well, just got to make it through this 24 hour on call shift in rural Africa, had to deal with a Hippo attack the other week, mental! Thanks for your time.

kev.s

good result