Insurance co refusing a refund after 5 days of purchasing an annual policy!!!

gamezbond

OK, not being very familiar with the legal jargon, this is what I have sent to their customer service in reply quoting the FSA rules (clause 7.1)

---

Hello,
Thanks for your reply.

Further to my last correspondence, as icarhireinsurance.com is a company apparently registered and regulated by the FSA, I would therefore like to exercise my right to a refund as per the FSA RULES attached to this email. Please see the highlighted section below taken from the attached document:

ICOBS 7 : Cancellation Section 7.1 : The right to cancel

7.1 The right to cancel.
7.1.1 A consumer has a right to cancel, without penalty and without giving any reason, within:
(1) 30 days for a contract of insurance which is, or has elements of, a pure protection contract or payment protection contract;
or
(2) 14 days for any other contract of insurance or distance contract.

[Note: article 6(1) of the Distance Marketing Directive in relation to a distance contract and article 35 of the Consolidated Life Directive in relation to a pure protection contract]

7.1.2 A firm may provide longer or additional cancellation rights voluntarily, but if it does these should be on terms at least as favourable to the consumer as those in this chapter, unless the differences are clearly explained.


I would be grateful if you could kindly issue a refund for my policy under the above mentioned FSA RULES, back on my credit card.

Please note that I will take this matter further and take legal action if needed, if a refund is not issued within 14 days.

Kind regards,
XXX.

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gamezbond

Hi all,
This is what I have received from the insurance company. I have not replied to them as yet, but would really appreciate some help. I am assuming after writing the answers to all 4 questions they will probably still refuse it on the basis that it was not full moon when I bought etc etc lol...

Also a bit confused. Do I have to have a landline number to buy this insurance? and if yes then why did they sell it to me in the first place? Or are they just trying to be awkward?

---

Thank you for your prompt reply. We are very familiar with the clause from the FSA. It is a bit more extensive than clause 7.1 and the sub-clauses you have highlighted to us, so we are aware of the rules and what is fair. You have to read clause 7.2 Effects of cancellation sub clauses 7.2.1 - 7.2.6. (attached for your review)


Given you have notified us of a cancellation 6 days after your policy has incepted, we filter responses to make sure they go through the proper checks.

We have a couple of questions to ask you and we would appreciate it if you answer it by reply to this email.


1. Within the 7 days after purchase and/or since inception of you policy:

A. have you hired a car?, or

B. made a claim?, or

C. intend to make a claim?

2. Your Residence address does not match your Credit Card address on file. Can you explain which is your actual residence?

3. Your Home telephone number is a mobile phone. Can you provide us with your land line Tel. number for your residence address?

4. You have disclosed a mobile phone number abroad. We presume your mobile phone in the UK is the one we should use?

Once you have replied with your answers to these four questions, we will review your request and if satisfied, we will begin the process of a proper refund. This could entail adding up commission payments to third parties, administration fees and credit card processing fees. We would also like to point out that we make you aware of our £ 10.00 administration and cancellation fees in all three of our documents as well as on our website (FSA Rule 7.2.2 (3)a). Under same FSA rules, we have the right to retain a portion of your premium to recover any handling and administration charges we incurred, including intermediary commissions, when you purchased your policy on our web site.

We note you have come through Quidco, so please be aware you will not be receiving your cash-back of £13 in relation to the purchase of this policy.

Lastly, in the event we refund a portion of your premium, please note we are allowed to return cancellation premium up to 30 days from date of notification of cancellation as per FSA ICOBS 7.2.6.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

Customer Service
iCarhireinsurance.com

HALO INSURANCE SERVICES LIMITED | 8 The Square, Stockley Park, Uxbridge, UB11 1FW

Tel: +44 844 826 6565 | [EMAIL="customerservice@icarhireinsurance.com"]customerservice@icarhireinsurance.com[/EMAIL]

---

mikey72

gamezbond wrote: »

Hi all,
This is what I have received from the insurance company. I have not replied to them as yet, but would really appreciate some help. I am assuming after writing the answers to all 4 questions they will probably still refuse it on the basis that it was not full moon when I bought etc etc lol...

Also a bit confused. Do I have to have a landline number to buy this insurance? and if yes then why did they sell it to me in the first place? Or are they just trying to be awkward?

---

Thank you for your prompt reply. We are very familiar with the clause from the FSA. It is a bit more extensive than clause 7.1 and the sub-clauses you have highlighted to us, so we are aware of the rules and what is fair. You have to read clause 7.2 Effects of cancellation sub clauses 7.2.1 - 7.2.6. (attached for your review)


Given you have notified us of a cancellation 6 days after your policy has incepted, we filter responses to make sure they go through the proper checks.

We have a couple of questions to ask you and we would appreciate it if you answer it by reply to this email.


1. Within the 7 days after purchase and/or since inception of you policy:

A. have you hired a car?, or

B. made a claim?, or

C. intend to make a claim?

2. Your Residence address does not match your Credit Card address on file. Can you explain which is your actual residence?

3. Your Home telephone number is a mobile phone. Can you provide us with your land line Tel. number for your residence address?

4. You have disclosed a mobile phone number abroad. We presume your mobile phone in the UK is the one we should use?

Once you have replied with your answers to these four questions, we will review your request and if satisfied, we will begin the process of a proper refund. This could entail adding up commission payments to third parties, administration fees and credit card processing fees. We would also like to point out that we make you aware of our £ 10.00 administration and cancellation fees in all three of our documents as well as on our website (FSA Rule 7.2.2 (3)a). Under same FSA rules, we have the right to retain a portion of your premium to recover any handling and administration charges we incurred, including intermediary commissions, when you purchased your policy on our web site.

We note you have come through Quidco, so please be aware you will not be receiving your cash-back of £13 in relation to the purchase of this policy.

Lastly, in the event we refund a portion of your premium, please note we are allowed to return cancellation premium up to 30 days from date of notification of cancellation as per FSA ICOBS 7.2.6.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

Customer Service
iCarhireinsurance.com

HALO INSURANCE SERVICES LIMITED | 8 The Square, Stockley Park, Uxbridge, UB11 1FW

Tel: +44 844 826 6565 | [EMAIL="customerservice@icarhireinsurance.com"]customerservice@icarhireinsurance.com[/EMAIL]

---

As far as I'm aware you don't need a landline number, indeed with free minutes I have a fair number of friends that just have a mobile now.
Residence address could be more difficult, as you gve your friends, which you may find difficult to explain. Having said that, it's no reason to withhold cancellation, (in fact it's a reason for them to cancel if anything)
Maximum they can charge to cancel is a pro-rata (ish) cost plus the £10 though.

gamezbond

Thank you all for all your replies.

mikey72,
Many thanks. So should I simply reply back as below:

---

1. Within the 7 days after purchase and/or since inception of you policy:

A. have you hired a car?, or
NO

B. made a claim?, or
NO

C. intend to make a claim?
NO

2. Your Residence address does not match your Credit Card address on file. Can you explain which is your actual residence?
My permanent address is my card address. I was going to temporarily stay with a friend hence gave you the address for correspondence. Your online system seems to have accepted it.

3. Your Home telephone number is a mobile phone. Can you provide us with your land line Tel. number for your residence address?
No. I would have already given it to you if I had one. Again your online system seems to have accepted it.

4. You have disclosed a mobile phone number abroad. We presume your mobile phone in the UK is the one we should use?
I have given you both numbers for your convenience in case you need to get in touch. The UK mobile number will be working when I am in the UK and the foreign mobile number is working while I am abroad.

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Please let me know if I can improve on my answers cos I dont want to give them a silly reason to refuse the refund

dacouch

They may not be cancelling under the 14 day agreement for the simple reason that you have asked them to cancel because you do not require the cover. Their 14 day cancellation rule is for "Within 14 days of purchase: If within 14 days of purchasing this insurance You decide that it does not meet Your needs eg you find the policy is not suitable etc.

Try telling them you have reviewed the cover and it's not suitable (They will probably want the other questions answered still eg did you hire a car in the period)

gamezbond

dacouch wrote: »

They may not be cancelling under the 14 day agreement for the simple reason that you have asked them to cancel because you do not require the cover. Their 14 day cancellation rule is for "Within 14 days of purchase: If within 14 days of purchasing this insurance You decide that it does not meet Your needs eg you find the policy is not suitable etc.

Try telling them you have reviewed the cover and it's not suitable (They will probably want the other questions answered still eg did you hire a car in the period)

Thanks. that does make sense. I guess they would try anything.

Hope they dont carry on asking more questions and then make a decision based on the colour of my pants

Quote

Can you remember the colour of your pants? Did you choose them?

gamezbond

Quote wrote: »

Can you remember the colour of your pants? Did you choose them?

LOL. I dont have that many colours, and to be honest I dont, but I am sure Mrs does :D
I am sure she can probably remember the colour of the first ones she saw on me a few years back

iCarhire

Dear Gamezbond,

I am CEO of iCarhireinsurance.com and I’m sorry to find that you are dissatisfied with our cancellation policy. Your case was referred to me earlier today by our customer services team and by chance I have subsequently found this thread where I have once again had the chance to review some of the correspondence between us!

We pride ourselves on delivering a great service to our customers and the concept of treating our customers fairly underpins everything that we do. The type of insurance that you have bought has a low premium value and once incepted the costs associated with cancelling this policy are very similar to the premium you have paid.

Having said that, we value feedback from our customers and we do not wish to leave anyone with the impression that we are anything but a reputable company offering a first class, great value service. To this end I will contact you directly tomorrow to resolve this issue to your satisfaction.

I will also undertake to review our policy regarding the cancellation of annual policies and I am happy to post updates to this board to inform users of any changes that we may make as a result of this review.

As a final point, please rest assured that the questions about the addresses and telephone numbers that you provided to us (and have posted above) were not an attempt at obfuscation. As a regulated company we have an obligation to conduct certain checks to establish policy holder’s identities where address details that have been provided to obtain cover are inconsistent.

Let us know if you ever find out the true colour of your pants!

mikey72

iCarhire wrote: »

Dear Gamezbond,

I am CEO of iCarhireinsurance.com and I’m sorry to find that you are dissatisfied with our cancellation policy. Your case was referred to me earlier today by our customer services team and by chance I have subsequently found this thread where I have once again had the chance to review some of the correspondence between us!

We pride ourselves on delivering a great service to our customers and the concept of treating our customers fairly underpins everything that we do. The type of insurance that you have bought has a low premium value and once incepted the costs associated with cancelling this policy are very similar to the premium you have paid.

Having said that, we value feedback from our customers and we do not wish to leave anyone with the impression that we are anything but a reputable company offering a first class, great value service. To this end I will contact you directly tomorrow to resolve this issue to your satisfaction.

I will also undertake to review our policy regarding the cancellation of annual policies and I am happy to post updates to this board to inform users of any changes that we may make as a result of this review.

As a final point, please rest assured that the questions about the addresses and telephone numbers that you provided to us (and have posted above) were not an attempt at obfuscation. As a regulated company we have an obligation to conduct certain checks to establish policy holder’s identities where address details that have been provided to obtain cover are inconsistent.

Let us know if you ever find out the true colour of your pants!

As you have taken the time to post, I'm sure you wouldn't a question or two.

Why did the addresses and telephone numbers become important when you were refunding, as opposed to collecting the premium?
Surely you had the same obligation as a regulated company?

And a further question, surely the cancellation fee in your t&c's of £10, plus a pro-rata cost since inception is the amount you would charge, as per the FOS ruling in the link above?