Swinton Home Insurance Problem

blackqueen

Hi all,

Just had a bit of a "to do" with Swintons Insurance this morning.

Basically, last year I took out house and buildings insurance with them last year on direct debit. Renewal came through, really high so I phoned them and cancelled and went with someone else and cancelled the direct debit with Swintons as they had taken their last payment for the year and I have now taken insurance with someone else who was offering it much cheaper.

Got home from work last night and there was a letter from Swintons saying "Thank you for taking out home insurance with us and here are the direct debit amounts" etc. Totally shocked! As far as I was concerned Swintons was all cancelled and I have paid in full for another insurance AND cancelled Swintons direct debit. I didn't know it was still running!

Phoned them this morning and the chap at Swintons said to me that it's automatic renewal and I needed to cancel. I know I said, I phoned up and cancelled (didn't put it in writing though - I am an idiot!). He said he had no record of that, who did I speak to - well of course I have NO idea!

He now says there will be a cancellation fee! I said I cancelled and have cancelled the direct debits and gone elsewhere. He said that as it's gone over the statutory amount of time (the renewal was 30 April) that there will be a cancellation charge. I said I didn't know the insurance was still running, as far as I was concerned the policy was cancelled as I had phoned up AND had cancelled the direct debit because of that. I didn't know Swintons insurance was still running until I got their letter and that wasn't until I got home from work yesterday evening!

He said the cancellation fee would be £50! I am quite flabbergasted at this - that I am now having to pay to cancel a policy I was sure I had cancelled (though of course I have no proof) and as far as I was concerned I didn't have insurance with them any more and that's why I cancelled the direct debits.

I think this is such sharp practice. Is this how they keep people paying for insurance, by quietly letting them keep on paying in the hopes they won't notice?

Swintons said they would send me a letter with the cancellation bill, that I would get 2 letters and then it would go to a collection agency. Obviously now I'm really worried but I'm also angry and upset at this.

Can anyone advise on this please? Thank you.

dacouch

Send them an "Official Complaint" letter by recorded delivery, they often drop the charge as they have to investigate official complaints

Quentin

This is the problem when you just phone with instructions.

Where money is involved (as here), it's naive to trust to your phoned instructions being acted on.

For less hassle in future send written instructions (use recorded delivery) and ask them to write and confirm receipt of your instructions.

In this case use their complaints procedure to dispute their bill and state your case.

SammyS1987

dacouch wrote: »

Send them an "Official Complaint" letter by recorded delivery, they often drop the charge as they have to investigate official complaints

If it goes to the FSA they also have to pay regardless of the outcome.

dacouch

SammyS1987 wrote: »

If it goes to the FSA they also have to pay regardless of the outcome.

You're not factually correct there, it won't go to the FSA, it would go to the FOS if the customer decided to go that far

forbee2

blackqueen wrote: »

Hi all,

Just had a bit of a "to do" with Swintons Insurance this morning.

Basically, last year I took out house and buildings insurance with them last year on direct debit. Renewal came through, really high so I phoned them and cancelled and went with someone else and cancelled the direct debit with Swintons as they had taken their last payment for the year and I have now taken insurance with someone else who was offering it much cheaper.

Got home from work last night and there was a letter from Swintons saying "Thank you for taking out home insurance with us and here are the direct debit amounts" etc. Totally shocked! As far as I was concerned Swintons was all cancelled and I have paid in full for another insurance AND cancelled Swintons direct debit. I didn't know it was still running!

Phoned them this morning and the chap at Swintons said to me that it's automatic renewal and I needed to cancel. I know I said, I phoned up and cancelled (didn't put it in writing though - I am an idiot!). He said he had no record of that, who did I speak to - well of course I have NO idea!

He now says there will be a cancellation fee! I said I cancelled and have cancelled the direct debits and gone elsewhere. He said that as it's gone over the statutory amount of time (the renewal was 30 April) that there will be a cancellation charge. I said I didn't know the insurance was still running, as far as I was concerned the policy was cancelled as I had phoned up AND had cancelled the direct debit because of that. I didn't know Swintons insurance was still running until I got their letter and that wasn't until I got home from work yesterday evening!

He said the cancellation fee would be £50! I am quite flabbergasted at this - that I am now having to pay to cancel a policy I was sure I had cancelled (though of course I have no proof) and as far as I was concerned I didn't have insurance with them any more and that's why I cancelled the direct debits.

I think this is such sharp practice. Is this how they keep people paying for insurance, by quietly letting them keep on paying in the hopes they won't notice?

Swintons said they would send me a letter with the cancellation bill, that I would get 2 letters and then it would go to a collection agency. Obviously now I'm really worried but I'm also angry and upset at this.

Can anyone advise on this please? Thank you.

If you rang and told them over the phone, it is your word against theirs and it is quite common for an adviser to forget to note your file or cancel the policy (not necessarily deliberately). If you go to the Customer Assistance department they will write off any charges as it isnt worth them persuing it. I am suprised that the branch didnt just agree to take your word for it. If you have been on cover a while and have taken a policy elsewhere at the same time , just send them proof that cover was running elsewhere and they should be able to get a full refund from your insurer and should waive their cancellation fee.

Gallovidian

Having a similar problem with Santander (really BISL using the Santander brand), I received their verbal confirmation a year ago that they would not automatically renew. A few days ago I received a letter thanking me for renewing!

I phoned them, at my expense of course, telling them I had no business with them and desired none and was told the usual story: "we have a RIGHT to automatically renew your insurance" and "we informed you" which is crap, and "we have no record of you specifying etc." which is probably true as stupidly I did not ask for confirmation in writing more than a year ago.

Naturally the letter was more than 14 days after they took out the insurance without my permission and therefore outside the cooling off period.

Next letter from Santander/BISL: we have been unable to get the money using the details you provided blah blah. Obviously since I did not take out a policy with them I did not provide them with any details, thus they are lying. They used details from a credit card I used to purchase insurance more than a year ago which happily no longer exists.

They will get money from me when they take it from my cold dead fingers.

Come on Martin, how about a campaign on this? I know there is the super-mega-nanny-state argument that people are thick and corporations should therefore be allowed to squeeze us under cover of protecting us from our own imbecility, but that does not convince.

Automatic renewal should be an OPT-IN, repeat OPT-IN. Come on Martin, get the regs changed on this, as it stands it is a charter for corporate thieves.