Two premiums taken from my account for same car

UsFour

Every year I get the cheapest quote for my personal use van from the internet. I have no loyalty to any company.

Last year I insured vehicle for £245 (no legal) with QuoteMart .... they sent me a renewal notice this year with premium of £368 which I had no intention of using. I did not set up a Direct Debit with them but paid on my debit card last year.

I ignored the renewal request from Quotemart (as I've had these from other companies in the past and they needed me to ring them to say I wanted to renew) and agreed a policy with Budget of £275 inc legal via the internet.

I now note that on the gumph Quotemart sent through with last year's insurance certificate ... it states on the 3rd page

"We reserve the right to automatically renew this policy and we will take the payment from your card ....... to opt out of automatic renewal process please call .... "

Both the £275 and the £368 have been deducted from my account !!:mad: and I am now severely overdraw. I have had to extend my overdraft facility and will have to pay overdraft charges from my bank.

I never go overdrawn as I make sure of this as I haven't the money for charges.

I rang Budget about this and a rather unhelpful man told me that the £368 quote had gone through as well because I hadn't cancelled it. They have agreed to refund this amount and not charge me for the cancellation as it seems Quotemart and Budget are part of the same parent company. However he says they won't send the money back until I have received the insurance cancellation docs and sent them back to them ... they won't do it over the phone. This means it could take weeks to sort out and in the meantime I am out of pocket by £368 which I can't afford to be and my account is overdrawn.



Questions are from anybody who knows ....

1) Is this legal for them to take the payment as if it was set up as a direct debit even though I hadn't set one up ... it was a default thing on their paperwork which I hadn't noticed.

2) Is there anyway I can ask for payment of overdrawn bank charges from Quotemart as they took two amounts from my account.

3) Is there anyway I can get them to send me the £368 back quicker than they are doing .... what are my rights re them hanging onto the money longer than is necessary.

I know it probably boils down to me not noticing the automatic renewal thing on page 3 but I didn't and it was a genuine mistake.

Thanks in advance for any info to be gleaned :wall: Sorry for long post.

huckster

If you signed up to a continuous payment authority by debit card and they told you they would automatically renew in their renewal letter then yes they can. Check the renewal letter to see what it says. If it does not mention automatic renewal, then you have a case for a quicker refund. Phone and make a complaint.

If the renewal letters say auto renewal, then you will have to wait for them to receive the certificate of Insurance back from you, before they will refund.

You can tell your bank that the Insurers debited your account without authorisation and your bank is supposed to refund after sending their payment back. But your bank might refuse at first request, as they don't like doing this. If you strike lucky with your bank, they should also rebate the charges/interest. This is taken from the FSA site.

What should I do about a payment from my account that I didn’t authorise?


Your bank must refund an unauthorised transaction. Money can only be taken from your account if you have authorised the transaction or your bank can prove you were at fault.
Contact your bank immediately if you notice a payment out of your account that you did not authorise. If you are sure that you did not authorise the payment you can claim a refund.
However, your bank does not have to refund you if you do not tell it about the payment until 13 months or more after the date it left your account.

dunstonh

I ignored the renewal request from Quotemart

Wouldnt it have been better to read the renewal letter and notify them that you didnt want to renew?

Ignoring the request on what to do next is never a good idea.

I rang Budget about this and a rather unhelpful man told me that the £368 quote had gone through as well because I hadn't cancelled it.

Which is fair enough. You admit you didnt cancel it so that is consistent with your story.

1) Is this legal for them to take the payment as if it was set up as a direct debit even though I hadn't set one up ... it was a default thing on their paperwork which I hadn't noticed.

yes it is.

2) Is there anyway I can ask for payment of overdrawn bank charges from Quotemart as they took two amounts from my account.

No. It was your error. You can of course ask them but they are likely to say no.

3) Is there anyway I can get them to send me the £368 back quicker than they are doing .... what are my rights re them hanging onto the money longer than is necessary.

Not likely. Things like the direct debit guarantee dont apply to cards. You could request an unauthorised payment but that gives the insurer 30 days to prove you owed it. As you did owe it then the bank are not likely to refund.

I know it probably boils down to me not noticing the automatic renewal thing on page 3 but I didn't and it was a genuine mistake.

Bottom line; yes it is I'm afraid.

furious_styles

I just registered to comment on this since I'm also at the wrong end of this sharp practice.

I've little doubt that they ran this scam by their lawyers before deploying and so technically they think it's within the law and they believe they are in the right.

However, small claims do not view this kind of thing favourably at all and the burden is with them to prove you gave permission. It's highly unlikely that any court will accept a nil-response as sufficient approval for renewal, particularly when frequently dealing with increases in the region of 50%.

Secondly, a slightly different approach would be to show that the contract is for a specific 12 month period and that outside that period, regardless of small print, no contract exists.

I might test this in court depending on my stomach for battle and what else I can get off my plate beforehand.

Will let you know!