Swinton home insurance - I believe I am genuinely entitled to my money back!

Mharkins

Hi there,

I was looking for some help and advice from more seasoned hands here at MSE .

Swinton may be wrongly charging me for insurance I feel I rightly cancelled before my renewal date. (Swinton have gone ahead and renewed the policy).

My home insurance policy with Swinton ran out on the 19th Aug. Before this, I had received 3 letters asking me to contact them so they could amend my details in order to continue the policy for another year. I ignored these.

A couple of days before the renewal date I received a call from Josh at my local branch. He gave me a quote, which I thought was quite high and I told him words to the effect of "No thanks, I'll look elsewhere".

I look elsewhere and get cheaper home insurance from another provider. A few days later I get a letter from Swinton thanking me for renewing my cover for another year. I phone Swinton and tell them I have found cheaper insurance elsewhere and already told them I didn't want to renew as per my phone call with 'Josh'. Fine, he said, he said the policy was now cancelled.

Today I receive a bill from Swinton for £83! A £50 cancellation charge and the price of one months cover.

I have phoned Swinton again where I was told that Josh logged our phone call as 'I was going to look elsewhere for quotes and call Swinton back'. I never did call them back and so I've been told Swinton have an obligation to renew if they don't hear from me.

I suppose that is the heart of the matter: I told Josh 'no thank you' to his quote but it has been recorded as 'customer will phone back' on Swinton systems.

I'm aware that Swinton will renew if I don't tell them to cancel (which is their argument - indeed its in the terms and conditions I signed) but I clearly stated in the call from Josh that I didn't want to go ahead with Swintons new quote!

I know Swinton act as a broker and they claim they are entitled to claim admin costs, but I feel that is void because I told Josh I didnt want to proceed and I'd look elsewhere.

I also know Swinton aren't regulated by distance selling regulations.

Also; I am well within the 14 days cancellation window; charging one months cover for 3 days is a bit excessive I feel.

Is anyone available to give me any advice on what to do next? I feel particularly aggrieved at the thought of paying so much when I specifically stated I didn't want to go ahead with the policy before the renewal date!

Especially with the scare stories of companies just passing this kind of thing off to debt collection agencies, I almost feel like I should pay to stop any hassle.

Thank you all for any help.

Mike

meer53

Mharkins wrote: »

Hi there,

I was looking for some help and advice from more seasoned hands here at MSE .

Swinton may be wrongly charging me for insurance I feel I rightly cancelled before my renewal date. (Swinton have gone ahead and renewed the policy).

My home insurance policy with Swinton ran out on the 19th Aug. Before this, I had received 3 letters asking me to contact them so they could amend my details in order to continue the policy for another year. I ignored these.

A couple of days before the renewal date I received a call from Josh at my local branch. He gave me a quote, which I thought was quite high and I told him words to the effect of "No thanks, I'll look elsewhere".

I look elsewhere and get cheaper home insurance from another provider. A few days later I get a letter from Swinton thanking me for renewing my cover for another year. I phone Swinton and tell them I have found cheaper insurance elsewhere and already told them I didn't want to renew as per my phone call with 'Josh'. Fine, he said, he said the policy was now cancelled.

Today I receive a bill from Swinton for £83! A £50 cancellation charge and the price of one months cover.

I have phoned Swinton again where I was told that Josh logged our phone call as 'I was going to look elsewhere for quotes and call Swinton back'. I never did call them back and so I've been told Swinton have an obligation to renew if they don't hear from me.

I suppose that is the heart of the matter: I told Josh 'no thank you' to his quote but it has been recorded as 'customer will phone back' on Swinton systems.

I'm aware that Swinton will renew if I don't tell them to cancel (which is their argument - indeed its in the terms and conditions I signed) but I clearly stated in the call from Josh that I didn't want to go ahead with Swintons new quote!

I know Swinton act as a broker and they claim they are entitled to claim admin costs, but I feel that is void because I told Josh I didnt want to proceed and I'd look elsewhere.

I also know Swinton aren't regulated by distance selling regulations.

Also; I am well within the 14 days cancellation window; charging one months cover for 3 days is a bit excessive I feel.

Is anyone available to give me any advice on what to do next? I feel particularly aggrieved at the thought of paying so much when I specifically stated I didn't want to go ahead with the policy before the renewal date!

Especially with the scare stories of companies just passing this kind of thing off to debt collection agencies, I almost feel like I should pay to stop any hassle.

Thank you all for any help.

Mike

Yes, you should pay them, you didn't call them back, what did you expect them to do, get out the office crystal ball to see whether you'd found a cheaper quote ? Unless you have proof that you cancalled the policy before renewal you don't have a leg to stand on.

halibut2209

The whole point is the he didn't say he was going to call them back. The phone operator made that up.

pendulum

meer53 wrote: »

Yes, you should pay them, you didn't call them back,

He wasn't asked to call them back, though.

He told them "No Thanks" to their offer of renewal. To me, that means he has declined to renew and thus the automatic renewal should have been cancelled.

fluffnutter

You might well have made your wishes clear verbally, but it's always wise to put these things in writing. You've (at some point) agreed to auto-renewal, even if this was not particularly explicit (but that's another story), so I doubt they've done anything legally wrong by going ahead without you explicitly cancelling. They'll argue (with success no doubt) that a 'no thanks' over the phone does not constitute an explicit cancellation.

It's the problem with auto-renewals really - the company holds all the cards.

arcon5

Does your contract state their cancellation policy at all?

In most cases you have to cancel in writing and give so much notice so verbally telling them a few days before may not be suitable.

missPinky

I had car insurance through them and a few weeks before the renewal date they harrased me with phone calls and letters about automatic renewal. I told them quite clearily will not be renewing with them at all due to their shoddy behaviour over the phone. They accepted this as a form of cancelling the policy as it didn't state in my policy about written termination or automatic renewal. Best to check all policy documentation.

Mharkins

Thank you all for your replies so far.

I did look through the contract I signed last year. I can't see anything in there that stipulates Swinton will auto-renew my policy upon expiry. Speaking to another chap at my local branch, he basically states that Swinton have an obligation to auto-renew if they don't hear from you (ie: if your on holiday or in hospital). I didn't question this but assumed they must have a legal obligation if you're a home owner(?). I can't find anything about this in the contract.

Acron5; it does state in the contract that an oral instruction to cancel the contract is sufficient instruction; this is what I gave to Josh when I said "No thanks, I'll look elsewhere". It has the usual 'you can cancel within 14 days' and 'we will charge £50 admin fee to cancel' but this is after the contract is taken out. (I'm still under the impression I haven't agreed to enter into any contract) It doesn't stipulate a time frame to act by to let Swinton know I want to cancel.

As pendulum states, I wasn't told that I had to phone them back either when I was called with this years quote. Am I supposed to be told about this?

Fluffnutter; thanks for the reply. The chap I spoke to on the phone today spoke along the same lines. He didn't seem happy that a "No thanks" purported to an instruction on cancellation. I'm not sure what else "No thanks, I'll look elsewhere" means though!

At the moment I'm waiting to hear back from the branch manager, but feel I have a case to take to thier head office or further.

What do you all think?

Thanks for your help.

Mike

Evilm

Honestly I don't believe "No thank you, I will look else where" clearly means "No, i am not renewing, I have alternative insurance. Please stop the renewal". It comes across as more as "no, not now, i haven't made up my mind yet".

Do the letters say anything like "if we do not hear otherwise your policy will be automatically renewed" anywhere on them? It doesn't have to be at the top, they can say "please contact us to update your details" at the top and put the notification of automatic renewal further down. It comes down to if it can be shown they did let you know - however obliquely - that your policy would auto renew unless they were instructed otherwise.

fluffnutter

Mharkins wrote: »

At the moment I'm waiting to hear back from the branch manager, but feel I have a case to take to thier head office or further.

What do you all think?

Thanks for your help.

Mike

Only you can decide if the £83 is worth the stress of pursuing further. If Swinton stick to their guns they'll appoint debt collectors and/or possibly court action which can be very stressful. Head office might take pity and drop the charge but I'll bet they'll say as a 'gesture of goodwill' rather than agree they've continued despite your instruction not to. Always, always cancel in writing.

abbyscuito

If Swinton record telephone conversations ask them to review yours.