Money taken without permission

SteveJW

Last year my son was short of money so I paid his car insurance on-line using my credit card. This year he has shopped around and got a better deal elsewhere and sorted it himself
The previous insurance company debited my card and sent out a new policy, son rang them and explained he had got insured elsewhere, they said send the policy back and we will refund the money. Sent policy back and sure enough the money has been refunded, less £50.
I assume they are going to claim this is an administration charge, cannot get son to ring them up as he is away on holiday.
What complicates matters is we both have the exact same name and I think the insurance company thought the credit card was my sons.

With who do I have a potential claim, my credit card company for making a payment I had not authorised, or the insurance company for taking the money without permission.

If I remember my O Level Law correctly the insurance company had a legal relationship with my son not myself.

Many Thanks in anticipation

halibut2209

No, if you check the small print, you will have entered a renewing contract. They will automatically charge and cover you for the next year unless you tell them in advance that you don't want to. The £50 is indeed a cancellation charge and you should probably be thankful it's only £50.

arcon5

Your credit card company didn't make a payment to anybody, the insurance company charged your card for which you supplied them the details and never read your contract. How are the credit card company supposed to know you don't want to renew your insurance, they don't read minds :huh:

As for the policy, who is it with and did you receive a reminder. If their terms say they will contact you before auto-renewing you may have a case, if however it reads something like 'we endevour to..' they're covered. They will likely be water-tight though. Lesson learnt

mrbadexample

arcon5 wrote: »

How are the credit card company supposed to know you don't want to renew your insurance, they don't read minds :huh:

You'll see that the OP wasn't the insured, if you read the post.

DVardysShadow

mrbadexample wrote: »

You'll see that the OP wasn't the insured, if you read the post.

I agree. The insurance company almost certainly don't have a contract with the OP [unless the OP took out the contract to insure his son].

OP, go back to your credit card company and do a chargeback. The insurer may try to claim that this is a Continuous Payment Authority, but if you think you only made a one off payment, then it is up to the insurer to prove anything different. It is going to be a fight to sort out, so dig in for a long one.

arcon5

mrbadexample wrote: »

You'll see that the OP wasn't the insured, if you read the post.

Well that depends, op may have taken out a policy to insure her son ie op their customer.

arcon5

If its confirmed op isn't their customer then all a chargeback will mean is they will chase the son for the money.

Either way, somebody owes the £50 so a chargeback may well be a short sighted solution.

halibut2209

Exactly. The person paying is agreeing to the terms.

As far as auto-renewing "controversies" go, this is a light one. Only £50. Learn from it and move on. And always read the contracts!

shaun_from_Africa

Whenever you cancel a financial contract the service provider is entitled tomake a charge to cover the admin costs and any other expenses they had.
As already mentioned, this is what the £50 is for.

However, if this £50 is reclaimed by the OP then the insurance company may well pursue the OP's son not only for this £50 but also for any extra costs due incurred by them because of this.

wealdroam

OP, what I really cannot understand is, when your son "shopped around and got a better deal elsewhere and sorted it himself", why did he not cancel the expiring insurance policy.

It seems quite clear to me that the insurance company has done nothing wrong.

Whilst it is not quite as clear (to me) whether your credit card company has any responsibility or not, you and your son did agree about a year ago that it was ok for you to use your credit card to fund his insurance.

So to summarise... your son is responsible for the £50 admin/cancellation charge because he did not, in a timely manner, make it known to his existing insurers that he was going elsewhere.

mancitychick

if you look at last years insurance documents, it will more than like say something along the lines of "for your convenience we will automatically renew your insurance next year. Please tell us if you don't wish us to do this.". Over the last few years all my insurance policies have said this, therefore I don't think you will have much luck getting your cancellation fee being refunded if your paperwork says that too.