Insurance help!!!

pooches

To cut a long story short

I canceled our caravan insurance with caravan guard as we no longer had the caravan. The lady on the phone said it was ok and no money owed EXCELLENT! so i canceled the direct debit.

Received a letter stating that we owed a 28 pound admin fee i called to say it was all sorted no money owing and she said no we have to pay this. So then i said well to be honest you have never spoke to my husband, i took the policy out and they asked who's name the caravan was in and i said my husbands so they said its best if the policy is also in his name. The lady said this was wrong so canceled the money owing. I thought the matter was done so shredded all letters.

I have since received a letter from a solicitor saying we now owe them 58ish pounds with days in 7. So yet again i called caravan guard to be told we do owe the money and that there is no record of my calls??!!:mad: I did say i would pay them some money because life is too short but they wouldn't have any of it.

What do i do now!! To be honest we dont have that money spare and as yet i haven't spoken to the solicitors, as i wanted advise first.

Very worried about this....thanks in advance for any replys

Quentin

The advantage is always with the company if you just deal with them on the phone over matters like this. Whenever you agree something contractual over the phone, at the very least get a reference from them of the conversation, and keep a note of the date/time/name of the person you spoke to. Much better though to ask for it to be confirmed back to you in writing. (eg When you were told the £28 they had written to you about was cancelled, then they should have also confirmed in writing, or sent you a £28 credit note).

The policy ts + cs probably do provide for a cancellation admin charge, and if this is so you are going to have an uphill battle proving to them what you have told us.

Worth though sending them the £28 (if the ts + cs provide for an admin charge) and tell them what you have posted here in the hope that they will waive the excess they are now charging via their solicitor (especially if this came out of the blue!)

mikey72

They do charge a cancellation fee, and offer a pro rata refund.
If you were paying monthly by direct debit, it sounds like they have only charged you for the time you had the policy for, so the £28 would be due to them. (If you had paid the annual policy in advance ask them what refund they should have given you)
I would (begrudgingly now, as they appeared to waive the fee) send the £28 original fee, with a letter stating that you believed it had been waived at the time of the original call, and again this was confirmed at the follow up call. Ask them to provide transcripts of the calls if they do not agree.

If they state they have no record of any calls, ask them to confirm to you what instruction they cancelled the policy on.

pooches

Thank you sooo much that sounds like the right thing to do. Do i make any contact with the solicitor???

Quentin

Yes. You need to copy in the solicitor (or write direct to them, if they have asked you to pay them direct rather than the insurance company).

mikey72

That's a good question, I would probably copy the letter I was sending to Caravan Guard to the solicitor, for information only, and stating in the letter to caravan guard that while you do not accept that you owe any payment, as it was waived at the time, you are offering the £28 as a purely goodwill gesture.