Cancellation with colonannade/swinton

scoobs85_2

I have had my home insurance with swinton for the past two years, however this year its up for renewal and they quoted me 600 pounds for the year. They kept hassling me, calling me every morning. I asked them is that the cheapest they can do as it sounded a bit expensive, they said yes as all the home insurance companies bumped their prices up due to the floods we had nationwide so stupidly I decided to accept it. The insurance does not take affect until 4th january 2012 and nothing has been signed yet, just a verbal agreement over the phone.

Now I had a look at an insurance comparison sight and found the same cover with homeinsurer.com for 200 pounds! So I paid for that and rang colonade to cancel but they are saying that they want 50 pounds cancellation fee plus 25 pounds admin fee, which I thought was extortion! I have not used their service for the new cover yet, it hasnt even started and I have not signed anything so are they allowed to do this??

Quentin

Read up what the policy says about what happens when you cancel, and if they are acting outside of the policy conditions then dispute the charges with them.

If you aren't happy with their reply then put in a formal complaint (see the policy for details of their complaints system) and take it from there.

*Scarlett

I agree that the fees are high. Did they advise of this when you took out the policy over the phone?

I took out a Swinton policy a few months ago (I know they have a rubbish reputation but we having been cutting back on expenses and wanted a basic policy at the lowest price). They did advise me of the £50 canx fee even if within the 14 day cooling off period which I think is shocking but did accept it.

If you think they did not advise you of the the fees you should ring and speak to a manager who can listen to the recorded call. If you were not informed of the cancellation fees they may agree to waive them. (You can request this info for yourself but at a fee).

I'm not sure if renewals work differently to new business, as you said you had the policy for a couple of years, but if they were phoning you to renew I would think they are soliciting your business.

It seems you have found a far better deal anyway and will be better off financially even if the canx fee is a bitter pill!