Axa home automatic renewal problem

heathpw

Hi I am currently with axa home insurance and have a huge
problem with there auto renewal policy of informing
people by email only that their policy is about to renewed.
I only found out because I happened to this email account
that I used when i bought the insurance a day before
the 2 weeks cancellation period was about to expire.

Not sending out written confirmation of the auto renewal
is obviously an underhanded ploy to catch out as many people
as possible on the new inflated insurance policy with the hope they wont check their email in time and then try and stick them with outrageous cancellation fees when they try and cancel.

Not everyone is going to email savy, my mother and father
certainly are not and they seventy, what happens if your email is with BT and you move to virgin and your bt account will nolonger
exist, or there is a problem with your mail and you forget your
password or dont check it for a month.

This is obviously a ploy to force people to take up the new insurance
policy from axa with the new inflated premium or face high cancellation fees.

I rang up AXA insurance and told the girl I spoke to that this was unacceptablenot to send out written confirmation and gave her a few of the reason I mention above and all she kept saying was "you have to tell us if your details change".

It was like talking repeating record and in then the end I told her I wouldn't be taking up the new policy and the conversation

I intend to write to AXA to complain but cant find anything about there complaints procedure on the website I will also write to the FSA or OFT or both. Will this do any good???.

What is law on auto renewals.
Does anyone know, can they just send out an email. Can they get away with this.

Thanks
Heath

mikey72

Was it an on line policy, or was the original policy mailed out?

heathpw

Its was a policy I got through a comparison website and they mailed out all the documents

david39

The auto-renewal will be in the T&Cs that were originally agreed by the policy holder when they bought the policy. The email is just a reminder and, almost certainly, will be covered by those T&Cs as the established method of contact for on-line policies and that holders must advise any changes.

It's the argument that comes up almost every week in this forum between people who do not agree with auto-renewals and those who do.

It's not worth going over the old ground yet again, but you will find that the OFT, although it accepts that problems are caused by this practice, agree that it is the better of two evils - the other being that equally forgetful people will find themselves unintentionally uninsured because they don't read what looks like junk mail that comes through the post (or email box).

mikey72

heathpw wrote: »

Its was a policy I got through a comparison website and they mailed out all the documents

They are obliged to notify you at least 14 days in advance of renewal terms.
If they mailed out the documents, it would be reasonable to expect the renewal to be mailed out though.

You should insist on receiving a complete refund if they have charged you to renew, but you have taken out an alternative policy.
Don't agree to a cancellation charge, or pro rata for time on cover.

If they don't, write to them, marking the letter as a "complaint", and if they don't pay, refer it to the FOS.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/

mikey72

david39 wrote: »

The auto-renewal will be in the T&Cs that were originally agreed by the policy holder when they bought the policy. The email is just a reminder and, almost certainly, will be covered by those T&Cs as the established method of contact for on-line policies and that holders must advise any changes.

It's the argument that comes up almost every week in this forum between people who do not agree with auto-renewals and those who do.

It's not worth going over the old ground yet again, but you will find that the OFT, although it accepts that problems are caused by this practice, agree that it is the better of two evils - the other being that equally forgetful people will find themselves unintentionally uninsured because they don't read what looks like junk mail that comes through the post (or email box).

The FSA have guidelines for autorenewals, it doesn't really matter what the t&c's say.
I'd be inclined to write to the FSA as well on reflection, and report them for the lack of correspondence.

System

heathpw wrote: »

.....


I intend to write to AXA to complain but cant find anything about there complaints procedure on the website I will also write to the FSA or OFT or both. Will this do any good???.

......

The renewal and cancellation procedure will be shown in those policy documents that they mailed to you when you first took out the insurance.

Also, the complaints procedure will be shown in the policy wording documents you received at the same time.

The complaints procedure is also listed on their website for the online policies, I assume it will be the same process for all Axa Home Insurance policies. (If you have misplaced your documents)

rs65

Did you have alternative cover in place from the renewal date?

heathpw

BAA1 wrote: »

The renewal and cancellation procedure will be shown in those policy documents that they mailed to you when you first took out the insurance.

Also, the complaints procedure will be shown in the policy wording documents you received at the same time.

The complaints procedure is also listed on their website for the online policies, I assume it will be the same process for all Axa Home Insurance policies. (If you have misplaced your documents)

The new policy was not emailed to me, the email just quoted the policy number start date and end date ans said i can log into the AXA website which i dont have a password for, to view the new terms and conditions. There is no mention of the complaints procedure on their website because there isnt one, show me where it is.
(Do you work for the insurance industry, it sounds like you do)

heathpw

david39 wrote: »

The auto-renewal will be in the T&Cs that were originally agreed by the policy holder when they bought the policy. The email is just a reminder and, almost certainly, will be covered by those T&Cs as the established method of contact for on-line policies and that holders must advise any changes.

It's the argument that comes up almost every week in this forum between people who do not agree with auto-renewals and those who do.

It's not worth going over the old ground yet again, but you will find that the OFT, although it accepts that problems are caused by this practice, agree that it is the better of two evils - the other being that equally forgetful people will find themselves unintentionally uninsured because they don't read what looks like junk mail that comes through the post (or email box).

So instead of the posibilty of throwing away a physical insurance reminder evelope because we think its junk mail we now have the much greater chance of the email notifiaction being automatically seen by the email system as junk and put in the junk folder or just deleted , i personally receive hundreds of junk emails which my email account automatically sticks in my junk mail folder and gets deleted, so which is greater you numpty. Atleast I physically have to throw out the postal junk mail, with electronic junk mail there is simply more to go wrong.

System

heathpw wrote: »

The new policy was not emailed to me, the email just quoted the policy number start date and end date ans said i can log into the AXA website which i dont have a password for, to view the new terms and conditions. There is no mention of the complaints procedure on their website because there isnt one, show me where it is.
(Do you work for the insurance industry, it sounds like you do)

I do not work in the insurance industry, and you did not read my post properly. I said the procedure would be in "those policy documents that they mailed to you when you first took out the insurance" in the post, not email.

All I did was googled AXA Home Insurance complaints... the first axa link returned by that search is for the main website, and the second axa link took me to here : http://www.axa.co.uk/assets/documents/axa.co.uk/personal/insurance/home/home-policy-booklet.pdf where you will find a whole section in the index : "Making a complaint"

It isn't too difficult to find what you need if you approach it calmly rather than going off on one and making daft accusations.

If this is how you act when you speak to the insurance company on the phone, I can see why you do not get a good response ;)