Mobile Phone Insurance error!!!

waddleswfc

I have recently bought a house so had to obviously go through all my outgoings and I came across a charge of £5.99 that had been going out of my account for years. I contacted Allianz Insurance and they informed me that it was for mobile phone insurance for my Sharp GX10 handset. I haven't had this handset for around 7 years so have been paying £5.99 a month for 7 years or so for nothing!!! They said I could claim some of it back if I could:

"I would like to advise that we can make a proportional refund amount. In order for us to refund any monies owed please send us proof of upgrade or termination of contract, this can be sent via email direct from the network provider with the above certificate number in the subject line or a letter headed letter from the network provider confirming the details."

However I have tried to get in touch with Vodafone to see when I cancelled the contract / upgraded to the GX20 but I haven't actually been able to speak to anyone.

I know its a long shot as its such a long time ago but I'm hoping they still have my details on file.

Can anyone help at all??

Thanks
Paul

moneycheck

Are you able to trace any bank statements that supported the payment on the mobile phone contract? If so, the last date of payment should allow you to substantiate that the GX10 stopped being used.

Which network are you using now? If its vodafone you can try their online chat which is normally good.

grumbler

Bank statements don't prove anything even if it was a DD. One can easily change the account the DD goes from.

Just playing devil's advocate...

moneycheck

Worth a go I'd say anyway.

The insurance co is an authorised firm therefore covered by the Financial Ombudsman Serv. If all else fails you can complain and as long as the balance of prob is on your side you will get somewhere.

Vodafone

Hi waddleswfc,

I will be happy to provide this information for you.

You can email me personally via the address here including WRT135 FAO Heidi in the subject. If you could also include a link to your post and a contact number, I will be in touch.

Many thanks,

Heidi
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK

waddleswfc

Thats brilliant thanks Heidi. I have sent an email to the link you gave so I look forward to hearing from you and seeing if we can solve this! :A

Thanks again
Paul

Buzby

And the moral of course is, why let DD's leach money from your account? One of the reasons why firms love this way of paying, you could have lost your marbles and gave up needing the policy - but they still get paid.

The onus remains with the consumer to check and verify the debits are properly being taken, but I'd argue if you accept a DD without thinking the ramifications through, this type of scenario will be very common.

cascars

Copied from another thread on the same subject. This is what I just posted:

I am in a similar situation at the moment.
Last year I found two direct debits for £5.99 each, one going back 11 years and the other for 12. I phoned Allianz and was told that they would cancel the payments (and suggested I do the same with my bank, which I did) but that I could not claim a refund on the payments as it was my responsibility to cancel when I changed phones.
I was not happy about this but put it down to experience.
This week on two other accounts I have I found the same, one going back to 2005 and one to 2006. This time I am determined to get my money back.
I have called Allianz and was told that if I can prove when the contracts ended that I can claim a refund. I called Phones 4U and Dial-a-phone who gave me the dates that I had purchased the phones and they also told me what service provider they were with. I then called the service providers and they have emailed me all the details of the dates I started and ended the contracts.
This is now about to be posted to Allianz recorded delivery.
I have calculated that they owe me £790.68 and have also suggested that they make a goodwill payment of £1000 towards the £1400+ they previously said I could not claim. I have also warned them that I will not hesitate to take County Court action to recover this if not resolved within 14 days.
I have also posted a warning on a fishing forum that I help to run and on Facebook.
I would not mind betting that there are thousands of people paying for insurance on phones that they have not had for years, and they do not have a clue.
I think I will also write to some TV consumer problems and see if they can highlight this on their programs. This could turn out to be almost as big as the PPI situation!

Rusty!

What amazes me the most is how someone can fail to notice a direct debit going out of their account for 11 bloody years!

JDC14

Without being harsh, I can see where Allianz are coming from in a sense, they deal with a lot more payments than you do.

Threatening County Court action will get you nowhere, because going to court would get you nowhere I imagine. Asking for a goodwill payment may have got you a little extra, but I don't personally see them paying £1000 out of £1400.