hastings car insurance-waved exit fee !!!

chinup_3

Now i think this is a 'biggy' , he says modestly! :rotfl: Had my car insurance through 'hastings direct' paying monthly,into second year -8 months, and am scrapping car and not replacing for a while. rang to cancel and told of c £52 'exit fee' .baulked at this and asked why,answer approx '' well we take a loan out on your behalf and so on early exit of term a settlement fee has to paid,this is on your t+c's '' to get to point i rang consumer direct,who did'nt know anything about this and thought the figure excessive.rang 4 other companies and yes it is industry standard but 'hastings' seemed easily dearest. rang back and spoke to supervisor and started mentioning 'mse' and it's 'readership'- the pleasent young guy was sympathetic, and a subscriber !! he spoke to his manager,who wouldn't come to the phone, who AUTHORISED THE ENTIRE PAYMENT DROPPED !:D okay this shows the power of a] persistnce etc and b] ditto mentioning 'mse' and its 1 MILLION subsciber alone.
seriously these fees at this level are in my mind nothing short of profiteering ala the banks late payment etc fees, and surely like them the FSA, insurance companies regulator, should ask them to justify thoroughly the cost.
what do 'mser's ' think ?

Astaroth

They do not need to justify the cost as it is a service charge and not a breach of contract charge as per banks. It is up to you as the consumer to look at the terms you are agreeing to before agreeing to them.

The FSA has already acted on insurance fees by making them having to tell you it is a fee rather than lumping it in with Additional Premium - obviously this only applies to amendments rather than cancellations.

I think you are fooling yourself if you think that mentioning MSE would have had any impact what so ever.... back in my call centre days we just used to laugh at people who used to threaten Watchdog etc who have a much higher viewing figures than this site.... knew more than one person that even used to give them the Watchdog address to write to

chinup_3

okay- so why DID they renege/refund then if as you say they are 'in the right'? indeed it is in the 't+c's'- does that make the charge justifable in your eyes? something you havn't commented on 'astaroth'- perhaps you still work for this kind of organisation and have been ' brainwashed , if you're honest with yourself ?! The banks were hammerd by the FSA because they could not justify the charges of c £30+ for a missed 'dd' etc etc- the charge and then upholden decision BY THE FSA-IE NOT a voluntary banking decision,
was of profiteering-quite rightly. i suspect you are referring to the other huge payout of mortgage exit charges: not what i am referring to tho an easy mistake to make. no company backs down if they believe themselves to be in the right for fear of starting a precident,yes?
with over 5,000 posts asraroth i'd have thought you know the difference between the mindset of 'msers' , and the increasing respect for this sites 'people power' from business: and 'watchdog' ?!

pmcx9

i have just cancelled my car insurance with zurich and they charged me £50. its profiteering plain and simple. scandalous.

chinup_3

indeed it should be the ' next profiteering campaign' methinks