Excessive policy change fees

bebby

In these days of banks overcharging and other companies having to reduce fees, I was shocked when Sheilas wheels charged me £ 25 to amend my address, not only on my home insurance but also my car insurance. There is only a few days left on my policy but they would not budge. They amended it instantly on their system which then automatically generates new documents and so the only fee involved is postage...and less than one minute of their time.How can they justify this ???????

FlameCloud

bebby wrote: »

In these days of banks overcharging and other companies having to reduce fees, I was shocked when Sheilas wheels charged me £ 25 to amend my address, not only on my home insurance but also my car insurance. There is only a few days left on my policy but they would not budge. They amended it instantly on their system which then automatically generates new documents and so the only fee involved is postage...and less than one minute of their time.How can they justify this ???????

Is the only cost really the postage though?

Who pays for the rent, electricity, computer, wages, etc etc. Do you really think they are all free?

Banks are not being forced to reduce their fees. The fee is well within the limit said to be reasonable by the FOS and is half that of other insurers. You also agreed to it when you took out the policy.

Ultimatly, if you dont like it you can take your business to an insurer who doesnt charge amendment fees, but you would then have to probably pay more for the policy in the first place.

k12479

During your 1 minute:
- a phone line was tied up
- an operator was occupied
- operator's swivel chair withstood swivelling wear & tear
- computer keyboard's end of life became nearer
- Sheila's Wheels paid NI and Pension contributions

Your new documents:
- occupied the printer for 2 seconds
- used printer toner
- combined with those of 5,000 other people's meant an additional van was needed to take the mail to the post office
- combined with those of 20,000 other poeple's meant an additional lorry load of printer paper was needed.

Your change of address probably did not cost them £25, however, someone who takes 20 minutes to go through details of a change in vehicle may do.

Instead of charging £25 they could have assumed you'd make one change during the year and have quoted a £25 higher premium initially.

bebby

oh yes silly me.... also forgot the 5 minutes of my phone bill they tried to persuade me to take out extra insurances I don't need - maybe I should charge them the other way for my time , wear and tear on my chair etc and money they saved on marketing....also thing called emails nowadays where they get you to print your own documents..

Quentin

Why you shooting the messenger - you are the one who has taken out the policy (agreed its conditions which set out the admin fees - though haven't read them it seems), then changed the goalposts!

k12479

bebby wrote: »

...also forgot the 5 minutes of my phone bill they tried to persuade me to take out extra insurances I don't need - maybe I should charge them the other way for my time , wear and tear on my chair etc and money they saved on marketing...

If you wish to economise here, you can do so by abrubtly saying "No thanks" just as they start elaborating on the benefits of the Pine Tree Air Freshener Breakdown Cover.

bebby wrote: »

....also thing called emails nowadays where they get you to print your own documents..

Emails are not free. They need servers, which need electricity to run and probably cool, a data centre to store them in, then probably backup servers in an impenetrable cave somewhere, plus some IT-peoples to prevent hacking and some compliance-peoples to meet data protection laws, etc.

I'm sure it is annoying but also, as Quentin points out, you would have agreed to the fees on taking out the policy. Companies do incur costs for this sort of thing - if you returned an unworn pair of socks to M&S for a refund, despite them not charging you for it, it would still cost them money.

dunstonh

oh yes silly me.... also forgot the 5 minutes of my phone bill they tried to persuade me to take out extra insurances I don't need - maybe I should charge them the other way for my time , wear and tear on my chair etc and money they saved on marketing....also thing called emails nowadays where they get you to print your own documents..

You are forgetting all the systems in place to allow the transaction to be completed quickly an the behind the scenes staff involved.

However, as has already mentioned higher up, the £25 would be the same whether you took 3 minutes on the phone or £30. They have to have a charge which reflects the average.

£25 is very reasonable and very easily justifiable.

bebby

I take it all back and hats off to Sheilas Wheels. They agreed that to charge me twice ( for change of address for buildings and car insurance ) and as the policy was due for renewal within a few days was a bit unfair and have refunded me one of the fees. So thank you for all your comments

kingstreet

Consumers need to start thinking about car insurance as they would a new mortgage.

You have to look at the rate, valuation fee, arrangement fee, penalties and follow-on rate when choosing a new mortgage.

A similar approach should be taken when considering car insurance. Premium, charges, cancellation fees, interest on instalments, excess should all go into the pot in making the right decision.

Handing over control to a comparison site to get a cuddly toy or 1,000 Nectar points, worth all of a fiver, isn't particularly sensible, IMHO.

bebby

Yes kingstreet, you are right and I will be doing that in future. And thank you for constructive comments rather than condemning me...

kingstreet

bebby wrote: »

Yes kingstreet, you are right and I will be doing that in future. And thank you for constructive comments rather than condemning me...

It wasn't aimed at you in particular, as I have no way of knowing how you purchased your cover.

However, if it helps you figure out what to look for in your next insurance policy, you're more than welcome.