Please help-insurance mess up.

hlmurray

On Monday night I was involved in a collision with a drink driver, the driver fled the scene but his passenger stayed with me and we called the police, the passenger confirmed the other fled driver was at fault. When the police called through it came up that I had no insurance, I thought this was very strange as I had recently renewed my insurance. The police woman gave me a producer to take the documents down to her.
When I got home I rang the insurance company to see why I had not yet recieved my full policy papers (had 7 day cover note) who claimed that I had not sent them my deposit so they had cancelled my policy. I sent the cheque for the deposit on 5th March (cheque stub and cheque number here), I had not had a phone call or letter from them to suggest they had not recieved this so have been driving for near 3 weeks with no cover. I told them I had sent this and explained situation to them (would not be claiming off them as third party fire and theft) but they absolutely do not want to know. In all fairness they have not cashed the cheque so perhaps they did not recieve it, but surely they have to contact me? I am heavily pregnant and have a 2 year old daughter, I have no current financial problems and the policy was very reasonable so I had no reason to avoid paying it.
I'm completely at a loss as to where to go with this next, I understand the police would prosecute me and the least I could expect would be £200 and 6 points? This would mean a loss of my license (already have 6 points) which another reason for me to have not avoided paying! If I lost my license I would lose my job and my house :mad:
I am currently waiting for a manager from the insurance company to call me back, they currently claim there is no way they can reinstate the policy even if I pay in full over the phone (my father-in-law is a traffic officer and seems to believe this is not true!).
Any suggestions as to where else I can go with this? Much appreciated.

mattymoo

Did you purchase this policy over the phone / internet or through a broker?

Who was the cheque made out to, insurance company or the broker?

Clearly this could have major repercussions for you, job wise, so it might be worth speaking to a solicitor. You may have access to free advice through union membership or a legal advice line attached to a household insurance policy.

hlmurray

Hi, thanks for replying, the insurance was purchased online from quinn direct. The cheque was made out directly to them and returned in there pre-paid envelope.

mattymoo

Some other board members have had problems with Quinn Direct. Suggest you do a search on this board. I gather they can be rather difficult to deal with.

My best advice at this stage would be to do a little research on this board and check the policy documentation for their official complaints procedure. Aim for the top of the company at an early stage because the clock is ticking in terms of the police producer.

EDIT - found the complaints procedure on this page.
http://www.quinn-direct.co.uk/consumerinfo.html

hlmurray

Am currently dealing with one of their managers, she seems much more helpful then the csr's who had a complete attitude of NO end of story.
It seems if you don't write your policy number on the back of your cheque (not mentioned in any of their literature) they will simply disregard your cheque and 'leave it somewhere round the accounts office'. They are currently searching said accounts office and have been for some hours now :j Fingers crossed. Working in telephone customer services myself, I know 9 times out of 10 you get what you want from escualting your call so thankfully did fall for the csr's lack of care.
I'm sure they think I'm trying to pull a fast one on them , but then at the end of the day I've explained to them I wouldn't be claiming from them and have provided the incident number to prove this.