car insurance renewal refund

billy09

My car is insured with Adrian Flux and the renewal is due next week (I paid in full by debit card last year but could not pay in full this year). On 05/10/2012 I emailed and told them I would only renew my insurance if they took two payments one on 15th Oct 12 and one on 15th Nov 12 and that this was non negotiable . I got an email saying they would respond within two working days to my request. I heard nothing from them until today when I got an email saying thank you for renewing with them. I phoned and said I was still waiting for a response to my email request dated 05/10/12 and I had not agreed to renew. They said they had taken the full amount today from my account! I demanded an immediate refund and to speak to a manager. I was told they were about to close and there were no managers available and I would get a call back tomorrow!They said they would refund my payment but it would be my banks fault if the money did not show in my account for 3 working days! I phoned my bank who advised that it was the company who held the money and it was down to them to refund. I am £330 down in my account. Please can I have some advice for an immediate refund I have standing orders leaving my account. I am really worried!
Thanks!

InsideInsurance

Refunds processing via the card system does take up to 3-5 days, unfortunately not the fault of either the broker or your bank but simply the speed at which the current system works.

You could speak to your bank about doing a chargeback as it is in effect an unauthorised transaction - some banks may give you the money back immediately, others make you sign paper forms etc before they will do so.

billy09

Hi, thank you very much for your advice. I am just really annoyed that I had not agreed to renew and they took the money. Thanks again I will try my bank!

Buzby

Your issue is this - DID you authorise at ANY time AF's ability to auto-renew your policy? If you did, your email countermands this - but in view of the tight timeframe no compensation would be due.

If you never did - then they've misused your card info. I have an AF policy and they do not auto-renew mine, so I'm confused why you got caught up with this. It is now common for firms to try this on, they say it is to insure you don't make a mistake and find yourself uninsured. Of course, they're ability to take money from you without menaces is good for their bottom line.

Your expectation that they could take spliut payments is too bespoke for most, as it would require manual intervention - and since the renewal process is invariably automated, they let the computer do it and just send out your documents.

billy09

Hi, I paid by debit card last year in full. AF emailed me renewal docs and told me they would debit the amount from the card details I gave them last year which I did not realise that they had kept. I have emailed them back and telephoned them on a few occasions since the renewal docs came through as I have changed my occupation a couple of weeks ago and wanted to know if there would be a change in price.I asked for a breakdown of how I could pay by direct debit and on no occasion did I advise that they could take the payment by debit card, in fact I told them verbally I had no intention of paying in full(which will have been recorded by them). They gave me four payment plan examples and that is when I emailed them on 5th October( an email to which I did not receive the reply that I was promised) and informed them that under no circumstances would I take the policy out unless they took the payments when I requested so that I could allow for cleared funds. Thank you for your reply.

magpiecottage

When was the renewal due?