Insurance company unauthorised payment

mrsvanderkamp_2

Hi there

I cancelled my car insurance as I needed to change my policy and they couldn;t offer a competitive quote. They advised me of some charges to cancel which totalled £125. Bearing in mind the policy had originally cost only £135 and I had made 3 payments already I thought these charges were excessive and said I would be complaining as they had been made up of some spurious charges that I had no prior knowledge of. They initially said they wouldnt cancel the policy until I paid, but eventually they said they would cancel it when I said that I was sending in a letter of complaint.

So today I find that they have debited my debit card with the sum of £125.19 without my authorisation - surely they can't do this? The sum is in dispute and is the subject of a complaint.

Quentin

Have you formally "disputed" this - have you sent them the complaint?

If not, then their ts + cs may allow them to collect payments due.

However if you have done so, then raise a further complaint, and see if your bank can do anything over this.

mrsvanderkamp_2

Quentin wrote: »

Have you formally "disputed" this - have you sent them the complaint?

If not, then their ts + cs may allow them to collect payments due.

However if you have done so, then raise a further complaint, and see if your bank can do anything over this.

I have looked at the T&C's. Whilst they state that "if you have provided us with credit or debit card details, you irrevokably authourise us to charge such card with any sum due" Fair enough.

HOWEVER it then goes on to say that "you will be notified in writing prior to any collection" I was not so advised and also that " we will not collect from this card should you notify us of any outstanding claim you have made against us"

Well I do have a complaint with them of which they are aware and how was I supposed to reiterate this on receipt of their intention to collect from my card on the basis that I never received such notification?

vaio

What quentin said....get your bank to do a charge back under the direct debit guarantee and lodge a further complaint

jonesMUFCforever

OP you have a thread about this on the cards board.
Unsuprisingly you give a little more information here than you did there - only 3 payments made suggests a cancellation mid term.

I would suggest to you that the charges are legitimate.
If you wanted a policy that did not charge for amendments you should have taken one out that offered you this. It would not have been as cheap as the original one you got.

forgotmyname

How close to the end of the policy were you?

Why did you cancel the policy to get a cheaper one when as you say its was almost fully paid?

Full policy for 1 year was £135 ??? or did you divide the months / payments to get this figure?

How far into the policy are you?

mrsvanderkamp_2

forgotmyname wrote: »

How close to the end of the policy were you?

Why did you cancel the policy to get a cheaper one when as you say its was almost fully paid?

Full policy for 1 year was £135 ??? or did you divide the months / payments to get this figure?

How far into the policy are you?

No sorry, it was not almost fully paid. I am a middle aged women with max NCD and a £500 fiesta, hence the premium.

I was around 3 months into the policy when I called to ask them to add a named driver - their quote was too high so I asked to cancel.

They then hit me with a whole raft of spurious "admin" fees to do so. These are what i was disputing on the basis of proportionality.

As i have now posted on the other board, after phoning them, whilst at first they were aggressive, after I quoted a few bits about proportionality and quoted some of their own t&c's to them (as i had posted above) all of a sudden they offered a refund. To me that tends to suggest that something was indeed amiss in the first place.

vaio

As I've mentioned on other threads this seems to be an increasingly common business model in the financial services industry, try it on with unfair charges and if challenged then back down.

forgotmyname

Ahhh so the fee maybe admin charge to add the driver then admin fee to cancel the policy.

Which would bump it up to silly levels. And i guess some would just pay it and move on.

So its all sorted now?

mrsvanderkamp_2

forgotmyname wrote: »

Ahhh so the fee maybe admin charge to add the driver then admin fee to cancel the policy.

Which would bump it up to silly levels. And i guess some would just pay it and move on.

So its all sorted now?

Yes, I think that's exactly it. Many would huff and puff but pay it anyway and others I guess wouldn't be bothered with the faff of complaining so they get away with it. I must admit I might have fallen into that camp if I hadn't mentioned it to a relative with 15 years experience in the insurance industry, and who had in fact just had the exact same conversation/dispute with them about her mother's insurance (I think the circumstances were different but it was the same story with lots of "admin" charges being added) As soon as my cousin challenged them and mentioned the FSA/FOS, they very quickly backed down.

And they have in my case too, so yes thanks, all sorted Await the actual refund with bated breath though...

mrsvanderkamp_2

After they agreed the refund yesterday, I paid some cash into my account so as to avoid any charges and to bring my account back in line whilst I waited for the refund.

I've logged on this morning, and their original payment never went through - my account now shows in credit with no sign of the card payment to them or any pending transactions.

I guess they recalled it or something?

Might just take the money out again quick in case they try again though!