Infuriating policy idiot of the week award!

System

I hope the premium has gone up while he is waiting for the refund.

Berk of the Year Award

pandora123

My house insurance is due for renewal. I have found a cheaper option but note on the renewal form that there is an admin fee of £26.50 to cancel. It doesn't happen with car insurance so is this legal

BobQ

ROY47 wrote: »

Me: I've just bought some insurance with you, but I didn't realise there was a surcharge for credit cards (I get 1% cashback, thought I'd take advantage) that I only noticed after payment. I would have paid with a debit card if I'd known so can you just sort that for me?

your own fault I'm afraid .. read the screen in front of you next time

I've often wanted to meet the man who has never made a mistake. The OP does not deserve to be harrangued by some of these juvenile comments. He never denied he had made a mistake.

The problem he highlights is real. That information on line is often unclear and that people who work in call centres are required to follow the rules regardless of common sense.

I cannot see why there should be a cancellation fee on product covered by the distant selling regulations.

InsideInsurance

pandora123 wrote: »

My house insurance is due for renewal. I have found a cheaper option but note on the renewal form that there is an admin fee of £26.50 to cancel. It doesn't happen with car insurance so is this legal

There certainly is often a cancellation fee for car insurance. It is where they actually started in theory to at least in part stop people getting their car impounded for no insurance, buying a policy, getting their car out and then cancelling the insurance at no cost to themselves.

Parking_Trouble

According to AA policy document it is a full refund within 14 days if the policy has not commenced.

If cover has started (and within the 14 days of the date you received policy documents) you have to pay for cover you have used - min £15, plus AAIS may retain its £28 arrangement fee.

Quentin

BobQ wrote: »

..... I cannot see why there should be a cancellation fee on product covered by the distant selling regulations.

Pretty irrelevant.

DSR don't cover car insurance.

ExposingTerribleAdvice

BobQ wrote: »

I've often wanted to meet the man who has never made a mistake. The OP does not deserve to be harrangued by some of these juvenile comments. He never denied he had made a mistake.

The problem he highlights is real. That information on line is often unclear and that people who work in call centres are required to follow the rules regardless of common sense.

I cannot see why there should be a cancellation fee on product covered by the distant selling regulations.

Of course he deserves it, look at the title of the post. Stupid action 1 - not reading the information correctly. Stupid action 2 - assuming that the cs agent he rung could just do exactly as he wanted without thinking about company regulations and system limitations. Stupid action 3 - advertising the other 2 stupid actions on here and expecting people to be up in arms agreeing with him.

Figment

pandora123 wrote: »

My house insurance is due for renewal. I have found a cheaper option but note on the renewal form that there is an admin fee of £26.50 to cancel. It doesn't happen with car insurance so is this legal

You're not cancelling the policy, you're not renewing it. There's a difference.

The admin fee is (generally) charged for cancellation of a policy mid-term.

kwmlondon

Okay. The law states that anything you buy online you can cancel within 14 days. That's the law. Them's the rules.

I admit I made a mistake when I didn't spot the (well hidden) 3% fee. However, the law states that anything you buy online you can cancel straight away. I knew this - she knew this.

No cancellation fee. Nothing.

Again, let's make this clear - IT'S THE LAW.

I cancelled the insurance and then bought it again using a debit card and got a full refund and I won. Because despite falling for their over-the-top and well hidden credit card fees I know my rights.

The point is why not just refund me the difference? Why wind me up and double their own admin costs?

Oh well - lesson learned. I'll be extra careful when buying anything online with a credit card again, I'm just so used to getting a final page that gives you a summary of the fees and the AA does not do this.

By the way, thanks for all your comments - you are all right, I was an idiot, and it was only £3 but I really, really hate wasting money, even if it's my own stupid fault in the first place.

kwmlondon

Parking_Trouble wrote: »

According to AA policy document it is a full refund within 14 days if the policy has not commenced.

If cover has started (and within the 14 days of the date you received policy documents) you have to pay for cover you have used - min £15, plus AAIS may retain its £28 arrangement fee.

I had LITERALLY just bought the policy and it had not begun. The 3% fee showed up on the summary page AFTER payment had gone through. I'm normally really astute on this stuff but fair play, the AA managed to sneak the charge past me.