Budget (Avon) DD on bank statement

Tadman

As I explained in my previous posts, my Avon Insurance "scam" (I will continue to call it that) arose after taking out car insurance with Lloyds-TSB (who are really BISL, aka Compare the Market). Although I was fully refunded after my initial telephone complaint I did pursue the matter with the FSA as I was unhappy with the principle.
The FSA (or Financial Ombudsman) contacted Lloyds-TSB who eventually phoned me yesterday:
I received a full apology from a very pleasant lady who also assured me that their procedures had been changed so you now have to opt-in instead of opting out from the personal insurance.
So, at least for me, a good result and a point made. It does pay to complain if you think something is unfair, even if it's not illegal!

Mikeymikeuk

Got caught with the same thing via RAC car insurance. Rang Avon and got it cancelled. Went through to customer services at RAC got money refunded. All nice and polite with no problems from both parties.

I also contacted my bank to stop it happening again, as I reported it as a fraudulent payment. The bank were aware of this also!!

Edit: RAC have also changed their policy. It is now an opt IN option

lker

It's only now I've looked at this having had some activity on my bank account that wasn't authorised. I'm not the greatest at monitoring payments and have not really know what this £3.99 was for until looking properly.

As everyone else, didn't see the opt out information. My argument was with them today, was with distance selling this should be an 'opt in' option and shouldn't automatically be selected for people.

I would not need personal accident cover, nor would I have opted this if I had seen it. Thanks to moneysavingexpert and everyones comments, I've not only cancelled it but have a nice little refund being made!

Thank you everyone!

bumblesquat

I thank you all for your posts. I just realised that I too was having £3.99 deducted so I called straight away expecting an argument. Instead I spoke to 2 very pleasant people, 1 cancelled the policy and the other assured me that a refund of the 3 payments will be issued immediately.

Andy_Mt

I too got caught out by this, via Lloyds TSB car insurance, fortunately both Avon and Lloyds were helpful and have given me a full refund (£28 after 7 months after the 6 month free period).

As other people have found, I received no direct communication via Avon Insurance, and apparently I was supposed to also have had communication from them confirming that I wanted to continue receiving the cover after the car insurance had expired.

Either way, when your insurer quotes you X amount of money up front for a year's worth of car insurance, you don't expect to have to pay more further down the line, regardless of the small print, checkboxes or otherwise. There's alot more standards around transparency etc. especially for financial products, and I can't see how this situation can in anyway be considered transparent or helpful for the purchaser.

The telling thing is to type the words "avon insurance" on Google search, the first suggestion is "avon insurance £4" and the next is "avon insurance scam".

I'm very thankful to the people contributing on this forum (apart from the "you should have read the smallprint" minority - I did, and this was not made at all clear, and neither did I receive any kind of policy document for the Avon insurance) for their sound advice and information, which helped me sort this out quickly.

tervido28uk

Buzby wrote: »

So the lesson to be learned is read the website quote, then the follow up literature that explains what you agreed to. It is an agreement to purchase, and the policy is clearly 6 months free with charges subsequently. Their policy also auto renews.

Funny how everyone has their own excuses for their inattention - illness, grief, not reading letters - any refunds are goodwill only, not a right or admission. Great if they agree, but is the lesson earned?

From the comments I've read so far. Nope - they did nothing wrong.

Call it what you like, I would call it a scam. Why don't they have the boxes unticked by default and if the customer wants the extras then they can tick them themselves? Answer: because these companies know it is a milking machine to the tune of thousands of pounds and while they are happy to refund any money when a few complain, they know there will be hundreds who won't.
And don't think this is just concerning Budget and Avon, last year I bought a TV from Currys and turned down their offer of an extended warranty only to find that they were taking £8 a month from my account via "Whatever Happens" insurance and they got the card details from when I purchased the tele. All funds were refunded and apologise all round from customer services but it makes you wonder doesn't it?
Everybody's at it.

Buzby

Firms are in business to sell you products you want, and upsell you products that you may not have been aware of. That is what commerce is all about.

As to your example - I fail tho see how you could be charged for a service you did not want unless they were retrospectively manipulating your order - but then, how did they get payment for it? Did you (like many others do) assume they could be trusted?

What a mistake! I stand over my accounts with a metaphorical shotgun. Nothing gets out unless I know what it is, sure if you have other priorities, money will slip away but if you assume firms will be adept at crow barring amounts from your account, surely keeping an eye on the accounts is common sense?

astasinim

I`ve had the same problem and after reading the this board, gave Avon a call. After a few minutes discussion, I was transferred to their customer services department and spoke to a lovely lady who refunded me all my payments (26@3.99) no quibbles.
She did confirm, that at the time of taking out my policy (buildings and contents), I was auto enrolled into taking out this policy. This practice has now ceased and you have have to opt in, in order for money to be taken.

All`s well that ends well.

bartyharty

Thanks to this Forum I have been able to investigate and solve the same problem.
I bought a Home and Contents policy on-line in 2013 with Budget Insurance.
I noticed an erroneous £3.99 going to Budget Avon via DD monthly.
It was for a Personal Accident Policy I had neither requested or received any documents for!
Following a VERY heated exchange with an unhelpful Avon employee (who insisted that I had asked for the policy) I was transferred to Budget Customer Services. The gentleman was very calm and efficient and immediately refunded all of the payments and cancelled the policy.
Following my experience I would advise people to state the following-

You didn't need the policy
You did not opt into the policy-it was pre-applied
You want a full refund

I hope my success is repeated!

brolly

This £4 has been taken from my account for ages and has been on my mind to do something about it... and today was the day. They bombard you with policy gumff that sounds quite daunting, but stick with it and ask for your money back (as I had no paper work and had to Google to find out who they were)
Thanks for the advice - it worked