Budget (Avon) DD on bank statement

Llamacatcher

I've just had exactly the same as many of you, been noticing this on my statements for sometime and not really thought about it properly. I decided to sort it and in less than 10 minutes I'd got £70 ish refunded to me.

Used SayNoTo0870 to get a local number to call them on, spoke to Avon/ Budget, she was a bit grumpy with me but got the policy cancelled then registered my complaint with Dial Direct, then put me through to a very nice lad at Dial Direct then when I stated I had no recollection of formally accepting the policy, do not recall getting paperwork through the post and was covered elsewhere (through work) for life insurance was happy to issue a full refund there and then.

Just kicking myself now for not tackling this sooner and also for not being more thorough when taking out the original house insurance policy with Dial Direct nearly 2 years ago!

Once again the MoneySavingExpert community has been useful in helping me solve an issue.
Thanks

mat69

Oh thanks to everyone for this thread! I immediately rang them up & spoke to a young lady who went through the usual rubbish that it was all my fault. Cancelled the DD and asked to speak to a customer relations person. Two minutes later, after mentioning this forum, I had a full refund.

The awful thing is that the car insurance that I had taken out was for a car I had owned over three years ago. How did I not notice the payments until today?! Life lesson learned - read everything before agreeing & also check the bank statements!!

Fitzs3

Hi I'm new to this site and have had the same experience as you guys I have been paying this £4 dd and through this website I have discovered what it is for I have been paying this since 2010 apparently as I have rang budget insurance up who then told me it's a seperate company avon who have changed there name to first assist anyway I finally spoke to someone at avon and she told me I agreed to this over the phone..... I told her I did not need this and couldn't believe I would have agreed to this she has cancelled the dd and I have told her I wish to complain as I would like my payments refunded so she is apparently passing this on let's see if I hear anything...... good news as I was writing this I have just had a phone call from budget offering me a full refund of 54 payments yippee so please complain and do not give up.

mojo-jojo_2

Hi
I have had this £3.99 DD coming out of my account for 2 years! I am very careful about what payments I make as I am on a DMP and every penny counts. Anyway I was looking through my DD's as I had cancelled some pet insurance and was cancelling the DD online and I saw the Dial Direct Avon again, I had previously not taken much notice of it as I assumed it was a small insurance policy such as pet or small appliance and I must have taken it out at some point surely??
As I had no idea who or what it was for I googled it, and arrived at this thread! I have phoned them today and apparantly it was after I had taken House contents Insurance that this was added. I assured the customer service rep that I would NOT have signed up for this and they immediately agreed to refund all premiums within 7 working days.
I am now positive I know what all my DD's are for! I cannot believe I let it go for so long thinking it must have been something I had chosen to pay! Wonder how many others have been caught out by this without realising.

bigmomma051204

Hi All - Just bumping this up as I rang Avon Insurance today... I have been sorting through my bank statements etc and noticed this £4 going out every month to "Avon Insce"... Spoke with customer service lady at Avon who cancelled the direct debit there and then - I explained that I:

* Hadn't agreed to it
* Already had a policy in place to cover me for personal accident (which was apparently what it was)
* Hadn't ever received any paperwork from Avon

She cancelled the debit and I then said that would like a refund - she said that I needed to be put through to Lloyds for an "investigation" as they had set up the DD in first place... :eek:

Got through to a very helpful man - I explained the above 3 points again to him... He said that as they werent the ones who were supposed to send out the paperwork (ie Avon should have done!) then they would refund the money... 26 payments = £104 :j

Not bad for 10mins on the phone! AND that DD has gone - phew! Had such a panic when I didn't know what it was for!! Searched "avon direct debit" and stumbled upon this thread via google - should have thought of looking on here first :cool:

MSE_Tony

Hi,


Good work.


Here is a news story from MSE Leigh regarding Avon, RAC and paying for unwanted cover.


http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/insurance/2014/08/had-rac-or-budget-insurance-check-youre-not-paying-for-unwanted-cover


MSE Tony

paradad

I rang Avon to complain & they transferred me straight to Dial Direct to a complaints section & after a little explanation about how I didn't want this policy or even knew about it till I carefully went through my bank account!
No arguing, just a simple sorry, we will refund your money within a few days!
Thank you, this forum :T:j

QuiveringWreck

Looking through my old bank account statements, it appears that I have been paying £4.00 to "Budget (AVON) each month since 2010. I took out a car insurance policy with Budget in 2007 over the telephone, which automatically renewed. The policy was cancelled in 2010.

Phone call on 20th January 2015 at around 19:40 to Budget Customer Service 0844 412 2118 (Monday - Friday 8am-9pm)

Asked for policy number. Waited a few minutes and then was connected. The member of staff (Rob) was pleasant. He chuckled away and nervously said that he had heard of this situation before. Of course he had. It’s a company wide scam, and all staff will have been briefed on the procedure. He stated that it was automatically sold, and was "free for six months". I explained to him that I had taken out my policy back in 2007 and was loyal to them for three years, with no mention of any additional "Personal Insurance" policy. He passed on the email address and fax number of the SEPARATE company Budget Avon.

A separate company? Is it legal for a separate company to obtain my bank details and begin stealing money from my account each month?

My car insurance policy ran from 2007 up until 2010, renewing automatically. Policy was taken out through Arnold Clark when I bought the car. The claim that this scam is the fault of the “inattentive purchaser” is patronising and insulting.

There was no written change of product or notification of any extra cost sent to myself at any point. The product being charged for was for Personal Insurance, which I have never requested or taken out. By automatically selling this product to consumers by means of a concealed ‘opt out’ checkbox, the company is in clear breach of trust. This is an example of mis-selling identical in every way to the way that PPI was commonly mis-sold by banks and insurance companies. There is no difference.

Furthermore, the deductions cannot be cancelled by the bank. It is set up in such a way that it is neither a direct debit nor a card payment, and there is no way for the bank to stop the payments. The bank themselves have stated that if I have no luck when I contact the company, they will take the matter further.

Except for the fact that my car insurance policy had originally been taken out over the phone in 2007, automatically renewed each year, and I simply wasn’t given any opportunity to either check or un-check any boxes on any online forms. I have been charged this “Personal Insurance” fee since 2010.

In my mind, mis-selling is simply a more socially acceptable word for blatant theft.

I’ve written to the company "Budget AVON" or Avon Insurance at the provided email address (enquiries@avon-insurance.co.uk) expecting a full and speedy refund of all charges, and I'm going straight to the ombudsman.

she_c

Discovered I had been paying by direct debit £4.00 a month to cover my hubby for personal insurance, Yes I to got a DD without my knowledge, thanks bank !! and the budget insurance that passed my details on to Avon ins. I called Avon and spoke to very pleasant lady named Lisa, she put me through to peter at RAC customer service and problem solved, refund on way. Thanks to money saving forum :T

pods1811

I was so glad I found this thread. I discovered we had been paying them £4 a month since 2010 and they told me they automatically opted me into their scheme when I took out car insurance. I just called them and the first woman cancelled the direct debit and asked if there was anything else she could help with so I said I wanted a refund. The next woman she put me through to told me a whole load of t&cs and I said the above points. That I didn't need or want it and they sent me no documentation so she said she would refund me the £204.

It's such a small amount that it's easy to miss on the statements! I will pay closer attention in future.