How can I stop iGo4 charging my card?

Mijin

So I took out car insurance with iGo4 recently, as they were the best priced.

However, it appears their business model is based on finding any excuse to charge additional fees. So far I have paid £70 in "late document fees".
The latest email I've had from them states that the no claims bonus letter from my previous insurer did not include all the required information (when actually, it did). And I have 7 days to send a form with the required information (otherwise, presumably, more fees will be charged).

What's annoying is that these fees don't arrive as bills; they simply charge them directly off my debit card...

I'd love to just cancel the whole thing but they told me they charge £75 early policy cancellation fee. :mad:

So, I'm fine with paying the direct debits, but how can I stop them just charging my card whenever they feel like it?

BTW I've searched the (many) terms and conditions forms on their site and I have found no mention of these fees. That's not to say it isn't there, but they've hidden it well if so.

forgotmyname

If you cancel the card and dont pay the cancellation charge they will pass in onto the debt collectors.

If they cancel the policy you will need to declare that to new insurers, Possibly forever. And a lot of them will say no thanks as soon as you tick that box.

jonesMUFCforever

There must be a complaints procedure that you can follow?

Mijin

forgotmyname wrote: »

If you cancel the card and dont pay the cancellation charge they will pass in onto the debt collectors.

If they cancel the policy you will need to declare that to new insurers, Possibly forever. And a lot of them will say no thanks as soon as you tick that box.

Ok, but that wasn't my intention. I wasn't thinking of just quitting the policy and blocking their attempts to charge the £75.

I just want to stop them insta-charging my card with fees.

I'd rather the burden of proof be on them to show where they've made a given fee clear, and that it is reasonable to charge it, than just taking my money whenever they like and my only apparent recourse is to start legal proceedings.

Mijin

I mean, what is to stop them tomorrow charging a "Bloody Cold March Fee" of £500? It would be as arbitrary, and as non-existent (or not obvious) in the T&Cs as the other charges.

Captain_Shambolic

Hello Mijin, I'll put in bold my responses here.

Mijin wrote: »

So I took out car insurance with iGo4 recently, as they were the best priced.

However, it appears their business model is based on finding any excuse to charge additional fees. So far I have paid £70 in "late document fees".
The latest email I've had from them states that the no claims bonus letter from my previous insurer did not include all the required information (when actually, it did). And I have 7 days to send a form with the required information (otherwise, presumably, more fees will be charged).

First of all, what information did they say was missing from the proof? Did the proof you sent have the vehicle registration, name of driver, NCD in years and cancellation date of old policy?

What's annoying is that these fees don't arrive as bills; they simply charge them directly off my debit card...

I think it might be the case that they will keep your card details if set up online or set up on automatic renewal but don't take that as gospel, someone more experienced could confirm that.

I'd love to just cancel the whole thing but they told me they charge £75 early policy cancellation fee. :mad:

So, I'm fine with paying the direct debits, but how can I stop them just charging my card whenever they feel like it?

So just to check, do you pay monthly or as a one off? If you pay monthly you can cancel the direct debits but this money will be overdue, the policy may get cancelled and debt passed to debt collectors and that will make insurance more difficult and far more expensive in the future.

BTW I've searched the (many) terms and conditions forms on their site and I have found no mention of these fees. That's not to say it isn't there, but they've hidden it well if so.

An insurer won't be required to plaster these terms in size 20 font on page 1. It may be they are on a different page to the cancellation rights or even right at the back but as long as they are in there, that will be enough for the FOS

As far as your last comment, of course they couldn't charge the fee, it wouldn't be in the T&C's and the FOS would see no justification. But then, I knew that comment was tongue in cheek

rudekid48

Here you go...

Late return of documents – If you do not return any documentation that we request in the time allocated we will charge you £20.00.

Took me about 30 seconds to find it on their web site... So if they've charged you £70 as you say then there's either a few things you haven't returned or they've overcharged you.

Mijin

Captain_Shambolic wrote: »

First of all, what information did they say was missing from the proof? Did the proof you sent have the vehicle registration, name of driver, NCD in years and cancellation date of old policy?

Thanks Captain Shambolic for your responses.

In answer to this question, they didn't say what it was missing, just listed all the stuff they need. And I visually checked the image I sent them had all these things:

iGo4 wrote:

Unfortunately, the document you have sent is insufficient proof of your No Claims Bonus entitlement

Please forward either a renewal notice or confirmation letter from your previous insurer. This should show the name of your previous insurer, the expiry date of cover, the vehicle registration number and the number of years No Claims Bonus.

I will ring them (again) in a moment but they were not very helpful last time. As I say, I think this is a deliberate business strategy for them.

Mijin

rudekid48 wrote: »

Here you go...

Late return of documents – If you do not return any documentation that we request in the time allocated we will charge you £20.00.

Took me about 30 seconds to find it on their web site... So if they've charged you £70 as you say then there's either a few things you haven't returned or they've overcharged you.

Except of course that's a different fee. I wasn't charged for late return of documents.

mrg9999

I bet all this was in their T&Cs, if you'd read them. Do you belong to a motoring association that has legal support. I queried a cold weather surcharge with CSMA, and my insurer, Chaucer refunded it, and gave me £25 for my trouble.

Captain_Shambolic wrote: »

Hello Mijin, I'll put in bold my responses here.



As far as your last comment, of course they couldn't charge the fee, it wouldn't be in the T&C's and the FOS would see no justification. But then, I knew that comment was tongue in cheek

Mijin

mrg9999 wrote: »

I bet all this was in their T&Cs, if you'd read them.

As I said, these are not a light read. Counting all the separate documents received in the post, and that are online, their motor insurance T&Cs are spread across I think 8 documents of legalese.

I've done a search across the documents for words like "fee", "charge" and the actual charge amounts. I couldn't find a mention of the charges they have taken from me. Actually reading them in their entirety is going to take some time.

rudekid48 undoubtably googled 'iGO4 T&Cs' and got their quick summary page. But that makes no mention of the fees I've already incurred.

Do you belong to a motoring association that has legal support.

Unfortunately not. I will investigate joining CSMA.