Car insurance: Premium Choice - terrible company, any advice gratefully received!

crimineaux

Hi, I'm a previous lurker of this forum who is having a terrible experience with Premium Choice.

I recently began a policy with them. They wanted an usual amount of proof which was a hassle to provide (lady on phone said to just photo my photocard and email it but their email system refused me email as it was 'too big'. I then received a letter saying that the counterpart was also needed).

I then received a letter saying the date I said I got my licence was different to the date I had declared and this meant the premium would be higher. They wanted to charge £56.

I went through the quotes system again. I put in the real date, a random date and then, while on the phone with them, the date they said they had. The price remained the same every time.

There is no way I put the wrong date, I checked it twice, I got my mum to check it. I am sure about this.

They refused to waive the fee. They said there's no chance they could have made an error - even though I saw the website guessing details as I went through it: the lady said this was impossible as I was seeing it.

They said they could take it down to £29 and I could continue to complain but no one could do anything.

If I wanted to cancel it would cost about £200 as I'd missed the 14 days - even though they had only just sent me this letter.

The complaints department will ring me soon apparently. Is there anything I can do, does anyone know? I know £29 isn't much but to me it kind of is - plus at this point it's the principle too.

I hope this is in the right place and thank you in advance for any help!

vaio

Document everything with screen shots etc....pay the £56 and then make a formal complaint, they have respond within 8 weeks.

If after 8 weeks you still arn't happy then you can refer the case to the FOS. If you do this then your insurer has to pay £500 (or £700, can't remember) case fee to the FOS whether they win or lose. You need to pay nothing, win or lose

For a dispute of £56 see if you can guess what your insurer will do

a. Give you the £56
b. Stonewall until you mention the FOS then give you the £56
c. Fight it all the way including paying £500 to the FOS to save themselves £56

my money is on b.

forgotmyname

£500 i thought it was £200. wow..

I need a reason to complain about my insurer. Get a years free insurance.

crimineaux

Interesting, thank you for this information!

Insurance_Guru_2

Current FOS fee is actually £550