Swinton high cancellation charges

knott59

On 13th May I visited https://www.moneysupermarket.com to search for an insurance quote for my car. The results page showed https://www.bullseyeinsurance.com (part of Swinton) as one of a number of reasonably competitive quotes. After proceeding to the Bullseye site I made a clerical error and didn’t request business use for my car before paying a deposit of £39.91.
When the policy documents arrived I noticed the mistake and rang my local branch in Rainham the next day. Adding business use made the eventual cost of the policy uncompetitive so I decided to cancel, and was charged a £35 cancellation fee, a £10 service charge fee and understandably £16.10 for the time my car was on cover before cancelling 13 days later, but still within the 14 day cooling off period.
To be charged £45 for an easily made clerical error seems a completely disproportionate fee to the work involved in cancelling the policy. To me there seem to be parallels with the recent overcharging by banks.
Talking to the local Swinton branch and the head office customer-service department they told me there was nothing they could do and that the cancellation charges were made clear in the terms and conditions. I was interested to note from the way the customer service team dealt with my inquiry they seemed to be well used to this type of complaint.
Does anyone else have similar experiences?

Simon

scytale

I tried to get a quote to beat my Bennetts renewal quote and the guy on the phone said i could either take his heavily discounted price now and start the policy there and then or not get the same price if i called back later. I stupidly said okay as the quote was quite a bit cheaper than Bennetts could manage but soon after i decided i really like the service i get already so i decided to cancel my Swinton policy about 10 minutes after signing up to it.
I explained that i was basically bulleyed into taking the policy but like you the guy on the phone seemed all too familiar with telling people they had no choice. I'm considering writing a letter to complain as soon the refund/charge dust settles.

dunstonh

To be charged £45 for an easily made clerical error seems a completely disproportionate fee to the work involved in cancelling the policy. To me there seem to be parallels with the recent overcharging by banks.

There is no parallel to bank charges as the insurance charges are admin related and linked to a contract where you knew the charges before you chose to buy it. Bank charges are possibly (because it has yet to be proven) penalty charges and rules are different to them.

This is an FAQ that appears about twice a week and you get the same responses.

The charges you had to pay were actually quite fair and reasonable to cover the work and time taken to set your policy up, pay for all those involved and then pay for everything involved in cancelling it.

stooby

I think if i see many more threads about "rip off insurance charges", "first the banks, now my car insurance company" etc etc etc etc. i'm going to scweam.

You hunt around for a cheap policy, you think, "oh good, i've saved myself loads of money", you go on cover based on a headline price with high class insurance luminaries such as Bullseye, Elephant (yes, a company called "Elephant"!), or "We're Cheap & Cheerful DOT COM" or whoever and then when you come to do an adjustment to your policy it hits you! "These bounders are probably more expensive than the company i was with before - their initial cheap prices are actually propped up by admin fees charged when i ring the call cente and get them to do some work!"
All insuers/brokers are required by the Financial Services Authority to issue you, the consumer, with either an Initial Disclosure Document, Terms of Business document or similar detailing fees/charges initially levied and all future charges you may be liable to pay in the event of a mid-term change, cancellation, renewal etc. They can't force you to read it (although their websites will probably make you tick a box or similar to confirm you have).

I would implore everyone to read this inforation when comparing quotes and to ask the question about admin fees - your present insurer/broker might not look so uncompetitive when you do.

To be fair to the OP, cancelling within the 14 day cooling off period shouldn't cost that much in my humble opinion. I'm sure "insurance people" on here will disagree but the cooling off period is there for a reason and, for me, they're pushing it a bit.

The FSA are there to protect the consumer - but who will protect the consumers from themselves..?

sjones5421

Can you help please

I cancelled my Swinton Insurance car insurance policy after 2 months of cover as i no longer had the car i was insured with them for.

The cost of the policy for 12 months was £128 and i paid roughly £12 a month via direct debit. I cancelled the policy in August and just the other day a letter from the dropped through my letterbox saying i owed £50 cancellation charge plus £115 for cover i had already received.

I queried this over the phone as was told that because Swinton act as brokers, because they had already paid the other company i was was liable for the full 12 months cover even thou i had cancelled and if i want going to pay then they would sent the matter to a debt collection agency.

It seem barbaric that i would have to pay for 12 months insurance when i cancelled after 2 months.

Is this right and are they in their rights to demand the money?

Thanks

BargainGalore

It varies depending on insurance company and length you have been insured for looking at my new policy which I just got today


If I cancel within x

1 month 25% charged
2 months 35%
6 months 75%
9+ 100%

You need to contact your insurance company if swinton are just brokers

iamana1ias

sjones5421 wrote: »

It seem barbaric that i would have to pay for 12 months insurance when i cancelled after 2 months.

Is this right and are they in their rights to demand the money?

Barbaric?! Exaggerate much?! :rotfl:

Check your paperwork. You agreed to it when you took out the policy

dunstonh

It seem barbaric that i would have to pay for 12 months insurance when i cancelled after 2 months.

You bought an annual policy though where the bulk of the costs are in the first month.

Is this right and are they in their rights to demand the money?

If its published then yes. £50 cancellation charges are about the maximum the FOS consider fair. You used a credit facility to pay for the insurance so you have costs there and the amount you pay may not be pro-rata in line with the insurance company. Plus, it wont be an exact 1/12th per month refund basis either.

On a small premium like yours you may often find that its not worth cancelling the plan

dangting

SWITON...= PFFFF IM SAVING UP PERTOL AND LOOKING FOR THE BIGGEST GLASS BOTTLE I CAN FIND LOL

i set up insurance for a car..im 43 yrs old with no claims and a 1.1 petrol engine...switon wanted aprox 400 quid a year for....i took the insurance as i needed it on the spot...but decided to cancel 6 days later as i found a much cheaper quote.....i had all ready paid £38.00 initial fee...then i was asked for a further £50.00 cancelling fee....well £90.00 for six days you can guess what my reply was...i logged in my bank account online cancelled thier direct debit......although days later they set it back up....and continued taking installments off me..i had paid over £100 for 6 days car insurance....oh and in the process of foning them to cancel my insurence i was to learn that they had not only set up car insurence but had the audacity to set up for me life/ health insurence with out me knowing.....im due to go into their local branch office soon as i want them to give me back money taht they had stolen from my banck account....2 withdrawals made after i had informed them of teh cancelation.

SWINTON..... KEEP AWAY!