insurance asking me to pay for what ive not had

7777777

my son had an insurance policy with elephant,,we had the renewal reminder from elephant which got put to one side and forgot,,, we next got a letter from elephant saying the bank had declined payment to them for the new insurance policy,,, he shopped around and found one 200 pounds cheeper,,, so took out that policy instead,,, he did not tell elephant this and was just expecting it to be cancelled,,, thay now have sent us a letter saying thay will collect £101.00 pounds by direct debit,, and quote general condition number 4 on the policy,,, can thay do this??? what advice can you give or do we just pay up

Davidvgoliath

7777777 wrote: »

my son had an insurance policy with elephant,,we had the renewal reminder from elephant which got put to one side and forgot,,, we next got a letter from elephant saying the bank had declined payment to them for the new insurance policy,,, he shopped around and found one 200 pounds cheeper,,, so took out that policy instead,,, he did not tell elephant this and was just expecting it to be cancelled,,, thay now have sent us a letter saying thay will collect £101.00 pounds by direct debit,, and quote general condition number 4 on the policy,,, can thay do this??? what advice can you give or do we just pay up

Looks like you have been caught by some sort of automatic renewal clause. These are unfair in my view (and I am an underwriter, of commercial insurance) but they do avoid situations where you might be uninsured, which is of course illegal.

Here is what I would do. Write to elephant explaining that cover was placed elsewhere and provide a copy of the certificate or schedule as proof. Explain that you were not aware that you had to actually contact them to cancel the policy. Most importantly of all though you need to quote the requirement to 'treat the customer fairly' which is the industry mantra these days. I would also point out to them that if they persist in trying to collect the premium then you will refer them to the Financial Conduct Authority and/or the Financial Ombudsmen Service. Since it costs insurers £500 every time this happens (whether the complaint is upheld or not) I am confident they will back down. In the unlikely event they dont, then contact the above organisations with your complaint and it should be resolved.

Hope that helps

7777777

At this moment i dont know if they have collected this money by direct debit from my bank,,, do you suggest i contact the bank to prevent them collecting ? Also I should add that it was from my bank last years premium was paid,, and not my sons who is the policy holder i am a named driver on his policy and just to add we have the same name

dacouch

Davidvgoliath wrote: »

Looks like you have been caught by some sort of automatic renewal clause. These are unfair in my view (and I am an underwriter, of commercial insurance) but they do avoid situations where you might be uninsured, which is of course illegal.

Here is what I would do. Write to elephant explaining that cover was placed elsewhere and provide a copy of the certificate or schedule as proof. Explain that you were not aware that you had to actually contact them to cancel the policy. Most importantly of all though you need to quote the requirement to 'treat the customer fairly' which is the industry mantra these days. I would also point out to them that if they persist in trying to collect the premium then you will refer them to the Financial Conduct Authority and/or the Financial Ombudsmen Service. Since it costs insurers £500 every time this happens (whether the complaint is upheld or not) I am confident they will back down. In the unlikely event they dont, then contact the above organisations with your complaint and it should be resolved.

Hope that helps

I might be wrong but it looks like the OP received renewal letter, did not read it properly, out it to one side and forgot about it.

When they received a letter from Elephant advising payment had been declined which I assume was after the renewal date they then shopped around and arranged cover.

If this was the case then Elephant were on cover for the period until they rearranged cover

InsideInsurance

7777777 wrote: »

At this moment i dont know if they have collected this money by direct debit from my bank,,, do you suggest i contact the bank to prevent them collecting ? Also I should add that it was from my bank last years premium was paid,, and not my sons who is the policy holder i am a named driver on his policy and just to add we have the same name

No, stopping payment will result in the policy being cancelled for non-payment which means you must declare for the rest of your life on your home, motor, pet, travel etc insurance that you've had a policy cancelled/ voided. Premiums typically will at least double as none of the mainstream insurers will be willing to touch you with a voided policy on your history.

You need to deal with the fact that you didnt read your letter properly and by your own admission forgot about. Having been insured with Elephant myself their letters are very clear that they will auto renew if you dont tell them otherwise.

Contact them, advise them that you were a bit of a fool and didnt read it properly/ forgot about it and have bought elsewhere. They may be willing to let you off but can rightly apply the normal cancellation terms if they want. Pay them if you have to and remember not to make the same mistake again.

forgotmyname

Claim ignorance and pay any fees to cancel the policy now. As mentioned above you dont want them to cancel the policy.

His wont have notified his new insurer of this cancelled policy so thats also at risk.

If you do a comparison quote ticking the box to say you have had insurance cancelled then the number of quotes drop as insurers think your not worth the risk.

Dont ignore it. Sort it and make sure they dont cancel the policy.

If the renewal says you need to notify them otherwise the policy renews you need to take more notice. I think my insurance is one of the rare ones where i need to contact them before they renew.

Lord_Baltimore

Davidvgoliath wrote: »

I would also point out to them that if they persist in trying to collect the premium then you will refer them to the Financial Conduct Authority and/or the Financial Ombudsmen Service. Since it costs insurers £500 every time this happens (whether the complaint is upheld or not) I am confident they will back down. In the unlikely event they dont, then contact the above organisations with your complaint and it should be resolved.

Hope that helps

I didn't know that! Thank you. It will be a very useful lever when the next vindictive mood hits me.

InsideInsurance

Lord_Baltimore wrote: »

I didn't know that! Thank you. It will be a very useful lever when the next vindictive mood hits me.

Fortunately the statement wasnt 100% accurate. There is a fee for complaints the ombudsman handles with an average being around 500.

There is a quick check done on all complaints to prevent truly spurious ones getting through. All financial institutes get a number of freebies based on their size as its inevitable that complaints will happen. The actual fee charged varies by institute and is basically based on how well they ordinarily handle complaints and how much they promote the FOS

Whilst some will make a commercial decision the vast majority will allow a complaint to go to the FOS even though the FOS fee is more than the cost of settling the complaint. I had two complaints about Barclays both for under $50 that went to the FOS.

Lord_Baltimore

InsideInsurance wrote: »

There is a fee for complaints the ombudsman handles with an average being around 500.

That still sounds pretty good to me. With that kind of batting average, it'll be possible to inflict quite a bit of pain on the greedy.

If I have to pay admin fees, I'll make sure the Company earns it.