Sainsbury's automatically renewing policy and making me pay for it!

kurtsam

Hi there everyone, just wondered if anyone had experienced similar.

I took out insurance with sainsburys last year, but despite telling my my policy had accidental cover, my documentation said otherwise so I decided I didn't want to renew this year.

I organised alternative cover and waited to hear from Sainsburys with details of a new policy, which eventually came about 2 weeks before my renewal date. Now because I didn't cancel with 30 days notice, more like 20 days they are still charging me for the first months payment.

Has anyone had similar and argued it with them successfully? At the very least I don't think I should have to foot the bill for the entire month!

huckster

Make a complaint in writing to the address shown in the policy document and include a photocopy of the new Insurance schedule. The renewal notice should have been received about 3 weeks ahead of renewal, telling you what you needed to do to renew or stop the renewal. If the renewal notice was not received or was not clear, that can form the basis of your complaint.

dacouch

Did you tell them you did not want to renew prior to the renewal date?

kurtsam

Yes I did. The renewal date is tomorrow and I rang last week.

The only documentation I received from them was the renewal quote where they thanked me for continuing my policy from them which I thought was a bit rich as I'd received no 'choice' prior to the letter. I took out alternative insurance on the 17th August to commence cover tomorrow and heard nothing from Sainsburys until around the 24th.

dacouch

I think you may be telling them to cancel the Insurance and the call centre staff are not realising you want to lapse from renewal.

Advising an Insurer to lapse cover from renewal can be done any time prior to the renewal date.

They probably did not send you your renewal notice before 30 days anyway

kurtsam

I have rung. It was a badly worded letter. Well scrap that, innaccurate letter. The payment was my last installment taken for the policy I had. Silly people! Thank you for your help!

inoutnotsure

You have to be careful with automatic renewals. I was with AXA last year and they sent an auto renewal email to me. It said they had a problem with renewing because the account details was incorrect. I had got a cheaper insurance with someone else but several days later, would you believe it, they sent me another email to confirm they have automatically renewed my home insurance!

After a few phones calls and emails, I ended up paying 1 month's dual cover. So instead of saving money, I actually lost a few pounds. Grrr.

Next time, I will looking for my home insurance 2 months earlier and if I find somewhere cheaper, I will be writing to cancel by post and email!