Home Insurance rip off !

annoyedfromwolves

Monday after going via one of the popular compare sites, I decided to take out a new home insurance policy with a company called budget insurance.
At their request I gave them my card details so as they could take a deposit. Wednesday the deposit amount of £13.49 had left my account.
Thursday I had another quote from another company, as that was better I decided to go with the second company, so I phoned Budget Insurance to tell them I would not be taking my home insurance with them after all, they then informed me that there was a £35.00 cancellation fee to pay, this was the first I'd heard of it, so naturally I was a little annoyed, but they did tell me that the £13.49 I had paid them the day before would be refunded to me, or put the other way, they would knock it off the £35.00 cancellation fee, so in effect I only owed them £21.49, to say I wasn't exactly pleased was nothing short of an understatement !
So I told them over my dead body and I'd see them in court first, then I was told that they would come into my bank account on the 22nd of this month for the remaining money I owe them.
I, thinking ahead decided to give the bank a heads up and request that budget insurance not be allowed to take anything from my account. The bank then told me that Budget insurance had already put the request in and as the money had been "ear marked " they couldn't stop it going out. Only I can start a dispute once its gone.

This brings several questions to my mind, as the policy wouldn't have come into effect until 2/11/13. what happened to the cooling off period ?
As I didn't give my card details on the second phone call, how have Budget insurance been able to take any form of payment? I believe that these companies aren't allowed to keep some ones card details on record these days, so is this some form or fraud on their part?
Lastly why can't I stop a payment going out of my account that I strongly disagree with, isn't it "My" bank account after all ?

Any information or assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Quentin

You can use the dd guarantee with your bank and get it put back in the account immediately pending their enquiries with budget.

But the cancellation charge will probably have been correctly charged.

Check if its covered in the policy conditions.

opinions4u

So I told them over my dead body and I'd see them in court first

A truly stupid approach.

Have you read their cancellation policy? What did it say?

http://www.budgetinsurance.com/Car-Insurance/Cancellation-of-Car-Insurance-Policies/

annoyedfromwolves

There T&C does say I may have to pay a cancellation fee,

"Under the Financial Services (Distance Marketing) Regulations 2004, you are entitled to a proportional refund of your premium if you cancel within 14 days of receiving your policy documents. You might have to pay a cancellation fee and you won’t be entitled to a refund for any fees you’ve already paid."

The only thing I have received in the post, is the credit agreement that I was supposed to be signing and returning, apparently had that not been returned they would have fined me £15 and cancelled the policy, that may have been quicker and cheaper in the long run. As the policy wasn't due to come into effect for close on two weeks, exactly when did or does the 14 days cooling off period begin ?

I still think its a rip off

Quentin

Read up on the cancellation policy to understand "the 14 days cooling off period"!

Whenever it starts, it hasn't finished, but doesn't help regarding the cancellation charge.

(You would have to pay both the £15 fee for not sending in the form AND the cancellation fee had that been the way your policy was cancelled - though you would also then have a cancelled policy on your r ecord to disclose for evermore)

It isn't a rip off. You put them to expense and are correctly being charged in line with the agreed ts + cs.

annoyedfromwolves

Quentin wrote: »

Read up on the cancellation policy to understand "the 14 days cooling off period"!

Whenever it starts, it hasn't finished, but doesn't help regarding the cancellation charge.

(You would have to pay both the £15 fee for not sending in the form AND the cancellation fee had that been the way your policy was cancelled - though you would also then have a cancelled policy on your r ecord to disclose for evermore)

It isn't a rip off. You put them to expense and are correctly being charged in line with the agreed ts + cs.

So all they did was answer a phone - hmmmm lots to have to pay for their time isn't it ?

weejonnie

Doesn't matter if it was lots or not - once you enter into a legally binding contract then you have accepted ALL the terms and conditions both ways. The law doesn't decide whether a contract is 'good' or 'bad' (except under the unfair contract terms act) and assumes that as an adult you were able to make a decision as to whether or not enter into it. Your only out would be if you could show that the terms and conditions weren't made available to you before you purchased the policy.

magpiecottage

I think the word "may" is ambiguous since cover never started. Budget might be entitled to retain the deposit but I suspect FOS would decide it was not entitled to take any more.

From the bank's point of view, an e-mail confirming that it should not be taken would then enable the OP to use FCA rule BCOBS 5.1.11R to force a refund.

Budget would then try to pursue the OP for the money. Responding with a complaint would then be likely to force a climbdown.

my_names_dave

annoyedfromwolves wrote: »

So all they did was answer a phone - hmmmm lots to have to pay for their time isn't it ?

No, what they did was pay the 'popular compare site' a non-returnable fee of around £40 for the business, and are now trying to recoup their loss from the client who has probably found a £5 cheaper quote elsewhere.

This is not Budgets fault, sadly, this is the way insurance is nowadays.

*Scarlett

If you confrirmed the policy online through the comaprison site then the onus is on you to read the t&cs - you normally have to tick a box to say you have done so.

Some insurers do charge a canx fee within the cooling off period even if the insurance has not started (and I would likely avoid unless there was a substantial saving or increased cover!)

If you feel you have been misinformed by Budget then make a formal complaint.

annoyedfromwolves

I have as some have suggested made a formal complaint, the upshot being all of my payments are being returned in full, the person I spoke to was or seemed to be having trouble deciding whether it was a cancellation fee or a set up fee.
But either way I will be getting the money back.