Mis-sold motor insurance - insurers asking for another £88 one month later!

robsielea

Help please!

I took out an insurance policy for a commercial van last month and paid £380 to Be Wiser brokers. At the time I specifically asked if my 9 years no claims discount that I earned on my car could be transferred to the commercial van policy and they confirmed it would. (They even confirmed with a manager at the time). I asked specifically as I knew that most domestic car NCDs don't transfer to commercial policies.

36 days later and I receive an email from Be Wiser saying they can't include the 9 years NCD (no claims discount) as the insurer they used (Ageas) don't accept it and that they have found me a new policy with LV (who do accept the 9 years NCD) but it will cost me another £88! The cost of the new policy is £407.

The other options they offered would be to cancel the insurance and receive only £195 back (costing me £185 for 36 days motor insurance!) or remove my 9 years no claims discount altogether which would make the premium over £600.

So I felt trapped into paying another £88 today. I had accepted their word in good faith at the start of taking out the policy and so I wonder now if I have any rights?

I understand that part of that £88 is paying for the 36 days that I have had the insurance in place from the first policy but 36 days worth of £380 is nearer to £37.50. They said they would only get £319 back from the insurers Ageas if they made the cancellation so that's all they can give me towards the new policy .... but they won't refund £319 directly to me if I cancel altogether and go elsewhere, only £195. And it would be me to pay the difference between £319 and the new policy of £407, hence £88.

So having accepted the additional £88 I then asked them to confirm if all the details were exactly the same on the policies including the excesses and they confirmed that everything, including excess amounts were identical. However, when I received the policy document by email my excess had gone up by £50! So I called again and they said "I can only apologise for my colleague's mistakes but there's nothing I can do to change anything".

Where do I stand in this? Are they liable for anything as it was their word I took as being true only to discover it's cost me for their mistakes? Do I have a new cooling off period and if I cancelled now how much would I be likely to receive back? Can or should they offer any goodwill gestures towards the extra payment? - I did ask and they said no.

Any help is much appreciated!

Many thanks
Robsie

P.S. I've never had any accidents or claims and have no driving convictions or criminal records and I'm 37 and been driving for 20 years - it seems that £407 for insurance is a lot for a van that cost me £800! Last year my insurance was £200.

Quentin

Make a formal complaint to the broker about the change in excess and escalate to the FOS if you are unhappy with the reply

robsielea

Quentin wrote: »

and escalate to the FOS if you are unhappy with the reply

- FOS the Financial Ombudsman Service I assume?
Thanks for your quick reply - I thought I might be in the wrong for trying to complain. I even asked to speak to a manager and they refused. And the second time I phoned they put me on hold for 7 minutes and then put the phone down! I never raised my voice or got angry, in fact I think I was being calm and fair so who knows why they hung up!
Can I ask them for the phone call transcripts?

dacouch

robsielea wrote: »

- FOS the Financial Ombudsman Service I assume?
Thanks for your quick reply - I thought I might be in the wrong for trying to complain. I even asked to speak to a manager and they refused. And the second time I phoned they put me on hold for 7 minutes and then put the phone down! I never raised my voice or got angry, in fact I think I was being calm and fair so who knows why they hung up!
Can I ask them for the phone call transcripts?

Include the above problems in your complaint.

Make the complaint letter, polite and concise.

You can ask for the transcripts or recordings but you generally need to pay £10 per a standard "Subject Access Report"

Google Be Wiser as they have quite a history of complaints, there are quite a few if you just google "MSE Be Wiser Insurance"

Quentin

robsielea wrote: »

Can I ask them for the phone call transcripts?

Why do you want them?


They have admitted you were mislead and apologised.


Your complaint is that the extra excess is unacceptable given their assurance when you accepted the £88 increase, and ask them to correct this issue (maybe be agreeing to pay the extra £50 should you need to claim)

TBagpuss

I think it is worth making formal complaint and specifically requesting that they refund the £88 as the additional cost is due to their error, not yours.

Have you made enquiries elsewhere to see whether you could get similar insurance for a lower cost?If the current insurance is still the cheapest then I think you'd have less justification for expecting a refund.

Dover1

Go to the FOS.Be Wiser are well known to them and l having made an official complaint about my car insurance with the hope of getting my money back.
Moral of the story.Avoid Be Wiser at all costs even if having gone through the usual search engines it looks an attractive deal.
You will pay in the long run..................

OnanTheBarbarian

The irony is that these clowns seem to think they have something to offer to the insurance industry as a whole and have even started a Be Wiser training academy apparently getting people through their CII qualification in 12 days.