Autonet Insurance Canellation please help

Laurarara

Hi there,
Okay so, I got van insurance with Autonet.
They requested NCB which I sent. All fine 4 years NCB - no problem.
Then they requested Proof of address and Proof of ID which I sent within the deadline - again no problem.
Then they asked for pictures of my licence and the other policy holders licence, then they said they didn't need it, I asked for confirmation then they told me they did.
I sent well within the deadline which was 29th Nov. I sent my docs on the 25th Nov. All in my sent box to correct address and correct email.
Yesterday I had an email to say that my policy was cancelled as I had not sent the pics of licence. Although I had. I thought this would be easily solved by a phone call. They said they had not received. I argued that they must have and its an admin error.
I forwarded the original email to show proof I had. In total I sent five times as the first time my phone ran out of charge so did send without attachments. However, the rest were fine. The email address is 100% correct. I have checked and checked again. I even sent to a friend and she also forwarded on to them from me showing the original date and time sent plus the attachments. She got confirmation email that they had received. Before they closed yesterday though customer services said she had not received. They want to charge me a cancellation policy plus set me up a new policy. It is however, their error..
I am speaking to them tomorrow. Any advice please on how to handle this??? I do not think it is fair to penalize me for something which is not my fault.
I have just sent a very long email detailing my frustration and also the original emails sent every step of the way.
I also read its bad to have a cancelled policy. I don't have much additional money at the moment so I don't know what to do. Please help with any advice? How on earth do I get them to accept this? I just cannot believe it.
Thanks in advance,
Laurarara

Laurarara

Just to add I also found them incredibly unhelpful with a "computer says no" attitude. They told me there was nothing that could be done once a policy was cancelled. I am so angry.

forgotmyname

Formal complaint. If they cancelled the policy you need to get that removed from your record otherwise you may need to declare it forever...

You dont want to tick the yes box to having a policy cancelled.

Laurarara

Thank you. I am hoping to get this resolved today on the phone... but from what I have read about this may prove to be tricky.

I have sent another email (my sixth email) with the original one outlining what I have already said. WHether they will receive it or not is another matter. :mad:

Quentin

Send in your formal complaint via the post.


Get and keep a proof of posting from the post office.

forgotmyname

As above formal complaints by email is not ideal. No proof its sent or received.

Proof of posting, but personally i would send recorded delivery.

Quentin

Using recorded delivery allows the recipient the opportunity to refuse the item. And you have to pay for it


(Proof of posting is free.)

Laurarara

Thanks to all who have responded so far. Just an update really. I haven't yet made a formal complaint and this is why: I was promised a call back first thing Monday and waited until the afternoon but (surprise) it never happened. I actually really hate talking on the phone I could not bear (or afford) to phone again.
So I decided to go on to the Web chat facility just as a last shot. I just wanted someone to believe me. This sounds crazy but I was actually shaking - I got through to a most reasonable person who instead of making the usual computer says no comments. He said "okay lets see what I can do to help send me a screenshot of your original email with pics and dates" - very simple solution, very straightforward. and completely.... well, human.
Completely different to what I had been told previously - "once a policy is cancelled nothing we can do... " it doesn't matter what you send as you can't prove it kind of thing, lets put you through to our sales team etc.... He sent them on to the underwriters to try get my policy reinstated.
The Underwriters are apparently processing this information - and I imagine they will be looking for all/any discrepancy/fault not to get my policy reinstated. I hope it will all be okay but who knows....
I will update....

Quentin

Sending in a formal complaint now has the advantage to you of getting the clock ticking - they do have a deadline of 8 weeks to reply after which you are free to escalate to the FOS. (You already 2 days spent from your belief you could get this resolved on Monday!)


Hopefully the matter will be resolved via your chat, but you won't disadvantage yourself by getting your complaint off today, and it could save time in the long run.


(And formal complaints could get a higher priority within their system than online chats)

Laurarara

Okay so here is the update: My policy has been reinstated as of yesterday. It was a 'technical fault' apparently. I have 7 more days to send in the pics again but this time to the helpful person rather than to a general email address. I'm obviously not quite through it yet. Have to see if the pics go through, all info okay... etc... But hopefully I will have a bit more of a dialogue this time rather automated emails. I have never known a company to want to much! NCB, Proof of identity, proof of address and pics of driving licence for me and other policyholder.

I didn't see the above post so didn't yet go that way (yet). I know what you are saying though and I had had one more rubbish conversation with a jobsworth I would not have even bothered. One guy out of 4 I spoke too saved the company a complaint.

I guess its a good warning to other people if they search under autonet cancellation - I wonder how often this happens and how many people might accept having to pay for a new policy and then the year after see a huge rise in premiums because of a cancelled policy on record.

So updates to follow........
Thanks to all who replied.

Laurarara

SUCCESS!

I have just received this:
"Thank you for choosing Autonet Insurance Companies for your insurance needs"
(Yep, guess some skint people had too. Okay, next must be the written grovel right, just pure courtesy and it would be good customer service really without me having to make a complaint..)

"Further to our request for outstanding information, we can now confirm all information has been received and we have updated your records accordingly"...
I'm waiting.....
And............... nope.
Oh well, they wished me a "safe year of driving" (I'm as yet undecided whether to take that as a threat. *jokes*)

May I eat my own eyeballs before I am forced to ever speak to the Sales team again. (*No jokes*)
The End.
Unless of course, the email is a mistake like the one they sent me before...:T