Endsleigh Insurance woes

Paolo_2

Hello everyone, not sure this is the correct area for this question but its related to car insurance so here goes.

Back in June I started an insurance policy with Endsleigh Insurance so I could drive by brothers car (at the time it had no policies held against it by anyone so my fully comp insurance on my own car would not cover me to drive it).
I got a quote and purchased the policy online and opted to pay a deposit and 11 monthly installments. I paid the initial deposit with my debit card and was going to pay via direct debit for the credit agreement to cover the remaining 11 payments.
A week after the policy started our circumstances changed and I decided to cancel it within the 14 day cancellation period, I called them to confirm this and then mailed the policy document (certificate of motor insurance) back to them as they had requested.

Yesterday (2nd Sept) I was going through my bank statement when I noticed they Endsleigh had taken 2 payments from me in accordance with the credit agreement.
So I called them today (3rd Sept) and spoke to a woman who told me that my policy has not been cancelled nor had they received any of the documents that I had returned.
She then told me she would attempt to track down the call I made to them as they record all there telephone calls and she'd get back to me, I've since heard nothing from her.

Not content to be fobbed off I called again and spoke to another guy who was really unhelpful, he basically told me that unless I can prove that I tried to cancel my policy and that I returned my documents there is pretty much nothing I can do besides accept the loss of my money and also most probably have to pay another £50 cancellation fee.
Unfortunatly there is nothing I can do to prove that I sent the policy documents back as stupidly I didnt send them via recorded delivery (lesson learn't).

When I got home tonight I started looking through the my folder of bills etc to find any other letters Endsleigh had sent me.
To my surprise I found the credit agreement that they had also sent me a few days after the start of my policy which after I had cancelled my policy I simply ignored as there was no need for it.

Anyway if you still reading and you've got this far thank you, not far to go now and then I could do with your advice if possible....
So where do I stand with this, first off how can this company take payments on a credit agreement that I have not entered into, surely I had to return a signed copy of the agreement back to them (which is what they requested I do in the covering letter that came with the credit agreement) before I have actually entered into the agreement and made it binding.
Furthermore how can I go about proving that I did indeed cancel my policy as I no longer have my document nor can I prove I made the telephone call to cancel as it was done from my place of work (not exacty sure how much hassle it would be to get phone records from my employer or if they would even give them to me, my guess is its unlikely).
And lets face it, some random call center person isnt going to go through a week or so of recorded inbound calls to try and find the conversation I had almost 2 months ago..

Any information and assistance will be much appreciated.

Best regards

Paolo.

darich

Without having a go or gloating, I think there are a few lessons to learned here
1 - get a name of the person in the call centre and note the time and date of the call and store it with the insurance docs.
2 - use recorded/special delivery (as you've learned)
3 - check your account more frequently if you've signed up to something then cancelled it.

As for advice - i'd ask them to provide a copy of the signed direct debit mandate. If you haven't signed one then it won't exist. It then makes it difficult for them to justify taking the money from your account - you could argue it's theft since it's quite obviously unauthorised.

I'd cancel the direct debit with immediate effect and request a refund of what you've paid so far - especially if they can't prove you signed up to the agreement.

From now on i'd suggest corresponding either by email or writing so that you have a record of it and the time/date.

Next step, i suppose depends on how they react to your request for their evidence and a refund of the money they've taken.

Hope it works out for you.

spendingmad

Hi No other advice other than what darich has already send - just wanted to let you know that endsleigh have terrible customer services, Ive had nothing but trouble with them in the past and would not touch them with a barge pole now. Good luck, hope you get somewhere x

raskazz

All good advice; however on this point:

darich wrote: »

As for advice - i'd ask them to provide a copy of the signed direct debit mandate. If you haven't signed one then it won't exist. It then makes it difficult for them to justify taking the money from your account - you could argue it's theft since it's quite obviously unauthorised.

A signed mandate is not always necessary where the account holder is authorising the direct debit online/over the phone. It is only compulsory where the policyholder is not the bank account holder.

I would be surprised if a mandate requiring a signature was sent in this case; as it is the policyholder's account and the insurer's IT records will show that the policyholder clearly paid the deposit and consented to the mandate.

Edited to add: If you can remember the date you called and the phone number you called from this should be sufficient information for them to trace the initial cancellation call.

Paolo_2

Cheers guys, I didnt have alot of time today as I called while I was at work and simply just didnt think to get their name. To be fair thats no excuse though when its regarding such important matters. I guess I'm far too trusting of the fact she said she'd call me back.
I cancelled the direct debit as soon as I had realised what had happened.

raskazz wrote:

A signed mandate is not always necessary where the account holder is authorising the direct debit online/over the phone. It is only compulsory where the policyholder is not the bank account holder.

I would be surprised if a mandate requiring a signature was sent in this case; as it is the policyholder's account and the insurer's IT records will show that the policyholder clearly paid the deposit and consented to the mandate.

Edited to add: If you can remember the date you called and the phone number you called from this should be sufficient information for them to trace the initial cancellation call.

Again I cant recall the exact date that I called them to cancel but I can be sure it was somewhere around the 20th to 25th and I can tell them the number that I called from, thats no problem.

Also the credit agreement they sent me has a direct debit mandate at the bottom.

Cheers for the help

Paolo

darich

raskazz wrote: »

All good advice; however on this point:



A signed mandate is not always necessary where the account holder is authorising the direct debit online/over the phone. It is only compulsory where the policyholder is not the bank account holder.

I would be surprised if a mandate requiring a signature was sent in this case; as it is the policyholder's account and the insurer's IT records will show that the policyholder clearly paid the deposit and consented to the mandate.

Edited to add: If you can remember the date you called and the phone number you called from this should be sufficient information for them to trace the initial cancellation call.

Possibly not in every case, but it seems that in this case one was sent but not returned - that may be the get out the OP needs