Unwanted Breakdown Cover Renewal

gnovakov

Hi,

Ive got an issue with a breakdown Cover Company - Recover Cover/Dynamo Cover.

They have automatically renewed the breakdown policy which I do not want.

They sent me an email saying they will renew unless I click a link to tell them not to, which I ignored.

Nowhere in the policy or their documentation does it say that there is an automatic renewal, or that they will send me an email and unless I cancel they will automatically renew and take my money.

I would understand if this was the case, but it was not, they have decided to send out renewal emails and assume I agree if I do not respond.

In their policy document it says that if I want to renew I have to call them on a specific number.

What is stopping any company that I have had a service/subscription with before sending me an email and if I don't respond they just take the money?

I after going back and forth with them without them budging (and actually offering to cancel the policy without a refund and with a £6.99 charge - the cheek!) have reported them to the FOS.

I have also called my bank and asked them to stop ay future payments (which they have done), and to issue me a charge back, which i have to send them the policy details.

I was wondering how much of a chance of FOS siding with me do I have, and if anyone else has had a similar issue, and if there is an issue with any of the actions I have taken?

Thanks

Gnova

cajef

gnovakov wrote: »

They sent me an email saying they will renew unless I click a link to tell them not to, which I ignored.

What is stopping any company that I have had a service/subscription with before sending me an email and if I don't respond they just take the money?

They sent you an email telling you they would autorenew if you did not respond and you are trying to blame them for renewing because you ignored it.

Nothing is stopping any company doing the same it is called continuous payment, I would say you have not got a chance of any action you take being in your favour.

Browntoa

Your own fault , pure and simple

You have no complaint

Lucky_Duck_2

I disagree, if there is nothing in the policy document giving the power to 'auto renew' then on what basis would they be entitled to do so?

Browntoa

They sent an email , which the OP admits seeing and that they did nothing with, saying if you do not tell us by clicking here we will automatically renew.

They were given ample opportunity NOT to renew , but chose to ignore.

It was not a " we will automatically renew unless you tell us not to " auto renewal, they were given an opportunity to cancel

EssexExile

gnovakov wrote: »

They sent me an email saying they will renew unless I click a link to tell them not to, which I ignored.

Whether what they've done is morally right, or even legal, I have no idea. However it wouldn't have taken much effort to avoid the hassle you are now experiencing. I never approve of continuous payments if asked but it still seems to happen &, to be honest, I would have no idea if I had approved it or not a year ago.

Nobbie1967

I think you need to look back at when you took out the policy to see whether any documentation at the time mentioned this auto renewal. I don't think a company can rely on inertia selling to renew a policy unless you have given specific authority.

I know when I renew my policy, the representative always try to make it sound like auto renewal is the default and get you to agree to it, so this may have happened in your case.

Ask the insurer how they got your permission to auto renew, failing to reply to an email is not giving permission.

Do you have cover elsewhere? When I found that an old home contents insurance policy had auto renewed when I had arranged elsewhere, they refunded me the full policy cost even after 10 months.

Lucky_Duck_2

Browntoa wrote: »

They sent an email , which the OP admits seeing and that they did nothing with, saying if you do not tell us by clicking here we will automatically renew.

They were given ample opportunity NOT to renew , but chose to ignore.

It was not a " we will automatically renew unless you tell us not to " auto renewal, they were given an opportunity to cancel

Clearly ignoring the email wasn't particularly wise. Although in my experience plenty of that kind of stuff ends up in the 'junk' folder'

However there are difficulties in trying to prove a new contract has been formed just because the OP didn't respond to an email. Otherwise, as the OP has pointed out, I could send off emails or PMs inviting people to buy SWMBO's old banger for £50,000 and then send the first person who didn't respond an invoice for that amount.

AdrianC

Lucky_Duck wrote: »

I disagree, if there is nothing in the policy document giving the power to 'auto renew' then on what basis would they be entitled to do so?

They didn't "auto-renew". They gave the OP the choice of whether to renew or not, stating in advance that they would take a failure to reply as tacit assent to renew. The OP chose not to reply to that, and is now complaining about that.


I suspect they would be complaining even harder if the tacit assent had been the other way, and they'd not discovered that until they were on the hard shoulder on a wet night.

cajef

Lucky_Duck wrote: »

Otherwise, as the OP has pointed out, I could send off emails or PMs inviting people to buy SWMBO's old banger for £50,000 and then send the first person who didn't respond an invoice for that amount.

Which is a completely ridiculous comparison, the OP already had a policy with them, they were asked by email to respond if they did not want to renew and ignored the request, nothing like the scenario you are suggesting.

Lucky_Duck_2

Not really, the OP says the policy is clear on the renewal procedure and that hasn't been followed.

I had car insurance with Direct Line which had a specific clause in the policy about auto-renewal so when I found a cheaper alternative the following year I made sure that I followed the required steps for it not to renew.