Unwanted Breakdown Cover Renewal

Inner_Zone

Lucky_Duck wrote: »

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.

And the OP had the opportunity to do that but ignored that opportunity.

G_M

Almost certainly the OP would have agreed to auto renewal when they initially took out the policy and provided their credit /debit card / whatever.

Many utility, insurance companies etc do this (especially when offering discounted 1st year premiums eg via comparison sites). But they tend to clearly state you are agreeing to auto renewal.

My own approach is to cancel the auto renewal as soon as the policy is in force, while I remember. The company then has to send me a quote and pursuade me to renew a year later.


Look back at the paperwork or sign-up web-page from a year agoe.....

unholyangel

I'd be surprised if the company didn't cover auto renewal in their T&C's but it would have to be agreed at the time you took the contract out - they can't vary the terms of the agreement without your consent, once it has been agreed.

If its not covered by the T&C's then they can't renew. Much less on the back of receiving no response to an email, silence does not amount to acceptance (felthouse v bindley). It can be through conduct however, not rejecting an offer doesn't count because theres no obligation to reject an offer.

If its these guys then they do seem to only say you need to call them to renew and nothing else - unless perhaps they gave additional documentation at the time of taking the policy out.

KidDynamo

The same outfit are trying to pull the same stunt with me and I can confirm that the original T&Cs absolutely do not make any mention of a Continuous Purchase Authority, nor is there any mention of auto-renewal of subscriptions, nor is there a reference to any other T&Cs document, nor indeed is there a mention of a "£6.99 cancellation fee" in the documentation that I was sent. There isn't even a catch-all clause awarding themselves the right to change the T&Cs unilaterally at a later date, so as far as I can see they don't have a leg to stand on.

Their website does mention a £6.99 "cancellation fee" in their new T&Cs, dated March 2018, but I don't see how that can be applied retroactively.

This company doesn't exactly have a good reputation in its Trustpilot scores, incidentally. As a new user, the forum won't let me post the link but it's easy to find on Google.

Like the OP, I only found out about it when I got an email on 9 June, saying they had taken money out of my account for a new subscription starting 16 June. I took it up with them and told them I dispute the charge as I never authorised it. They told me that they had sent an email 21 days earlier but Gmail certainly didn't flag it up for me. I ran a search and it turned out that Gmail had put it in the Promotions folder, so I never got an alert for it.

But even if they did send an email, assuming consent on the basis of non-reply to an email requiring an opt-out is extremely weak, especially when there is nothing in the original T&Cs granting them the power to do this and not even a clause allowing them to alter terms retroactively.

I have raised a dispute with my credit card provider and have made it clear to this company that I never agreed to auto-renewal at any time from my original purchase to the present date, nor will I ever authorise it.

I am awaiting the outcome of my credit card provider's Dispute Team's inquiry before deciding my next move.

By the way, my choice of forum nickname has nothing whatsoever to do with this company, it's just a weird coincidence. It's taken from the title of a Buggles song. It's not even a particularly good song, it just happened to be on Spotify at the time.

Car_54

KidDynamo wrote: »

The same outfit are trying to pull the same stunt with me and I can confirm that the original T&Cs absolutely do not make any mention of a Continuous Purchase Authority, nor is there any mention of auto-renewal of subscriptions, nor is there a reference to any other T&Cs document, nor indeed is there a mention of a "£6.99 cancellation fee" in the documentation that I was sent. There isn't even a catch-all clause awarding themselves the right to change the T&Cs unilaterally at a later date, so as far as I can see they don't have a leg to stand on.

That would be unenforceable. My old company had such a clause and had to get rid of it. 35 years ago.

KidDynamo

Car_54 wrote: »

That would be unenforceable. My old company had such a clause and had to get rid of it. 35 years ago.

I agree such clauses shouldn't carry any legal weight, but banks and credit companies do seem to get away with changing their terms unilaterally through such clauses.

But anyway, in this case they didn't even have one of those, so I really can't see how they have any chance of getting away with this. I'll see what happens with the credit card company.

Car_54

KidDynamo wrote: »

I agree such clauses shouldn't carry any legal weight, but banks and credit companies do seem to get away with changing their terms unilaterally through such clauses.

Actually, they don't. They always write and give you notice of any changes, so that if you don't like it you can take your overdraft elsewhere. Though I doubt whether anyone ever does.

KidDynamo

Car_54 wrote: »

Actually, they don't. They always write and give you notice of any changes, so that if you don't like it you can take your overdraft elsewhere. Though I doubt whether anyone ever does.

Well anyway, this lot haven't even been doing that. They seem to be relying entirely on people being too passive to challenge them.

poppasmurf_bewdley

You couldn't bother to reply to their email.

And you couldn't even bother to cancel the Direct Debit.

I'm surprised you can bother to complain about what is plainly your fault.

Indout96

It would have been easier to reply to the original e-mail so it did not renew than set up an alternative account on here to back yourself up.


on the plus side if you have got rid of them it seems you did the right think reading reviews on trust pilot
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/recovercover.com