RAC Cancellation/Refund, Escalate complaint

htbftb

Apologies for the length of this in advance...skip to the bottom for the cliff notes version if you don't want the amusing full story..

I received a large amount of telephone calls from RAC daily in May, on picking it up or ringing back the line would go dead. Was driving me insane until I finally managed to get through to somebody - they asked if I wanted to renew my breakdown cover. I told them No, he asks why, I explain that I've got a new car with complimentary 3 year cover and had sold the old one two months prior. So operator replies, "I'll cancel the membership then" and hangs up the phone on me abruptly no further words said. However on the plus side I did stop receiving these annoying calls after that.

So lo and behold, a month later I check my bank account and RAC had just set up a new direct debit and have taken £180 from my account. After spending almost half an hour on hold I manage to get through to somebody and tell him they've taken my money, I don't have/need a membership, please arrange a refund. To which he replies, we have no record of you cancelling so the membership is live and any payment taken valid..

I tell him the saga of the daily cold calls and that I'd spoken to them on the phone to cancel it. To which he replies, "Oh you must have spoken to scammers if you received a load of calls like that rather than the RAC" /right, sure I did. Anyway, I gave him the telephone number which I received the calls from and he then says "Let me check my database, oh no, I'm really sorry that isn't one of our numbers"...

Proceed to tell him that the first thing I did when I started receiving these daily nuisance calls was to check the number on google, and the whole first page is complaints regarding RAC. "Erm, let me check again" half a second later, "Yes that is one of our numbers, it's our marketing team. But they don't have the authority to cancel policies so you'll still have to pay. Sorry" Now I'm starting to lose my rag :mad: ...You're telling me you can call me 12 times a day, but when I finally get through to somebody, and they ask do I want to renew - I say no they can't sort it?!?!

Get a load of half baked apologies, transferred through to membership who then promise to cancel the policy, send it in writing, refund me immediately and that will be that. A week goes by, still nothing. So I ring up again today, spend another ridiculous length of time on hold to be told, "The policy was cancelled a month ago (date given of when I first spoke to the cold caller!!), and theres a record of the refund being arranged (when I rang to complain). Have you checked your bank account?" (...Of course I've bloody checked, why else am I on the £$%£ phone to you?!) I remain polite, and apparently he says to give it another 14 days. Is there anyway to speed this up? ..No

Now the question is who do I escalate a complaint to as this is no proper way to run a business or use peoples financial details. Deliberately lying on the phone to try and avoid returning money they had no authority to take in the first place is almost tantamount to fraud. And I don't accept that it'll take 3 weeks to return a direct debit. I've had refunds come back from the council faster than that!


TLDR: RAC are annoying cold callers. Set up an unauthorised direct debit. Deliberately lied to try and avoid refunding. Have promised a full refund and still not issued.

DUTR

Did you inform them that you no longer wish to run the cover after you changed car? They won't be mind readers, plus chances are like car insurance there is an automatic renewal scheme, you haven't mentioned that you officially cancelled the policy, just that you let somebody on the phone know.

htbftb

My fault in so far that I didn't ring them to cancel the policy after buying the new car. There was only two months left on the policy so I thought to just let it run and wait for the renewal documents with the new price etc and do it then.

A month before the renewal was up I got the phone calls from RAC renewals asking if I wanted to renew the policy, I told them No, please cancel it. I subsequently didn't receive the renewal documents as I had in previous years with the terms etc. and thought that should be that.

I don't quite understand your last question..if I rang in myself to cancel the policy rather than them ringing me would that not also be just letting somebody on the phone know?

DUTR

htbftb wrote: »

My fault in so far that I didn't ring them to cancel the policy after buying the new car. There was only two months left on the policy so I thought to just let it run and wait for the renewal documents with the new price etc and do it then.

A month before the renewal was up I got the phone calls from RAC renewals asking if I wanted to renew the policy, I told them No, please cancel it. I subsequently didn't receive the renewal documents as I had in previous years with the terms etc. and thought that should be that.

I don't quite understand your last question..if I rang in myself to cancel the policy rather than them ringing me would that not also be just letting somebody on the phone know?

I hadn't replied to get into a debate about it, I could have ignored the post like many others have....
Yes you could let the current year lapse as you did, however as mentioned there maybe an auto renewal in place.
As said I'm not debating it, cancellations often involve written request whether it be electronic or paper form.
Even so you would then contact the bank to cancel the DD from the appropriate time.

htbftb

Mate I'm not trying to argue with you, the internet may make it come across that way but I think there are some crossed wires.

I just don't seem to get how they can take money if:
- The terms state cancellation may be done by phone, I spoke to their agent who has stated that the policy will be cancelled.
- I've been contacted by phone a month before the annual renewal is due.
- I've since not received any renewal documents with what would have been the new premium.

DUTR

htbftb wrote: »

Mate I'm not trying to argue with you, the internet may make it come across that way but I think there are some crossed wires.

I just don't seem to get how they can take money if:
- The terms state cancellation may be done by phone, I spoke to their agent who has stated that the policy will be cancelled.
- I've been contacted by phone a month before the annual renewal is due.
- I've since not received any renewal documents with what would have been the new premium.

I don't have RAC to know what the docs say, but other subscriptions certainly require an element of written format for cancellation, maybe you have just been unlucky on this occasion.

jk0

I would contact my bank, and tell them it was an unauthorised direct debit. They will get the money back.

sevenhills

htbftb wrote: »

After spending almost half an hour on hold I manage to get through to somebody and tell him they've taken my money, I don't have/need a membership, please arrange a refund. To which he replies, we have no record of you cancelling so the membership is live and any payment taken valid..

I much prefer to do things via email, you should try it. I had similar issues with the AA a few years ago, I now watch out for auto-renew.
I have just cancelled my car insurance, via email.

Clive_Woody

jk0 wrote: »

I would contact my bank, and tell them it was an unauthorised direct debit. They will get the money back.

Best answer - phone your bank, quote the DD guarantee and demand they refund your account immediately as this was unauthorised. Let them deal with the RAC afterwards.

wgl2014

https://www.directdebit.co.uk/DirectDebitExplained/pages/directdebitguarantee.aspx

Refund via bank, sorted.

htbftb

Thanks for the replies all.

My post on here was never about getting the money back. As mentioned after my first call complaining in, by the end of it I was assured it would be refunded. Just a matter of time..

What I really take issue with however is the call handler trying to claim that I!!!8217;d spoken to scammers, outright denying the telephone number belonged to them - until I told him it comes up on google and then stating their renewals line couldn!!!8217;t cancel policies. Only when pressed did he arrange for the payment to be returned.

I could see a lot of people who aren!!!8217;t as persistant or likely to just take the word of a phone agent, just stomaching the loss. And that really isn!!!8217;t on. :mad:

I!!!8217;ve luckily never had cause to call them for a breakdown, but know someone that waited for over 7 hours by the roadside where RAC initially claimed a recovery truck drove passed and couldn!!!8217;t find the broken down vehicle so marked the call as complete. When actually RAC later admitted no one had attended in the first place and they had cancelled the recovery as they couldn!!!8217;t call him back because the line was busy. (..due to being on hold to them asking where they were!)

Hence why I think it needs to be escalated to an organisation that can actually try and sort their deceptive practices!