Scam?

dava1234

Animal Society Ltd = I got a letter stating that the second year pet insurance from E&I was almost doubling, when I talked to them on the phone they stated that this was price increase was to join their 'Premium Club' membership which I hadn't requested. I managed to get them to hold the previous years price. The next thing I know a direct debit for 94p is going out of my account to 'Animal Society Ltd'.

This all sounds very dodgy to me, lots of forums stating their lack of payment when it comes to making a claim for ill pets too. I am getting in touch with Consumer Direct consumerdirect.gov.uk 08454 04 05 06 (trading standards) I would suggest that anyone else who has had a similar experience does the same. I cannot see how this is Legal.

Dougal77

I have just had this happen to me today too - a DD set up for 94p to the Animal Society Ltd which went out on the same date as my E&L policy. I googled them and found loads of blogs all reporting the same scam.

I called E&L to check and spoke to a rather smug lady who said I had apparently given them permission to set up this DD. I asked her to prove when they had contacted me and what documents I had signed to authorise them to set up this DD - and she said they didn't need my authorisation to do this. I find that hard to believe but can you imagine how many thousands of customers they are doing this to and the amount of money they will be raking in - which I bet does not go towards helping any animals. I have cancelled my E&L policy asap as well as this DD - my bank have opened up a fraud investigation and I may have to change my bank account if they keep taking money out!! It is really dodgy!

Colliefrog

I thought you could just cancel a direct debit at any time? No need to close the bank account?

trisontana

Colliefrog wrote: »

I thought you could just cancel a direct debit at any time? No need to close the bank account?

That's what I did. I bank on-line with Nationwide and it was just a few seconds work to cancel the Animal Society DD.

stusouthall

I have just had the same problem as in the first thread. Except the Animal Society Ltd had set up 10 direct debits. Luckily, i happened to notice these on my online banking before any payments had been made.
I spoke to my bank to try and get some details, all they could give me was underwood hall, tel: 0870 742 3916. After reading the threads I have also emailed EandL Insurance (my pet insurance company) to find out why they have given out my details to a third party without my permission. I will keep you posted with their response.

P.s. I havent tried the phone number yet as I am in Europe with work, hopefully the bank has given me the right one. Please let me know if anyone has any joy.

stusouthall

Below is the response from EandL;

Date: 23rd September 2009

Dear Mr Southall

Re: ####

I write in respect of your correspondence dated 22nd September 2009 received into this office on 23rd September 2009.

As Deputy Policy Administration Manager, I write to acknowledge receipt of your complaint and to assure you that the matter has been addressed. Please find enclosed herewith a copy of our Complaints Handling Procedure.

Primarily I would like to assure you that your details have not been given to any third party, we are aware that doing so is illegal. I can confirm that the direct debits were set up in respect of the National Pet Register Membership for Duke. I note that your insurance was incepted via www moneysupermarket com. From this online application, I can see that you opted in to this service when cover was incepted. There is no signed mandate, as cover was taken online so you entered your direct debit details when you requested cover.

Secondly you question why the direct debit is only just being set up now when cover was incepted in #########. I can confirm that the reason for this is that the National Pet Register Membership was offered to you completely free for the initial year of cover, therefore no instruction was required until the policy was due to renew. The details of the National Pet Register and its charges were outlined on the front page of your review documentation.

Unfortunately due to a system error, the National Pet Register Membership for Duke was produced 10 times. Please accept my sincere apologies for this error. I can confirm that this has now been rectified and all but one membership has been cancelled. Your membership number is ######. If you do not require this service at all, then this can also be cancelled so please advise on how you wish to proceed.

I trust in view of my actions we can consider the matter resolved. If however you wish us to resolve any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.


Kind regards.

Yours sincerely


Miss Rebecca Wade
Deputy Policy Administration Manager

What are your thoughts on this?

Is it just a mistake that they set up 10 direct debits?, I think not as its not just me that they have made this 'mistake' with.

Why would they name the direct debit as Animal Society Ltd and the name on the policy as The National Pet Register? I find this very misleading and believe that this is intentional!!!

What to do now? Cancel policy or continue down the complaints proceedure? What would I gain by doing this, thoughts please.

dacouch

Do not insure with E&L they have a very very poor claims service, have a look around the internet for reviews

stusouthall

Ive cancelled the policy as I find them a completely immoral company. 10 direct debits set up??? And im not the only one this has happened to. Mistake my !!!!.
DO NOT INSURE YOUR PETS WITH EandL.

oldnthrifty

Well I just had 0.94p deducted from my bank acct to ANIMAL SOCIETY LTD, I cancelled the DD which i didnt set up and phoned the bank, E&L tried to upgrade my policy which I turned down as it was rubbish and would cost more....the upgrade was automatic and they were relying on me to carry on blindly.

Will cancel my E&L policy tomorrow.

It's funny they seem to act just like the banks.!!!!!!!

marydot

This type of thing happened to me its not to do with DD. I have a bank loan that iam paying off each month,unknown to me someone had paid in £300 into this account and had withdrawn £100 out the next day.No body knows my account details and I dont have a ATM card. The account was cancelled ages ago so I could not use it but Im paying back the loan by agreement. Anyway i was called into the bank and asked if I knew who paid the money in etc..Turns out the £200 that was left in there by this person has helped me pay some of my loan...so yes weird stuff happens... as soon as I have payed this loan off im closing this account down.