Cancelling auto renew

DCFC79

Hannah1106 wrote: »

Nova direct

Why did you choose them ?

Was it the cost ?

[Deleted User]

Hannah1106 wrote: »

I am not pleeding ignorance, I understand they are in the t and cs. Ive never come across a company that charges for autorenewals cancelling. The information that they have sent me says its £9.98 and not £4.99 like you have stated so even more fees being added to a policy that was £35 for the year.

"To process a cancellation there is a £4.99 administration fee payable to Nova Direct and a £4.99 fee payable to the Insurer PEX Insure, who are the policy administrators. This fee is non-refundable and must be paid in full prior to a cancellation request being processed"

Nova Direct and PEX Insure are owned by Policy Excess Ltd(or Insure).

What exactly were you paying both of them for? Did you sign up to both?

I can see no reference to the 2nd charge on the T&C's.

born_again

dreamypuma wrote: »

I'd just diarise the renewal date on your phone or diary, with a reminder 4 weeks in advance. Then contact them closer to the date and as for the policy to just lapse.

Or even contact the bank NOW and get them to cancel the auto renew if it is paid via debit/credit card.:T

eddddy

born_again wrote: »

Or even contact the bank NOW and get them to cancel the auto renew if it is paid via debit/credit card.:T

That's a very bad idea.

Cancelling a 'direct debit' or 'continuous payment authority' will not cancel the insurance policy.

The insurance policy will probably still auto-renew, and the OP will be in debt to the insurance company.

If the OP doesn't pay the debt, eventually the insurance company will cancel the policy for non-payment.

The OP may then have to declare that they've had an insurance policy cancelled due to non-payment on future insurance applications. That could result in increased premiums and/or refusals to insure.

born_again

eddddy wrote: »

That's a very bad idea.

Cancelling a 'direct debit' or 'continuous payment authority' will not cancel the insurance policy.

It won't but it will stop the company getting the funds. And is your right under the Payment Services Directive.

eddddy wrote: »

The insurance policy will probably still auto-renew, and the OP will be in debt to the insurance company.

Not if they do not get the funds.

eddddy wrote: »

If the OP doesn't pay the debt, eventually the insurance company will cancel the policy for non-payment.

Or not renew the policy.

eddddy wrote: »

The OP may then have to declare that they've had an insurance policy cancelled due to non-payment on future insurance applications. That could result in increased premiums and/or refusals to insure.

They might.

But if OP does as was advised in a previous post and cancels prior to renewal, it is a moot point.

OP might want to have a word with FOS about the legality of the charge to cancel the auto renew. Due to it making it harder & also unfair to cancel the auto renew.

eddddy

born_again wrote: »

Or even contact the bank NOW and get them to cancel the auto renew if it is paid via debit/credit card.:T

born_again wrote: »

It won't but it will stop the company getting the funds. And is your right under the Payment Services Directive.

Not if they do not get the funds.

Or not renew the policy.

They might.

But if OP does as was advised in a previous post and cancels prior to renewal, it is a moot point.

OP might want to have a word with FOS about the legality of the charge to cancel the auto renew. Due to it making it harder & also unfair to cancel the auto renew.

Just to emphasise for future readers of this thread, the above is very bad advice.

It is a very bad idea to just cancel a 'direct debit' or 'continuous payment authority' instead of correctly cancelling an insurance policy.

Here's what Citizens Advice say:

Cancelling a direct debit does not cancel your insurance policy. If you do this you will still owe your insurer the premiums. You must contact your insurer to cancel the policy.

Link: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/insurance/insurance/cancelling-an-insurance-policy/

And here's what MoneySupermarket say:

But take note: simply cancelling your direct debit doesn’t mean you’ve cancelled the policy.

Link: https://www.moneysupermarket.com/car-insurance/articles/cancelling-car-insurance-what-to-expect/

born_again

eddddy wrote: »

Just to emphasise for future readers of this thread, the above is very bad advice.

I made no mention of DD..

Or even contact the bank NOW and get them to cancel the auto renew if it is paid via debit/credit card.

The ability to do this is as I said part of the Payment Services Directive 2012 updated in 2015 to PSD2.

Yes it does not stop the retailer chasing the customer if they feel that they owe a debt. But it is a customers Legal right to do so.

Many retailers actually tell customers to do this to ensure that it is blocked.

wesleyad

born_again wrote: »

I made no mention of DD..


The ability to do this is as I said part of the Payment Services Directive 2012 updated in 2015 to PSD2.

Yes it does not stop the retailer chasing the customer if they feel that they owe a debt. But it is a customers Legal right to do so.

Many retailers actually tell customers to do this to ensure that it is blocked.

You implied to do it instead of cancelling, perhaps you didn't mean it like that (the person you replied to said set up an alarm to cancel and you replied with "or"). I agree its definitely a good thing to do as part of cancelling to stop the retailer ballsing things up, but you must actually cancel directly with the retailer as well.

In these situations the retailers love people who do this, they almost certainly will autorenew and then chase for not only lost payments, but penalties as well.

bcr_2020

I have just had the same thing with NOVA Direct/ PEX Insure for my phone insurance. I have never had to pay £9.98 just for cancelling the auto-renew. It may be in the T&Cs but, honestly, who would read them expecting this type of behaviour.? This is downright disingenuous and is sharp practices as far as I am concerned.

Interestingly, they will not accept an auto-renew cancellation request verbally over the phone and instead ask you to complete an online form. This is because with the on-line form they ask you to accept the £9.98 fee before proceeding to cancel the auto-renew. Well, I don't accept it and as such I did not progress the form any further, In other words there is no option to dispute this.

So my course of action here is that I have contacted my credit card company and asked them to stop the payment. If this company then try and threaten me/ chase me for payment I will then go to the Ombudsman and file an official complaint. I am unsure whether they will help me or not but my wider point is that it's not acceptable to charge any amount of money for auto-renew cancellation and the point is bigger than just being a small paragraph buried within their terms and conditions. This strikes me as a new development which will snowball a more and more companies jump on the bandwagon and this needs to be nipped in the bud NOW.

Aylesbury_Duck

bcr_2020 wrote: »

I have just had the same thing with NOVA Direct/ PEX Insure for my phone insurance. I have never had to pay £9.98 just for cancelling the auto-renew. It may be in the T&Cs but, honestly, who would read them expecting this type of behaviour.? This is downright disingenuous and is sharp practices as far as I am concerned.

Interestingly, they will not accept an auto-renew cancellation request verbally over the phone and instead ask you to complete an online form. This is because with the on-line form they ask you to accept the £9.98 fee before proceeding to cancel the auto-renew. Well, I don't accept it and as such I did not progress the form any further, In other words there is no option to dispute this.

So my course of action here is that I have contacted my credit card company and asked them to stop the payment. If this company then try and threaten me/ chase me for payment I will then go to the Ombudsman and file an official complaint. I am unsure whether they will help me or not but my wider point is that it's not acceptable to charge any amount of money for auto-renew cancellation and the point is bigger than just being a small paragraph buried within their terms and conditions. This strikes me as a new development which will snowball a more and more companies jump on the bandwagon and this needs to be nipped in the bud NOW.

I've lost count of the number of times people say this sort of thing and expect it to hold water. Unless it's literally hidden in notably smaller print or written in such a way as to deliberately confuse, those are the terms you are bound to.

Who would read terms and conditions they're being bound to? Er....most people. Do you actually know what insurance you've bought and what it does and doesn't cover you for?

Who wouldn't read Ts and Cs? The sort of people who rush to buy something - usually on the price criterion alone - before considering the true value of what they're getting.

FWIW I think it is poor practice from this company, but that doesn't absolve you from blame for not actually bothering to understand what you signed up to.