OneCall and Close Brothers-don't trust, excessive fees

ConsumerRightsMan

Close Brothers work in collaboration with OneCall Insurance as they provide the credit agreement for OneCall's premiums. Close Brothers act as agents for OneCall. I decided to cancel my policy with Onecall before renewal and when Close Brothers contacted me to renew and sign the new credit agreement for the next year I emailed them to confirm that the policy is cancelled and never signed or returned the new credit agreement.
Imagine my horror when I discovered that despite not signing and returning any credit agreement that Close Borthers continued to take direct debits from my account and despite telling them that the policy was cancelled they paid the premium to OneCall Insurance.
Onecall then claimed that they are owed a cancellation fee. AVOID THEM,DON'T TRUST THEM, UNETHICAL SHARKS!

csgohan4

did you want to let your policy lapse and expire or you wanted to cancel before the renewal date to go with someone else? Because fees will be applicable for the latter and quite rightly. 

ConsumerRightsMan

The policy was cancelled because I  had purchased another better value policy before the renewal date! Simple really especially in view of the fact no other credit agreement was entered into with Close Brothers yet the policy with OneCall  and the credit agreement with Close Brothers was instigated without my authority! 

TheInsideGuy

When you say the policy was cancelled, did you actually tell the insurer you didnt want the renewal? Sounds to me like a simple case of automatic renewal not being cancelled. 

forgotmyname

TheInsideGuy said:

When you say the policy was cancelled, did you actually tell the insurer you didnt want the renewal? Sounds to me like a simple case of automatic renewal not being cancelled. 

They said  "Cancelled before renewal"  in the 1st post.  Hence the charges.  

Did they take just the charges in one lump or did they mess up and charge more?

Jumblebumble

forgotmyname said:

TheInsideGuy said:

When you say the policy was cancelled, did you actually tell the insurer you didnt want the renewal? Sounds to me like a simple case of automatic renewal not being cancelled. 

They said  "Cancelled before renewal"  in the 1st post.  Hence the charges.  

Did they take just the charges in one lump or did they mess up and charge more?

The OP clarifies this
they paid the premium to OneCall Insurance

forgotmyname

Paid the cancellation fee for the policy but was there a cancellation fee for the finance also?
Or did the insurer take the cancellation fee but there were more payments required on the finance side?

ConsumerRightsMan

Just an update and apologies for not replying sooner, in response to the above comments. Yes the policy was cancelled in time by email to Close Brothers confirming my wish to cancel the policy with OneCall, requesting that they as agents for Onecall act accordingly, all done before the renewal date with a read receipt confirming that my email had been received. Close Brothers acknowledged receipt of the email. However, Close Brothers did erroneously and illegally  pay OneCall the premium because I did not sign and return a new credit agreement to them despite Close Brothers requesting a new  signed credit  agreement to be signed and returned, the new credit agreement was requested before my cancellation of the policy with Onecall. Onecall representatives did request details of my new insurance policy which proved that it was in place before the renewal date of the now cancelled policy with Onecall. This was contemporaneously provided. The representative claimed that no charges or further action would be taken on receipt of this proof. I recently received a letter claiming for some £155 which includes a £25 fee from their own debt recovery department. I on the other hand have been charging them £50 for every letter and email received from them pertaining to this fraudulent and erroneous claim from them  which in addition is in breach of contract, the charges levied against them totals £700 to date, I'll let you know the continued charges against them and keep you posted in future posts. 

rs65

ConsumerRightsMan said:

Yes the policy was cancelled in time by email to Close Brothers confirming my wish to cancel the policy with OneCall, requesting that they as agents for Onecall act accordingly, all done before the renewal date with a read receipt confirming that my email had been received. 

Close Brothers provide the finance.
Onecall are the broker.  Your instruction to cancel should have gone to onecall.

ConsumerRightsMan

In response to rs65, Close Brothers in this instance are legally agents for OneCall as evidenced by the fact that they renewed the credit agreement and communicated with OneCall without legal authority and also bearing in mind that no legal relationship with Close Brothers would have ever been initiated without the collaboration of OneCall with Close Brothers, I in essence had been forced to enter a credit agreement with Close Brothers through the OneCall policy purchasing process.

rs65

ConsumerRightsMan said:

In response to rs65, Close Brothers in this instance are legally agents for OneCall as evidenced by the fact that they renewed the credit agreement and communicated with OneCall without legal authority and also bearing in mind that no legal relationship with Close Brothers would have ever been initiated without the collaboration of OneCall with Close Brothers, I in essence had been forced to enter a credit agreement with Close Brothers through the OneCall policy purchasing process.

Close Brothers involvement is financing the premium - not arranging the cover.
OneCall are your broker for the cover.  Instructions relating to the cover (including cancellation) should go to OneCall not Close Brothers