Charge for cancellation before the insurance started.

BTCman

I went on a comparison site and found One Call insurance was the cheapest. It redirected me to their site but there was no way to check the details were correct unlike other insurers sites. 
I have done this before with other companies and found often our details had changed and I had to change them on the insurers site.
I purchased the insurance and then found they had missed out my wife's endorsement. It is due to start in a few days so I tried to cancel it immediately after paying and then being able to check. They want £49.99 to cancel. This was done minutes after paying. Their website says you can not phone them due to lock down so I had to use online chat.
I also found her last insurance was automatically renewed with the previous company even though I requested it not to be auto renewed after taking it out. Surly this should be illegal. I wonder how many people are double insured. This happened once to me with home insurance when they started doing this and didn't tell me. 

[Deleted User]

BTCman said:

Surly this should be illegal. I wonder how many people are double insured. 

Very few. Most people stay on top of insurances as it's an annual policy so doesn't need constant attention.

And I'm not surly. Just a bit tired this morning.

dunstonh

They want £49.99 to cancel. This was done minutes after paying.

Nothing wrong with that.    If a builder does some work for you, do you think you shouldnt pay minutes after it is completed?

I also found her last insurance was automatically renewed with the previous company even though I requested it not to be auto renewed after taking it out. Surly this should be illegal.

A lot of companies do not allow you to choose to turn off auto-renewal.   The regulatory requirement is for the renewal letter to state what is required next.    I guess you ignored that.

I purchased the insurance and then found they had missed out my wife's endorsement.

If you completed that on the comparison website, then it should have followed through. So, you have grounds for complaint on this point, and this point only.    It may be sufficient for them to waive the cancellation charge.