Fraud by my insurance company- any advice??

ria2410

In 2014, I brought a tumble dryer and insurance for it. I was under the impression it was for two years. In 2016, my life took a terrible turn with my mother being diagnosed with cancer, horrendous housing issues and then later on my mother passed away and I was dealing her finances etc. I ended up having a nervous breakdown. As you can imagine, I didn’t keep a eye on my own finances. In 2019, I found out that the direct debit was never stopped until January of that year. Then, it was re-started without my consent in March and this carried on until November. Once I’d realised what was going on, I contacted the bank and stopped it. The bank repaid me the money from January until November as I hadn’t authorised the payment. I emailed the company and was constantly contacting them with no response from November to May this year. All I received was a standard email saying that they would contact me within 3-4 working days. I’ve now started to contact them by phone. I was told to begin with that someone would contact me within 3 days in regards to the complaint.  Nobody got back to me so I contacted them again. I was told that that was incorrect and that it could take 5+ working days to receive a response, and they don’t phone before they’ve investigated the complaint which could take longer.

 I’ve also complained that I was never informed of the insurance going up in price and they claim that they sent out letters which I never received. I asked them for evidence of this and they said
 “There are stamps on our computer which prove they were sent out.”
I am totally exhausted now and I feel that they have done nothing but give me the run-around for the last 8 months. 

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you. 

oscarward

who were  the payments going to? 

If it was the insurance company seperate from the sales organisation then complain in writing to them, if unhappy with the response escalate to the Ombudsman.

If it was the shop that sold the dryer then it may not be insurance as such, but may be worth a written complaint again.

Basically you have to complain to the organisation you have the contract with. i.e. where the money was paid to.

[Deleted User]

ria2410 said:

In 2014, I brought a tumble dryer and insurance for it. I was under the impression it was for two years. In 2016, my life took a terrible turn with my mother being diagnosed with cancer, horrendous housing issues and then later on my mother passed away and I was dealing her finances etc. I ended up having a nervous breakdown. As you can imagine, I didn’t keep a eye on my own finances. In 2019, I found out that the direct debit was never stopped until January of that year. Then, it was re-started without my consent in March and this carried on until November. Once I’d realised what was going on, I contacted the bank and stopped it. The bank repaid me the money from January until November as I hadn’t authorised the payment. I emailed the company and was constantly contacting them with no response from November to May this year. All I received was a standard email saying that they would contact me within 3-4 working days. I’ve now started to contact them by phone. I was told to begin with that someone would contact me within 3 days in regards to the complaint.  Nobody got back to me so I contacted them again. I was told that that was incorrect and that it could take 5+ working days to receive a response, and they don’t phone before they’ve investigated the complaint which could take longer.

 I’ve also complained that I was never informed of the insurance going up in price and they claim that they sent out letters which I never received. I asked them for evidence of this and they said
 “There are stamps on our computer which prove they were sent out.”
I am totally exhausted now and I feel that they have done nothing but give me the run-around for the last 8 months. 

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you. 

 Your bank refunded your money. What is it exactly you want from the complaint? 
 It isn't fraud. They very likely sent you a letter offering further insurance and you had to contact them to refuse. If you were ill this was probably missed. 

[Deleted User]

ria2410 said:

Fraud by my insurance company- any advice??

Yes. 

For heaven's sake, don't throw around fake accusations of fraud when you talk to them.

DCFC79

Monies have been refunded which puts you in the position you were in before the money was taken in error, just follow the complaint process but what are you wanting from the complaint, more money or an acknowledgement of the money being taken in error ?

Sandtree

First of all, are you sure it is actually insurance? Many companies sell extended warranties or service plans which are not legally insurance but do get called so at times.

Both insurance and warranties often are setup on an auto-renewal so that as the term is coming to an end they will write and advise you of such but that they will renew the policy for another year or so unless you tell them otherwise. I personally think the law on letters is far to generous, but it does assume that any letter sent is received 48 hours later (for 1st class) with no onus on the sender to prove receipt. It would be a major systemic issue if their system wasnt producing the letters it shows it does and so unless they have your address incorrect on file a complaint would almost certainly be seen as them being correct that the letters were sent and legally received.

You've gotten your money back so what more do you want? If they threaten debt collectors or state they are going to void the insurance for non-payment then you have something to be concerned about but otherwise seems like they are the only losers right now.

sheramber

Are you saying the bank refunded from  January 2019 to November 2019 but you are disputing the payments made from 2016
( when the 2 years was up) until January 2019?

ria2410

Yes, that's right.

ria2410

_shel said:

ria2410 said:

In 2014, I brought a tumble dryer and insurance for it. I was under the impression it was for two years. In 2016, my life took a terrible turn with my mother being diagnosed with cancer, horrendous housing issues and then later on my mother passed away and I was dealing her finances etc. I ended up having a nervous breakdown. As you can imagine, I didn’t keep a eye on my own finances. In 2019, I found out that the direct debit was never stopped until January of that year. Then, it was re-started without my consent in March and this carried on until November. Once I’d realised what was going on, I contacted the bank and stopped it. The bank repaid me the money from January until November as I hadn’t authorised the payment. I emailed the company and was constantly contacting them with no response from November to May this year. All I received was a standard email saying that they would contact me within 3-4 working days. I’ve now started to contact them by phone. I was told to begin with that someone would contact me within 3 days in regards to the complaint.  Nobody got back to me so I contacted them again. I was told that that was incorrect and that it could take 5+ working days to receive a response, and they don’t phone before they’ve investigated the complaint which could take longer.

 I’ve also complained that I was never informed of the insurance going up in price and they claim that they sent out letters which I never received. I asked them for evidence of this and they said
 “There are stamps on our computer which prove they were sent out.”
I am totally exhausted now and I feel that they have done nothing but give me the run-around for the last 8 months. 

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you. 

 Your bank refunded your money. What is it exactly you want from the complaint? 
 It isn't fraud. They very likely sent you a letter offering further insurance and you had to contact them to refuse. If you were ill this was probably missed. 

Hi there. The bank only refunded the money from March 2019 to November 2019. From 2014, to 2016 I was never informed that  the price was going up, or that the insurance would be continuing further. During this part, I was in perfect health. Then, from 2016 to late 2019, the insurance continued and although I was refunded for the payments in 2019, I wasn't refunded the payments from 2016 to 2018. This is what I wanted from the complaint. The contract was lost in a storage fire last year, I have told them this and they refuse to let me see their copy of the contract.

ria2410

DCFC79 said:

Monies have been refunded which puts you in the position you were in before the money was taken in error, just follow the complaint process but what are you wanting from the complaint, more money or an acknowledgement of the money being taken in error ?

Hi there. The insurance was continued for three years after it should have been stopped. I had not received any letters/contact to tell me it was going to continue after the set time (from 2014 to 2016). I have only been refunded the money paid in 2019  not the money in 2017 and 2018 and that is what I am wanting from the complaint. Kind regards.