Currys Care Plan 9Yrs +

hehimo83

Hi,
First Post on here, hoping someone may be able to help! My husband and I have recently taken over his elderly mothers financial affairs due to her suffering with ongoing dementia. In doing so we noticed a direct debit for currys for £4.50 which went back as far as we could see on her account (2013) but neither she nor we know what it related to. I called Currys and they advised it went back to 2011 for the purchase of a washibg machine. She will have signed up for an insurance of some kind via direct debit which just rolled on continuously until you told it to stop apparently! 9 years later and she has paid more than the washing machine was worth when she bought it. She's never had any documentation that she is aware of, no annual reminders. Is this right and is there anyway of claiming this back. I doubt even that she signed up in the full knowledge of what it was she was signing up to and likely has been persuaded as an elderly female in the shop. I may be jumping to conclusions but I'm so angry that this has been going on for so long for her!
Any advice much appreciated!!
Thanks

brettcta

Very unlikely you’ll get anything back but you could always ask. You might catch the complaint handler on a very good day. As callous as this sounds (and I apologise for it) you can’t really rely on a dementia sufferer to remember if they’ve had documents sent and then use that as a complaint point.

as per my initial answer, you can always ask for a partial or full refund but set your expectations at absolute rock bottom and you won’t be disappointed when they tell you no. Cancel it and move on.

Dr_Crypto

She wasn’t demented back in 2011 was she? It’s entirely likely that she did have the documents but has forgotten (something made more likely by dementia). 

hehimo83

Dementia aside, should there not have been any kind of renewal or update or communication of some kind as you would with any kind of insurance policy??

brettcta

Quite possibly but how do you know they haven’t been binned? 

hehimo83

Shes good at keeping paperwork to be fair, just hasn't known what to do with it in the last year or so. We've found nothing when we've been through it all. When I asked on the phone if they would send annual communication and she said not, that it was just a rolling contract until you stopped it 😒 

brettcta

Well that’s your answer then. 

I really think this is a case of cancelling, taking it on the chin and moving on, as unhappy as you might be.

-taff

Write to them, explain her current situation and ask very very nicely. Do not imply they've done anything wrong and they may refund.