Auto renewal direct debit cancelled

Fever

Sorry if similar questions have been answered a million times before but I did search and while there were similar threads I couldn't find anything quite the same as my situation 
So my home insurance policy with eSure was up for renewal, I looked around and found a cheaper policy elsewhere and then I needed to cancel the eSure policy so I logged onto my account with them, looked around for the cancel button, turned out there wasn't one, their online chat was down and I didn't want to hang around on hold on the phone for ages so I just went ahead and cancelled the direct debit with my bank
But now they are claiming I owe then £50 - £15 for the first instalment and £35 as a spurious cancellation fee!
I ignored them and now they've got a debt recovery agency -  CARS - Creditlink Account Recovery Solutions onto me!
So should I just go ahead and pay it and chalk it up to experience or can I fight this some more? Do I have a leg to stand on? Cancelling direct debits to avoid auto-renewals doesn't seems THAT unreasonable does it?
Thanks 

kaMelo

 Cancelling the direct debit does not alter your obligations in relation to a contract you have with a company, it just means the company cannot get paid for the contract that you have with them. How they deal with that is up to the company, in this case they've enlisted the help of CARS.
Have you actually spoken to the company? They may be accommodating, they may not, but unless you speak to them they don't know what's going on. It just looks like another "won't pay" customer whom they have to chase for payment. Ignoring them is never the right answer.

More worryingly would be the answer to the question "Did they cancel your insurance policy because of this?" 

dunstonh

 so I just went ahead and cancelled the direct debit with my bank

Cancelling the method of payment does not cancel the contract.

But now they are claiming I owe then £50 - £15 for the first instalment and £35 as a spurious cancellation fee!

Its not spurious. it will be in their published tarrif.

I ignored them and now they've got a debt recovery agency -  CARS - Creditlink Account Recovery Solutions onto me!

That generally tends to happen when you ignore bills.

Do I have a leg to stand on? 

No.

Cancelling direct debits to avoid auto-renewals doesn't seems THAT unreasonable does it?

You are mistaken

o should I just go ahead and pay it and chalk it up to experience or can I fight this some more?

You are now reliant on their goodwill if you can persuade them to drop it.  They may do but they may also decide its gone too far for them to pull out now.

Sandtree

Fever said
Cancelling direct debits to avoid auto-renewals doesn't seems THAT unreasonable does it?

I don't know, would it be unreasonable for your employer to not pay you on pay day and then say they assumed you'd know you'd been let go because you weren't paid?

Direct debits are taken after the policy has commenced and so you have been on cover and they have incurred costs.

csgohan4

OP I always call the insurer to 'Lapse' the policy. Simply cancelling the direct debit is bad practice. Will cancelling your DD for your credit card balance, absolve you of your responsibility?

Future readers please do not just cancel DD and hope for the best. This will be an expensive lesson for you OP.