Policy Admin Services Phones 4U - 17 years of direct debits without knowing about the policy

Blueblue0

We have just discovered that a direct debit we thought related to our endowment/mortgage showing "policy admin services' is actually a mobile phone insurance policy for a mobile supposedly purchased in 2004 - 17 years ago.    We dont have any knowledge of the policy or content and only recently recieved the first and only letter regharding it.  The compamy have advised that they got our new address (living her for 15 years) through EQUIFAX.      Can anyone advise how we go about reclaiming these funds. Due to GDPR many companies no longer have access to records.  We would have been insured elsewhere on our house insurance for all of our mobiles.   Totally gutted that we believed this poilicy was for something else.  Without any knowledge of any policy we never thought to enquire or query this.  Unfortunately as £7.99 we didnt query it.    In total we have paid £1600 plus. 

Neil_Jones

Blueblue0 said:

We have just discovered that a direct debit we thought related to our endowment/mortgage showing "policy admin services' is actually a mobile phone insurance policy for a mobile supposedly purchased in 2004 - 17 years ago.    We dont have any knowledge of the policy or content and only recently recieved the first and only letter regharding it.  The compamy have advised that they got our new address (living her for 15 years) through EQUIFAX.      Can anyone advise how we go about reclaiming these funds. Due to GDPR many companies no longer have access to records.  We would have been insured elsewhere on our house insurance for all of our mobiles.   Totally gutted that we believed this poilicy was for something else.  Without any knowledge of any policy we never thought to enquire or query this.  Unfortunately as £7.99 we didnt query it.    In total we have paid £1600 plus. 

So you saw the direct debit on your bank account,, you didn't bother to check what it was, who it was for, why you were paying it, and you let this payment go out for 17 years?

TheMilkmansDad

cancel the policy and move on. doubt you'd get anything back as it goes back so far, but good luck should you try.

macman

Since the cover was in place for those 17 years, should you have chosen to use it, you have no basis for a refund. 
Nothing to lose by trying though.

[Deleted User]

I think you have seen the last of that money. They provided a service that you paid for but didn't use. Would you expect a refund on your car insurance if you never made a claim?

xTheDonx

I had the same problem!! I have cancelled it twice before and they have randomly re-charged me and i don't notice for a while. I havent had this phone since I was 16 years old (now late 20s) and the company who charged it originally (Phones4U) went bust AND so did the policy administration services who are charging you and I. I have even changed banks after cancelling it, its been a few years and I just checked now and they are charging me AGAIN!!! What can I do?

Cornucopia

As with the other thread, the first step to obtaining advice is to be clear about the detail.

In particular, is this a DD or a CPA?  (i.e. does it charge to a bank account or a credit/debit card).   

With either of those, relying on the company going bust is not a safe way of cancelling because a new provider will often take over automatically.

Moving home is problematic because the transactions will continue but you won't get letters from the Company unless you've told them that you've moved.