Dynamo Cover - auto-renewal

Boozie2015

Thought I’d share my Dynamo experience for anyone in same situation. 

5 days away from auto renewal, I’d found a better roadside recovery package elsewhere. Was horrified to see that you could not cancel your ‘pending’ new policy/quote online without being charged £21! I read through the terms and conditions sent to me at the time, and spotted that I’d agreed to auto-renew and saw the list of charges for any changes to the policy or cancellations (£15.99). 

Ok, they were transparent with their costs up front. But how can they charge you to cancel a future policy you’re not yet in contract with them for?

The small print said you can inform Dynamo Cover if you wish to opt out of auto-renewal. No details how or if doing so would incur a charge and as I called their telephone number, the recorded messages said there’d be a charge for speaking to their call centre, why not do it online etc. 

GOOD NEWS - there’s no charge to opt out of auto renewal!

They are causing unnecessary stress to their clients, their poor staff have to deal with unhappy customers and although I was pleased I didn’t have to pay £21 plus phone fee, I will never use Dynamo again. Incredibly unethical and lacking integrity. So many people must be being fooled into paying to cancel their auto renewal policies.

user1977

I'm a bit confused by your post - as you say, there is no charge to opt out of auto-renewal. So who has been charged to do so, as it doesn't sound like you were? There are (as is normal these days for just about any insurance policy) charges for making other types of change to a policy, or for cancelling it during the term.

DullGreyGuy

I suspect you have misunderstood what they are saying as what you have asked them to do is allow the policy to lapse whereas most people talk about cancelling and so read the cancellation fee thinking it would be applicable when it wouldnt. 

There is nothing on their website nor in their wordings that suggest a policy lapsing is a chargeable event. 

Specialized29

I seem to be having a similar problem. I have emailed them to cancel after receiving an expensive auto-renewal price which was over three times what I originally paid then this was the response from a bot I received. 

"Thank you for your email. I can confirm that last year through your comparison site of choice you have purchased an automatic renewal contract. These policies have discounts applied to them on the basis you will renew with us for a second year of cover.

As you are now changing the contract from an automatic renewal contract to a 12 month only contract you must pay back the discount previously applied.

To do so please follow the link below to the cancellation page where you can modify you contract type."

There is no indication in the policy documents of an original price based on a two-year contract and any associated discounts and I have clicked the link they have provided to cancel the policy and the only option they are giving me ends up with a £41 cancellation fee. 

I am still trying to resolve but this is causing a lot of unnecessary stress.

mathsForFun

Having the same issue. This behaviour is an absolute [flipping] disgrace. I hope that multiple customers put them through the trouble and expense of dealing with the financial ombudsman (which is free to the customer).

mathsForFun

OK - for everyone else facing this issue, here's the remedy:
1. I could not find a way to prevent renewal through the website (you can cancel the policy - but then you'll have to pay the cancellation fee)
2. You have to call them
3. When you go through their phone menu, don't ever select an option to cancel your policy. If you do, the voice will tell you to go to the website and cancel there, and you'll have no other options! If this happens, end the call and call back. The option that worked for me to get to a person was the "new policies" option.
4. Don't give up! Keep trying until you get through to a person
5. When you get through to a person, explain to them that you're not cancelling - you just don't want to auto-renew
6. Then you'll get your policy set to not auto-renew without the cancellation fee