Auto Renewal Home Insurance

dunstonh

Needhelp45 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Needhelp45 said:

I don't agree that it's my fault for not acting on an email for a renewal that I didn't knowingly opt in to.  By that token anyone can entrap you into paying for anything.    In my personal experience of 35 years of multiple policies, it has always been cheaper to shop around. Hence why it is very relevant at the outset, as I do always opt out at the outset, if I'm made aware.  If there was no option to opt out, and auto renewal is not covered in my acceptance letter, policy details or other Important Information document, this is trying to obtain payment by stealth. 

When you get to the buy page on Quote Me Happy you have to first select the payment method and immediately under that in bold big letters it says:

Automatic renewal of your policy

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We will automatically renew your policy when the time comes. To do this, we will securely store your payment details and we will notify you at least 21 days before taking payment, should you wish to change or cancel your policy. If you do not want us to automatically renew your policy, you can opt out immediately after you purchase the policy and anytime in My account and we will no longer retain your payment details for this purpose. 

You have to scroll past the above to click the "continue to payment" button

Your 35 years experience is mainly irrelevant given the regulations changed in Jan 2022 on renewal pricing. 

It is very clear in their website that you are going onto auto renewal and their renewal letter/email is presumably equally clear 

You are focusing on the wrong thing here though... the cost you owe Aviva now is tiny compared to now having to tell insurers you've had a policy cancelled for non-payment! Have you informed your new insurers yet?

You have no idea what was there when over a year ago, when I signed up using mobile. If I had seen it I would have immediately opted out.  The fact that I didn't means it likely wasn't that prominent at that time. 

This is supported by the fact that since my complaint Aviva contacted me very hastily, cancelled from renewal date and apologised "for the misunderstanding".  So clearly it wasnt a legitimate charge.  

a) you cannot claim fact as neither you or anyone else knows what it said.
b) Your assumption that it wasn't legitimate is wrong.     They don't want to faff about with something like this as its a routine issue.   It's an easy one to fix as, unfortunately, many people don't read their emails/letters, and they will deal with something like this very often.

DullGreyGuy

Needhelp45 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Needhelp45 said:

I don't agree that it's my fault for not acting on an email for a renewal that I didn't knowingly opt in to.  By that token anyone can entrap you into paying for anything.    In my personal experience of 35 years of multiple policies, it has always been cheaper to shop around. Hence why it is very relevant at the outset, as I do always opt out at the outset, if I'm made aware.  If there was no option to opt out, and auto renewal is not covered in my acceptance letter, policy details or other Important Information document, this is trying to obtain payment by stealth. 

When you get to the buy page on Quote Me Happy you have to first select the payment method and immediately under that in bold big letters it says:

Automatic renewal of your policy

---

We will automatically renew your policy when the time comes. To do this, we will securely store your payment details and we will notify you at least 21 days before taking payment, should you wish to change or cancel your policy. If you do not want us to automatically renew your policy, you can opt out immediately after you purchase the policy and anytime in My account and we will no longer retain your payment details for this purpose. 

You have to scroll past the above to click the "continue to payment" button

Your 35 years experience is mainly irrelevant given the regulations changed in Jan 2022 on renewal pricing. 

It is very clear in their website that you are going onto auto renewal and their renewal letter/email is presumably equally clear 

You are focusing on the wrong thing here though... the cost you owe Aviva now is tiny compared to now having to tell insurers you've had a policy cancelled for non-payment! Have you informed your new insurers yet?

You have no idea what was there when over a year ago, when I signed up using mobile. If I had seen it I would have immediately opted out.  The fact that I didn't means it likely wasn't that prominent at that time. 

This is supported by the fact that since my complaint Aviva contacted me very hastily, cancelled from renewal date and apologised "for the misunderstanding".  So clearly it wasnt a legitimate charge.  

You cannot opt out, it's a condition of purchase.  With the WayBackWhen machine you can see what website were displaying a year ago or 5 years ago. Frequency of snapshots are based on popularity of a site and how regularly it's updated. Aviva's website is about once a week in recent years. 

Aviva are just showing good customer service, doesn't mean it wasnt a legitimate charge. Generally if you can show you have bought elsewhere the Ombudsman will only allow a basic admin fee but what's the point of incurring the £750 fee to try and retain a £35 cancellation fee when instead you can make the customer happy?