1st Central car insurance auto renewal, despite not authorising this

JimboMarimbo

I'm aware of the long post/rant from a fellow sufferer re this firm's questionable means of forcing customers to renew with them.
It goes like this, you sign up for an annual policy, after an uneventful year you are advised of "your auto renewal is coming up in 16 days, you do not need to do anything, we will deal with it" or similar wording. This despite the fact that I did NOT authorise automatic renewal (I never do, anywhere). OK so I need to clear that up as I have already signed up for a better quote from Tesco. Trouble is, I can't sign in to 'My Account' to cancel auto renewal, this is because 'My Account' doesn't work any more! Oh, yes, you can sign in, password accepted, then you are taken straight to a new quotation page from which there is no escape. Similarly there is an AI chat button which will take down and confirm all particulars except will not allow entry to My Account but insists after ten minutes to offer to transfer me to a 'friendly' colleague who will doubtless ask me to repeat the previous five minutes ad infinitum. This I declined to do.
Looking at my bank account from last year, I see that I paid these jokers using Lloyds debit card , and there are no standing orders or direct debits in 1st Central's name.
What is the possibility of them renewing the policy anyway and charging me from my debit card? Can they do this?
I know from a previous nasty run-in with a dodgy DG firm where I paid a deposit on Barclaycard/Mastercard, who then proceeded to allow further payments from the same card TWICE after the final bill: apparently, it was explained to me, if you have given your credit card number to a firm, they can more-or-less keep debiting it until you notice. 

Ayr_Rage

With most companies auto-renewal is on by default to ensure continuous insurance.

With my last (at least 3) insurers they've advised of that position in the documents received after taking out the policy and it has been a simple case of logging in and deselecting the option.

You'll have to persevere with the bot until you get a human.

marcia_

JimboMarimbo said:

I'm aware of the long post/rant from a fellow sufferer re this firm's questionable means of forcing customers to renew with them.
It goes like this, you sign up for an annual policy, after an uneventful year you are advised of "your auto renewal is coming up in 16 days, you do not need to do anything, we will deal with it" or similar wording. This despite the fact that I did NOT authorise automatic renewal (I never do, anywhere). OK so I need to clear that up as I have already signed up for a better quote from Tesco. Trouble is, I can't sign in to 'My Account' to cancel auto renewal, this is because 'My Account' doesn't work any more! Oh, yes, you can sign in, password accepted, then you are taken straight to a new quotation page from which there is no escape. Similarly there is an AI chat button which will take down and confirm all particulars except will not allow entry to My Account but insists after ten minutes to offer to transfer me to a 'friendly' colleague who will doubtless ask me to repeat the previous five minutes ad infinitum. This I declined to do.
Looking at my bank account from last year, I see that I paid these jokers using Lloyds debit card , and there are no standing orders or direct debits in 1st Central's name.
What is the possibility of them renewing the policy anyway and charging me from my debit card? Can they do this?
I know from a previous nasty run-in with a dodgy DG firm where I paid a deposit on Barclaycard/Mastercard, who then proceeded to allow further payments from the same card TWICE after the final bill: apparently, it was explained to me, if you have given your credit card number to a firm, they can more-or-less keep debiting it until you notice. 

https://help.1stcentralinsurance.com/general/contact/what-are-your-opening-hours-and-contact-numbers

If you'd like to talk to us about a general query, you can call us on 0333 043 2085.

born_again

JimboMarimbo said:

I'm aware of the long post/rant from a fellow sufferer re this firm's questionable means of forcing customers to renew with them.
It goes like this, you sign up for an annual policy, after an uneventful year you are advised of "your auto renewal is coming up in 16 days, you do not need to do anything, we will deal with it" or similar wording. This despite the fact that I did NOT authorise automatic renewal (I never do, anywhere). OK so I need to clear that up as I have already signed up for a better quote from Tesco. Trouble is, I can't sign in to 'My Account' to cancel auto renewal, this is because 'My Account' doesn't work any more! Oh, yes, you can sign in, password accepted, then you are taken straight to a new quotation page from which there is no escape. Similarly there is an AI chat button which will take down and confirm all particulars except will not allow entry to My Account but insists after ten minutes to offer to transfer me to a 'friendly' colleague who will doubtless ask me to repeat the previous five minutes ad infinitum. This I declined to do.
Looking at my bank account from last year, I see that I paid these jokers using Lloyds debit card , and there are no standing orders or direct debits in 1st Central's name.
What is the possibility of them renewing the policy anyway and charging me from my debit card? Can they do this?
I know from a previous nasty run-in with a dodgy DG firm where I paid a deposit on Barclaycard/Mastercard, who then proceeded to allow further payments from the same card TWICE after the final bill: apparently, it was explained to me, if you have given your credit card number to a firm, they can more-or-less keep debiting it until you notice. 

Have you got any confirmation of cancelling?
If not email them before renewal date. Ring bank & cancel the CPA (continuous payment authority) to them. If they take funds after that. You have a chargeback right to the money back.