Anyone nearly been duped to pay online for insurance when ringing to pay over the phone?

HedgehogMum

I have been at the receiving end of what I see as a possible deception tactic by a well-known building society today. I have contents insurance with this building society and do not bank online nor do anything online with them. I received my renewal reminder from them in the post which said I could contact them to ask for a discount if I wasn't happy with the quote. I phoned them this afternoon explaining that I'd like a discount and I wanted to pay over the phone NOT online. The customer service lady asked me to scan the QR code on my phone & she would 'go through' the procedure. She did NOT say that this would lead me to the page to pay online after being quoted for a discounted price. I questioned her several times on the way there and she finally admitted that they had been trained to get everyone to pay online! I refused to put in my payment details and she said she would cancel the new quote her end but honour the price. I paid over the phone as normal. To top it all, she then tried to get me to listen to a sales pitch about alternate contents insurance policies they sell!! I told her this was unacceptable as I had already paid.  It was after 6pm when we finished so too late to contact the building society to complain but I will next week. No doubt they record all customer service calls so will be able to trace the call and address my complaint & concerns. 

35har1old

HedgehogMum said:

I have been at the receiving end of what I see as a possible deception tactic by a well-known building society today. I have contents insurance with this building society and do not bank online nor do anything online with them. I received my renewal reminder from them in the post which said I could contact them to ask for a discount if I wasn't happy with the quote. I phoned them this afternoon explaining that I'd like a discount and I wanted to pay over the phone NOT online. The customer service lady asked me to scan the QR code on my phone & she would 'go through' the procedure. She did NOT say that this would lead me to the page to pay online after being quoted for a discounted price. I questioned her several times on the way there and she finally admitted that they had been trained to get everyone to pay online! I refused to put in my payment details and she said she would cancel the new quote her end but honour the price. I paid over the phone as normal. To top it all, she then tried to get me to listen to a sales pitch about alternate contents insurance policies they sell!! I told her this was unacceptable as I had already paid.  It was after 6pm when we finished so too late to contact the building society to complain but I will next week. No doubt they record all customer service calls so will be able to trace the call and address my complaint & concerns. 

So she took you card details over the phone verbally?
Or did you have to imput them on you phone?

HedgehogMum

Inputted them. I know not to give them verbally, thanks. I will ask the building society to doublecheck that my payment was taken securely. The irony here is that my credit card details were stolen a few years ago online. I & many others ending up paying for parking in an American national part!! It was a 'scam' that was spotted by the credit card company straight away as so many different UK cards were used that morning for tiny amounts. At that time I had only used my card online with Deliveroo and Waitrose. I've never used Deliveroo again. Had no issues with Waitrose since. 

MattMattMattUK

This very much sounds like a you problem, not a them problem.

Ayr_Rage

Very odd, how do you scan a QR code on a phone call?

Should've told them to continue on the phone and that you wouldn't be opening any links to pay.

flaneurs_lobster

Ayr_Rage said:

Very odd, how do you scan a QR code on a phone call?

Sent on an email to a PC?

You refused to enter your payment details into your phone but then entered your card numbers on your phone -  pretty much the same process as renewing online except one ties up an operator who could be doing something useful like flogging additional insurance cover.

Albermarle

flaneurs_lobster said:

Ayr_Rage said:

Very odd, how do you scan a QR code on a phone call?

Sent on an email to a PC?

You refused to enter your payment details into your phone but then entered your card numbers on your phone -  pretty much the same process as renewing online except one ties up an operator who could be doing something useful like flogging additional insurance cover.

That is what I thought.
Not happy to pay quickly online, but happy to spend time paying by inputting numbers on a phone while debating with a call operator.

la531983

The word "duped" doing a lot of heavy lifting in the thread title.

PHK

Albermarle said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

Ayr_Rage said:

Very odd, how do you scan a QR code on a phone call?

Sent on an email to a PC?

You refused to enter your payment details into your phone but then entered your card numbers on your phone -  pretty much the same process as renewing online except one ties up an operator who could be doing something useful like flogging additional insurance cover.

That is what I thought.
Not happy to pay quickly online, but happy to spend time paying by inputting numbers on a phone while debating with a call operator.

Also worth pointing out that if it was a landline then it's much less secure than paying online. You can eavesdrop with 50p of components and record the DTMF tones of the numbers being pressed. 

HedgehogRulez

My mother gets confused by technology 

Chief_of_Staffy

I assume the point is that she rang and said she wanted to pay over the phone; the operator acknowledged and instructed her only for it to become clear that they were trying to get her to pay online. Not worth a complaint IMO but still crap customer service.

The response should have been, "We like people to pay online and I can help you do that, but if you really want to pay over the phone I'll sort that out for you now."

Unlikely the fault of the operator as they'd have been instructed to handle it as they did by the bank.